Category: Art Textiles

Art News: Paperworks: material as medium — Grethe Wittrock

May 9, 2012 0 Comment

Among the artists whose work will be included in Paperworks: material as medium, at the Flinn Gallery of the Greenwich Public Library (May 10th – June 21st) is Grethe Wittrock. Using ancient techniques to create contemporary work, Wittrock’s meditative process of repetition allows her to create simple, strong, poetic works of art. She handweaves, knots and braids thousands of strings of silk, gold and paper yarn, custom dyed in Japan. “[Textiles’] softness and flexibility and the way you can shape it, either as a fabric or a yarn, appealed to me,” Wittrock says. “Structures, texture and surfaces are essential to my work and textile can play these roles.” Wittrock’s work has been exhibited through-out the world in cities such as Copenhagen, London, Munich, Hong-Kong, Paris, Sao Paolo and Kyoto. She has won numerous international awards and in 2001 she received a prestigious three-year grant from the Danish Art Foundation. During the 1990s she produced a paper-based clothing line and large-scale commission works for companies and institutions.

Art News: Paperworks: material as medium — Eva Vargö

May 5, 2012 0 Comment


“We are living in the middle of the city pulse and are continuously overwhelmed by visual impressions and all kinds of information and on top of that we also very often have to make quick decisions. We all handle and cope with these issues in many different ways, but I do think we all need some quiet time – time for reflection to regain strength and energy in our daily lives,” says Swedish artist Eva Vargö, one of the 31 international artists whose work is included in Paperworks: material as medium, at the Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Library, which opens May 10th. Vargö deals with the life’s fast pace by weaving. “The working process is often repetitive and so it becomes meditative,” she says. “Mostly it gives me some peace of mind and my aim is to work at a slow pace. To be able to do one thing at a time without rush and to let go – to meet the unforeseen. I want to trust my intuition and my inner voice.” Vargö is a member of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) and an Honorary Member of The Korean Paper Artists Association. Vargö’s husband was the Swedish Ambassador to Korea until last September and so she has spent considerable time in that country. Vargö’s work was included in last fall’s Swedish Contemporary Craft Art, at the Korean Foundation Cultural Center in Seoul, Korea. Her sophisticated weavings in Paperworks: material as medium incorporate old Korean book paper and ink-dyed paper string. The exhibition runs through June 21st. The opening reception is May 10th from 6 to 8 p.m.; there is a Curator’s Walkthrough on May 12th at 2 p.m. For more information contact the Flinn Gallery at (203) 622-7947.

Art News: Paperworks: material as medium — Miriam Londoño

May 3, 2012 0 Comment

Miriam Londoño studied art at Antioquia University in Medelin, Colombia and at the Arts Academy in Florence, Italy. While she lived in Medelin, Londoño worked as an artistexplained the text from an exhibition earlier this year at Galerie 106 in the Netherlands.”The finished works hang on the wall as transparent paper strips with ornate characters and the words a shadow cast on the wall. The graceful play of light and dark contrasts with the emotional character of the stories described there. This paradox of light and shadow frequently reappear in her work.” Londoño’s work has been exhibited in the US, the UK, and Australia, Europe, Asia and South America. Two of Londoño’s works will be included in  Paperworks: material as medium at the Flinn Gallery at he Greenwich Public Library, Greenwich, Connecticut from May 10th through June 21st, curated by Kelly Eberly and Barbara Richards and browngrotta arts. The Flinn Gallery is in the Greenwich Library, 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830. For more information call: 203.622.7947.

Art News: Paperworks: material as medium — Takaaki Tanaka

April 30, 2012 0 Comment

Visitors to Paperworks: medium as message at the Flinn Gallery, at the Greenwich Public Library (May 10th – June 21st) will see Takaaki Tanaka’s show-stopping work, A Hardened Nest, at the entrance to the exhibition. A Hardened Nest was created by arranging threads tightly in space and then covering these threads with a paper fiber mixture which, once dried, hold its given shape in space. Combining prepared units, the artist has built a substantial wall of what he refers to as “nests,” which, he notes, are a fundamental starting point for many species of animal life. “I am interested in the way that fiber made from paper, a material harvested from plants, can take on a completely different aspect when it hardens to form a new shape inspired by the natural world,” says Tanaka. “The shapes become emotional shapes,” he says, that illustrate themes of nature, sense of touch and communication.” Tanaka’s work was featured in the exhibition and catalog for Fiber Futures: Japan’s Textile Pioneers at the Japan Society in New York 2011.

