# 1 Lia Cook, Legs. #2 Federica Luzzi, White Shell
In January, the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a new short-session game, Art Links, that invites players to identify common threads and intriguing connections between works of art from The Met collection.
# 3 Gertrud Hals, Terra 8. #4 Wlodzimierz Cygan, Trap IV
We thought we would give arttexstyle readers a chance to make material Links between works from artists who work with browngrotta arts.
Materials to match: A) IRON – B) WOOL – C) STEEL – D) LINEN – E) COTTON – F) PAPER – G) LIGHT – H) SILK
# 7 Mary Merkel-Hess, Dark Woods. #8 Axel Russmeyer, Bits
There are 16 images in this post — 8 pairs. Based on the major materials utilized, match two art works to create a pair based the material they share. Note — We’ve cheated a bit on the names in some cases to preserve the mystery.
# 9 Simone Pheulpin, Megalith IV and VI . #10 Agneta Hobin, En Face
There are artworks by fourteen artists for you to match.
#11 Birgit Birkkjaer, Folded Baskets. #12 Glen Kaufman, Odd Man In
Here are the final two.
# 13 Hideho Tanaka, Vanishing II. #14 Kiyomi Iwata, Red Aperture
#15 Mary Giles, Fog Break. #16 Jeannet Leenderste, Amber Pleats
Here is the LINKS Key: IRON: 3 and 15 STEEL: 10 and 13 SILK: 14 and 16 WOOL: 8 and 12 LINEN: 5 and 11 COTTON: 1 and 9 PAPER: 2 and 7 LIGHT: 4 and 6
Window by Glen Kaufman, 1960. Photo by Tom Grotta.
We are wishing you love, laughter and lots of art for the holiday season and a few flashback images from holidays past.
Birds: The Gathering, mixed media by Norma Minkowitz, 2016-2019.; Basket: Norwegian White Birch Sculpture III by Markku Kosonen, 1998, 12” x 18” x 18”, 1998.
We’ve had a busy year! We are so grateful for all those who have visited browngrotta arts in person and online.
91jy Fossil, Jiro Yonezawa, bamboo, urushi laquer, 10.75″ x 14.5″ x 15″, 2019; 68-69bb Birgit Birkkjær,Mini Basket Symphony in Black & White, ashes, glued, horsehair/cotton yarn, linen, paper yarn, polyamide, viscose, 19.25″ x 19.25″ x .625” each, 2019. Photo by Tom Grotta
We are lucky to have such talented teams at Juice Creative Group and One + One Solutions to help us with outreach.
1my A Cycle – Infinity, Mariyo Yagi, mixed media (steel, FPR, sisal, resin and polyurethehane), 37.5″ x 65″ x 35.5″, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta
We are privileged to work with such an extraordinary group of artists and present the work of so many others.
Toshiko Takaezu flower pots filled with pointcettas. Photo by Tom Grotta
You all have kept us going — creating concepts and content — even in challenging economic and artistic times.
21dm Timeless Figure, Dawn MacNutt, bronze, 51″, x 21″, 2004. Photo by Tom Grotta
We’ll keep moving forward in 2025. See Japandí Revisited: shared aesthetics and influences at the Wayne Art Center in Pennsylvania through January 25, 2025 and join us at browngrotta arts in Wilton, Connecticut for Field Notes: an art invitational, May 3 – 11, 2025.
works by Mary Giles, Tamiko Kawata, Kyoko Kumai, Gyöngy Laky. Photo by Tom Grotta
5k Lava (Patched Pot), Kay Sekimachi, handwoven and laminated warp-dyed linen on 12 layers of japanese paper, 11” x 14” x 14”, 1991. Photo by Tom Grotta
We are on vacation and Maine and rather than post a “Gone Fishing” sign this week (only one of us fishes anyway) we decided to explore some pieced, patchworked, and appliquéd works made by artists who have worked with browngrotta arts. They include this striking patched pot by Kay Sekimachi and Resound, a large appliqué by Ase Ljones. Work by both artists will be featured in browngrotta arts’ fall exhibition, Ways of Seeing (September 20 – 29, 2024).
