I Mirror You, Åse Ljones, hand embroidery on linen stretched on frames
32.25” x 65.5” x 1.25”, 2013-17. Photo by Tom Grotta
In the first week of June we shared Åse Ljones’ I Mirror You. While making I Mirror You Ljones drew inspiration from her childhood on a little farm near the fjord in the Norwegian countryside. Naturally, the environment and weather were close elements.“ The fjord and the waves were always changing rhythm and changing colors,” says Ljones. After being selected to participate in a major exhibition at Arthouse Kabuso, Ljones’ made I Mirror You as a thank you to the people and landscape of her youth.
Blue Sea, Mary Merkel-Hess, reed, paper, 20.5” x 13.5” x 10”, 2018. Photo by Tom Grotta
In making Blue Sea Mary Merkel-Hess drew inspiration from the Florida Everglades. “I don’t usually step out of my own Midwestern environment for inspiration, but for Blue Sea I did,” Merkel-Hess explains. In addition to being able to examine a new type of grassland, Merkel-Hess had the opportunity to study the oceans various colors and moods. The continuous movement of the wetland coupled with the beautiful blues of the Atlantic Ocean came together for Merkel-Hess as she made Blue Sea.
Pulse, Caroline Bartlett, linen/hemp, cotton, porcelain, perspex, 43″ × 108″ × 1.5″, 2018. Photo by Tom Grotta
Next up we featured Caroline Bartlett’s Pulse. Textiles are the core of Bartlett’s practice, providing her with the means and materials to process and articulate ideas. For Bartlett, the “imprinting stitching, erasing, reworking, folding and unfolding” of her creative process leaves defining characteristics on each piece of her work. In Pulse, which graces the cover of our newest catalog — Blue/Green: color, code, context— Bartlett integrates textiles (line/hemp and cotton) with porcelain.
Blue/Green as a Metaphor, Kyoko Kumai, titanium and steel, 120.5” x 45.25”, 2010. Photo by Tom Grotta
Last but certainly not least is Kyoko Kumai’s Blue/Green as a Metaphor. Kumai, who lives and works in Tokyo, has been weaving tapestries with titanium and steel for 30 years. In an essay written in honor of Kumai’s exhibition at MoMa in 1991, Matilda McQuaid explains that “most indicative of the Japanese sense of beauty in Kumai’s work is the importance of light, both its presence and calculated absence.” Made with titanium and steel, Kumai’s Blue/Green as a Metaphor brings life to the room with its’ array of light-reflective, colorful titanium pieces.