Upcoming: Events at SOFA New York this Week

April 19, 2012 0 Comment

Lectures, artist booth visits and more.  This week’s events include:

Sue Lawty, John McQueen and Norma Mnkowitz

April 19th

Opening – SOFA NY

VIP Cardholders Preview       5:00 – 9:00 pm       Invitation Only
Public Preview Gala*               7:00 – 9:00 pm       $100.00
* Available online in advance and at the door beginning at 5:30 pm
Park Avenue Armory
browngrotta arts: 25 at 25 at SOFA NY
browngrotta arts booth 208

April 20th

1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Artist booth visit
John McQueen
browngrotta arts booth 208

Detail of BODY LANGUAGE, by John McQueen

Meet with fiber artist and basketmaker John McQueen.
McQueen is one of 25 artists highlighted this year by
browngrotta arts.
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Lecture
Sue Lawty – rock-linen-lead
browngrotta arts booth 208

Sue Lawty working on a stone drawing

Lawty charts the journey of her understated and abstract works which are strongly influenced by a comprehensive engagement with remote landscape, geology and the passage of time. Seeking “an essential stillness,” Lawty’s constructed pieces and drawings in two and three dimensions explore repetition and interval in raffia, hemp, linen, lead, stone or shadow. 
4 p.m. to 5 p.m. 
Booksigning
Sue Lawty
browngrotta arts booth 208
Fiber and mixed media artist Sue Lawty will sign copies of her book, SUE LAWTY: rock-raphia-linen-lead.

April 21st
1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Artist booth visit Norma Minkowitz

browngrotta arts booth 208

Detail of Remembrance by Norma Minkowitz

Meet with fiber and mixed media artist Norma Minkowitz.
Minkowitz is one of 25 artists highlighted this year by
browngrotta arts.

25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Carolina Yrarrazaval

April 18, 2012 0 Comment

Silk, Carolina Yrarrazaval, Photo by Tom Grotta

 

Chilean artist Carolina Yrarrázaval is one of the 25 artists whose work browngrotta arts will feature at SOFA NY. Throughout her career, Yrarrázaval has investigated and adapted traditional textile techniques from diverse cultures, especially Pre-Columbian techniques.
indigo wall sculpture

Matrix II-201011 by Chang Yeonsoon, indigo dyed abaca fiber26.75” x 26.5 “x 10”, 2010

“Abstraction has always been present as an aesthetic aim,” she says, “informing my choice of materials, forms, textures and colors.” She works with simple proportions, guided by an intuitive sense and avoiding the use of mathematical formulas. This simplification and freedom from conceptual constraints combine says the artist, “to reveal a language that conjures up other impressions, such as emptiness and the need for austerity and sensuality, silence and aloneness.”Yrazzával’s work has ben exhibited in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago Chile; Interamerican Bank Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Pre-Columbian Arts Museum, Santiago, Chile; Le Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland (International Triennial of Tapestry); Graz, Austria (International Textile Symposium); Goethe Institute, Santiago, Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay (Latin American Mini-Textile Exhibition); Valparaiso, Chile (Concurso de Arte Joven); Havana, Cuba (IIIrd Havana Biennial) and the Chilean Consulate Gallery, New York, New York.
 

25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Chang Yeonsoon

April 16, 2012 0 Comment

Matrix II-201011 Detail, Chang Yeonsoon, photo by Tom Grotta

 

“Encountering the real self through meditation is at the core of my work,” explains Korean artist Chang Yeonsoon. Yeonsoon is one of the artists that browngrotta arts will feature at SOFA New York. She was Artist of the Year at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul in 2009. Four works from Yeonsoon’s Matrix series will be displayed at SOFA. The works in the series “derive from the oriental perspective that observes the human mind and body as unified. These fiber artworks  represent my own Korean formative language. In them, I minimize my body while my mind fills with abstract ideas. To transform the abstract idea into a three-dimensional structure requires a 12-step process that includes starching, ironing, cutting and sewing sparsely woven abaca fiber after dyeing it with indigo. The process of production involves an extreme level of concentration and a training of mind and body. As the work emerges, I feel myself being purified as I become one with the abaca fiber.”

Matrix Series by Chang Yeonsoon, photo by Tom Grotta

Yeonsoon’s work has been exhibited extensively in Asia and the US, including at  the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea (artist of the year exhibition); Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Insa Art Center, Seoul, Korea; Dowaru Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan; Museum of Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, Korea; Art Center for The Foundation of Korean Culture & Arts, Seoul; Moyer Arts & Crafts Center, Seoul, Korea; Museum of Arts & Crafts, Itami, Japan; Pittsburgh Arts Center, Pennsylvania; Daegu Convention Center, Korea; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii; Marronnier Art Center, Seoul, Korea; Cheongju Crafts Center, Korea; Korea Economic Daily, Seoul, Korea.
 