Detail: 4al Resound, Åse Ljones, rubber, silk, thread, 72” x 43.75″, 2001. Photo by Tom Grotta
Patchwork and appliqué have been integral to textile arts for centuries. Originating from the need to reuse and repurpose worn-out fabrics, patchwork involved stitching together various fabric pieces to create a larger, functional piece, often a quilt. Appliqué, on the other hand, involves sewing smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger base fabric to create decorative designs. Both techniques have roots in diverse cultures, from the elaborate quilts of 19th-century America to the intricate Indian patchwork and Japanese boro textiles.
36w Untitled, Katherine Westphal, paper and linen, 32″ x 47″, 1983. Photo by Tom GrottaDetail: 1w October: A Walk with Monet, Katherine Westphal, paper, dyed, heat transfer photo copy, patched, 60″(h) x 51″, 1992. Photo by Tom Grotta
The techniques have continued relevance. They are used in mixed media works and in upcycling recycled fabrics, leather, and plastic, reflecting a broader cultural shift towards sustainability. Contemporary patchwork and appliqué often intersect with other art forms, including modern art, graphic design, and even digital art. This cross-disciplinary approach results in innovative works that challenge traditional boundaries and invite viewers to see these techniques in a new light. Noted surface designer Katherine Westphal,created a kimono by combining Japanese subway tickets and fabric. In another, October: A Walk with Monet, she patched together images she created using paper and heat transfer. Westphal is one of the artists in the upcoming exhibition Impact: 20 Women Artists to Collect (September 21-29, 2024), one part of Ways of Seeing.
6npd Farmers Jacket, Neha Puri Dhir, cotton, reversible, Japanese 18th century woodcutter’s vest inspired, stitch-resist dyeing, discharge dyeing, patchwork, overdyeing, Sashiko on the collar, 2015. Photo by Tom GrottaDetail: 3ab Food Chain, Annette Bellamy, halibut, sablefish, salmon (including smoked salmon skins) 36″ x 21.5″, 2017. Photo by Tom Grotta
Contemporary artists use patchwork and appliqué as a medium for personal storytelling. Annette Bellamy is a commercial fisherwoman in Alaska part of the year, a part of her life that is reflected in works like Food Chain, made of pieced fishskins from a variety of fish. Neha Puri Dhir’s Farmer’s Jacket reflects a interest in upcycling and Japanese stitching techniques.
Detail: 9mo Map of Warm Area, Mia Olsson, sisal, 24.75″x 19.75″, 2012. Photo by Tom Grotta
Patchwork and appliqué techniques are powerful tools for expressing individuality. In Aphelion, the late Lena McGrath Welker merged drawings and monotypes of Ptolomy’s diagrams, constellations, plus legible and illegible writing, and blackened copper prayer tabs in a statement about the universe and our role in it. The techniques may also be used to address contemporary issues, pieced works and intricate quilts that make social and political statements. Mia Olsson’s Map of a Warm Place, for example, uses pieces of sisal to make an environmental statement.
Detail: 10lw Aphelion I, Lena Welker, Arches paper (white), Rives BFK, Cave flax, Twinrocker cotton, all hand-dyed indigo; shikibu gampi folios, silk thread, ink, handwoven and hand dyed indigo lace fragment (from The Labyrinth/Toward Illumination installation). Books have Hosho paper folios all drawn in, longstitch binding, and are tied shut with tow linen and blackened bronze prayer tabs. Mei-mei Berssenbrugge’s poem fragments are all stitched to the woven lace. You have a document with all the other citations. Silk paper scrolls stitched with silk thread. 79” x 34.75” x 6.5”, 2OO8.. Photo by Tom Grotta
We like to take a look back each January and to make plans for the year to come. Here’s a roundup for 2023.
Acclaim! exhibition at browngrotta arts
Exhibitions 4 at browngrotta arts Acclaim! Work by Award-Winning International Artists — more than 300 people attended live Vignettes: one venue, three exhibitions, three exhibitions in one: Glen Kaufman: Retrospective 1960-2010; Dorothy Gill Barnes: a way with wood; An Abundance of Objects — more than 200 people attended live
WordPlay exhibition at the Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT. Photo by Tom Grotta
1 partnered exhibition elsewhere WordPlay: Messages in Branches & Bark Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, co-curators, Debra Fram, Nancy Heller and browngrotta arts — 1597 people attended the exhibit.