25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Deborah Valoma

April 15, 2012 0 Comment

The work

 

The work of Deborah Valoma, artist and Associate Professor of Textiles and Graduate Fine Arts at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco and Oakland, California will be featured in browngrotta arts‘ display at SOFA New York. Valoma has dedicated her artistic and academic career to the medium of textiles—to advancing its historical legacy, cultural meanings, and artistic potential.In 1978, Valoma graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. In 1995, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Textiles with High Distinction from CCA.  Valoma served as CCA’s Director of Fine Art from 2008 to 2011. She will return to the position of  Chair of the Textiles Program at CCA , which she heldfrom 2005 to 2008, this Fall. “Intensely research based,” Valoma says, “my creative work hugs the edges of tradition, simultaneously upholding age-old custom and unraveling long-held stereotypes of the genre.” At SOFA, browngrotta arts will display Femininity, in which Valoma reworks – literally — Sigmund Freud’s observation that women have made few contributions to civilization except as weavers, and that only because of an obsession with their pubic hair. “As I painstakingly wove Sigmund Freud’s infamous quote letter by letter,” Valoma explains, “my hands caressed the words in an ironic, yet fierce, gesture of unwriting.”

27dv FEMiNINITY Deborah Valoma waxed linen, compter aided weave structure, hand woven, stitched 33′ x 2.5″, 2008

Valoma’s work has been exhibited at the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art ; De Young Museum of Art, San Francisco, California; Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Iowa; Gulbenkin Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland; North Carolina State University Museum, Raleigh; Hoffman Gallery, Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Portland; Ginza Art Space, Tokyo, Japan; and Montclair State University, New Jersey .

25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Klaus Titze

April 14, 2012 0 Comment

Klaus Titze, TURNING TORSO, photo by tom Grotta

Klaus Titze is one of the artists whose work will be displayed by browngrotta arts at SOFA NY.  The German artist now makes his  home in Denmark.  “Living on the Danish island of Møn,” he says,  “I am fascinated by the white chalk cliffs falling dramatically towards the Baltic Sea.  Chalk slides expose fossils formed in many kinds of shapes.” Inspired, Titze designs and creates works in a special twisting technique he has developed in which willow is twisted to create thick “ropes.” He then covers the willow with concrete, evoking the illusion of fossils in chalk. The ultimate step in the process is burning the willow to imprint this unique structure into the concrete, which acts as a shell. By firing the willow until it almost disappears, Titze creates structures that highlight sculptural and architectural elements. Concludes Art Aurea online magazine, “The unusual baskets thus created have been deprived of their age-old function, presenting themselves instead as breathtaking, independent works of art….The feminine shape,..in contrast to the coarse structure.”

2kt Klaus Titze TURNING TORSO willow, burnt fiber cement 29″ x 13.5″ x 13.5″, 2011, photo by Tom Grotta

Titze’s work has appeared at Grønbechs Gard, Bornholm, Denmark (solo exhibition); Roskilde City Hall, Denmark; Grassi Museum Leipzig, Germany; the National Crafts Council, Kilkenny, Ireland; Trapholt Museum, Kolding, Denmark; Landart Lolland-Falster, Denmark; Munich, Germany; Wayne Art Center, Pennsylvania. He received the Best One-of-a-Kind Object, award at the Arts and Crafts Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark and the Bavarian State Prize, Meister der Moderne, Munich, Germany.

25 at 25 at SOFA NY Countdown: Grethe Sørensen

April 13, 2012 0 Comment

RUSH HOUR SHANGHAI Detail, Grethe Sorensen, photo by Tom Grotta

 

Grethe Sørensen of Denmark is one of the artists whose work will be featured by browngrotta arts at SOFA NY.  Eighteen large weavings by Sørensen were  the subject of a dramatic installation at the Round Tower in Copenhagen, Denmark earlier this year. The works for the exhibition,  Traces of Light: A Sensory Image of City Light, began with an unfocused camera that created images of a poetic universe based on headlights, traffic lights, shops and advertising signs, Sørensen transformed thse images into Jacquard weavings. The granular colored spots that result,  the artist explains, may be “conceived as a picture of the throbbing life of the city seen on cellular level, or as a visual expression of another dimension.” Works from the Traces of Light series will be featured at SOFA NY.

RUSH HOUR SHANGHAI, Grethe Sorensen, handwoven cotton, 28″ x 38″, 2011, by Tom Grotta

Sørensen’s work has been exhibited in numerous corporate, public and private venues, including the Museum for Applied Art, Copenhagen, Denmark; Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France; Maison de la Culture d’Arlon, Luxembourg; (Nordic Textile Triennials); South Jutland Museum of Art, Tønder, Denmark; Institute for Industrial Design, Warsaw, Poland; Museum of Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Ghent, Belgium; Lane Municipal Gallery, Erfurt, Germany; Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel; Nagoya, Japan; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks; Maison de la Culture d’Arlon, Luxembourg;  Academy of Art & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China and Trondor Engineering in Norway.