8 exhibitions to which browngrotta arts loaned works Norma Minkowitz: Body to Soul Fairfield University Art Gallery | Bellarmine Hall Fairfield, CT
Norma Minkowitz installation. Photo by Tom Grotta
Paper Town (work by Wendy Wahl) Fitchburg Art Museum | 185 Elm Street Fitchburg, MA 01420
Making a Mark: The Art of Self Expression, (work by Adela Akers, Helena Hernmarck, Tamiko Kawata, Sue Lawty, Aby Mackie, Norma Minkowitz, and Ulla-Maija Vikman) Women’s Art Center, East Hampton, NY
Indigo (work by Polly Barton, James Bassler, Eduardo Portillo and Mariá Dávila, Chiyoko Tanaka, Yeonsoon Chang, Hiroyuki Shindo) Denver Botanical Garden, CO
Beyond Glass (work by Lawrence LaBianca) Wayne Art Center, PA
Lawrence LaBianca installation, Wayne Art Center, PA. Photo by Tom Grotta
Couples (work by James Bassler) Craft in America Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Ferne Jacobs: A Perfect World (work by Ferne Jacobs) Claremont Lewis Museum of Art, CA
Salon Art + Design with the Juan Garrido Gallery of Madrid, Spain (works by Mia Olsson, Ulla-Maija Vikman, Scott Rothstein, Carolina Yrarrázaval) Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
Organization Acquisitions
White Dwarf tapestry, Eduardo Portillo and Mariá Dávila and Sound by Christine Joy. Photos by Tom Grotta
Art Institute of Chicago, IL: White Dwarf, Eduardo Portillo and Mariá Dávila Yale University Gallery, New Haven, CT: Sound, Christine Joy Cincinnati Museum, OH: Haystack River Teeth Basket, Dorothy Gill Barnes Art in Embassies, Guadalajara: Cloud Formation, Christine Joy Corporate acquisitions: Lucent: Jennfier Falck Linssen; Santa Cruz: Gerhardt Knoedel
Publications
4 catalogs Acclaim! Work by Award-Winning International Artists Glen Kaufman: Retrospective 1960-2010 Dorothy Gill Barnes: a way with wood An Abundance of Objects
4 articles “In and Out of Favor: Fiber Persisted. The Rewards of Recognition,” Rhonda Brown, ArteMorbida, April 2023 “browngrotta arts’ Spring Exhibition: Acclaim!,” selvedge magazine, April 11, 2023 “Vignettes: an exhibition triptych,” selvedge blog, October 1, 2023“ “Glen Kaufman: an Art Odyssey,” Rhonda Brown, Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot, Winter 2023
Talks Live
WordPlay Exhibition Walkthrough with Co-Curator Tom Grotta, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT — 44 people attended; 221 viewed online
Artist Talk: John McQueen, in conjunction with WordPlay: Messages in Branches & Bark, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT— 78 people attended; 245 viewed online Contemporary Art Textiles and Fiber Sculpture, Ridgefield Library, CT, Tom Grotta Perspectives: Assessing Contemporary Fiber Art, Appraisers Association of America, New York, NY, Tom Grotta
Talks Online
Screwing With Order: An Online Conversation with Gyöngy Laky, with the Flinn Gallery — 77 people joined; 195 viewed since Center Stage with Pamela Kuhn, WordPlay with Gyöngy Laky and Nancy Heller, Radio Interview Art on the Rocks an art walkthrough with a twist: Acclaim!, Rhonda Brown Art on the Rocks an art walkthrough with a twist: Vignettes, Rhonda Brown
Viewing Rooms on Artsy Spotlight: Work by Norma Minkowitz and Wendy Wahl WordPlay: Redux Glen Kaufman: Retrospective: 1960 – 2010 Dorothy Gill Barnes: collaboration with nature An Abundance of Objects
23 Videos on YouTube
Outreach 200,000 emails from browngrotta arts were opened 11,537 people engaged with our Facebook posts (that’s a 75% increase over last year) Nearly 40,000 people liked our Instagram content (a 134% increase over last year) We gained 1252 new followers to our Instagram account (a staggering 13,812% jump) We posted 50 times on arttextstyle.
Thanks again for your support and attendance — we’ll keep the art coming in 2024!
15js Genesis, Jane Sauer, waxed linen and pigment, 11″ x 17″ x 8″, 2001. Photo by Tom Grotta.
Here are more images to pique your interest in our Spring “Art in the Barn” exhibition. Acclaim! Work by Award-Winning International Artistsfeatures more than 40 artists who have created art textiles, fiber sculpture and mixed media work from the 60s to the present. Each has received accolades, recognition, and awards. Among the works that will be included are several very rare and special works from the resale market.
Among these special works are Genesis, a colorful and whimsical work from 2001 by noted artist and gallerist Jane Sauer. The Smithsonian says that Sauer’s pieces “reflect her life as a mother to her children and as a productive, professional artist. [Her] closed baskets symbolize these different roles, evoking the sheltering environment of the womb and the ‘personal space’ that all artists require to create their work.”
1csh Nightfall, Cynthia Schira, cotton and linen with fabric backing, 28.5 x 28.5, 1979 and 2csh Spring Lyric, Cynthia Schira, cotton and linen with rod, 27″ x 26″, 1979
Another artist whose work we are excited to be including in Acclaim! is Cynthia Schira. Schira’s work often draws imagery from the notational codes, ciphers, and diagrams that visualize systems of knowledge in different disciplines and professions. The works in Acclaim!, Nightfall and Spring Lyric have that sense; they resemble notes jotted down in haste or using shorthand.
5was Small Double Ended, Warren Seelig, nylon, stainless steel, 63″ x 33″ x 16.375; 6was SmallWhite Wheel, Warren Seelig, nylon, stainless steel 62″ x 40″ x 12″, 1996. Photo by Tom Grotta.
New for browngrotta arts are also Warren Seelig’s works of metal and stone. Seelig has family ties to fiber milling and the textile industry and was exposed to both textiles and the textile manufacturing machinery. He received a BS from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, where he created his first woven works, then an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1974. Seelig moved from woven works to unique structural, fan-like works using mylar frames and an innovative double-weave technique. He then shifted to suspended spoke-and-axle pieces and wall-mounted shadow fields, like White Wheeland Small Double Ended, and Stone Shadowfield which viewers will see in Acclaim! Seelig has been regularly commissioned to create installations for corporate offices and convention centers. Seelig teaches, curates, and writes on various subjects related to textile, fiber, and material studies.
1gkn Santa Cruz, Gerhardt Knodel, cotton twill tape painted and printed before weaving, Mylar, metallic gimp, linen, lined with cotton fabric, 24.75” x 57” x 1.5”, 1981. Photo by Tom Grotta.
Gerhardt Knodel is another artist new for browngrotta arts. Knodel has contributed to the evolution and identity of contemporary work in the fiber medium for more than four decades. For 25 years he led the graduate program in Fiber at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and subsequently was appointed Director, being awarded Director Emeritus in 2006. Knodel’s work with fiber includes installations, theater, architectural commissions, and the pictorial potential of weaving. In Acclaim! there are three works by Knodel each of which involves intricate patterning and interesting use of metallic threads. Santa Cruz features an image of the boardwalk in California; Jacquard Suite 7 and Jacquard Suite 10 interesting patterning.
29ddm Mourning Station #4, Dominic Di Mare, hawthorn, handmade paper, silk, bone, bird’s egg, feathers, gold and wood beads, 13″ x 7″ x 7″, 1981. Photo by Tom Grotta.
The works by Dominic Di Mare that is included in Acclaim! is particularly intriguing. It includes, The Mourners, a group of woven hangings from the early 60s. It also includes a work from 20 years later, Mourning Station #4,that features the artist’s characteristic assemblage of feathers, handmade paper, beads and woven silk, one of what the Smithsonian calls his, “enigmatic sculptures from handmade papers, polished hawthorne twigs, and feathers.”
Hope you can join us at Acclaim!
Location: browngrotta arts 276 Ridgefield Road Wilton, CT 06897
Artist Reception and Opening: April 29, from 11am to 6 pm
Remaining Days: Sunday, April 30th: 11AM to 6 PM (40 visitors/ hour) Monday, May 1st – Saturday, May 6th: 10AM to 5PM (40 visitors/ hour) Sunday, May 7th: 11AM to 6PM [Final Day] (40 visitors/ hour)
8ddm The Mourners, Dominic Di Mare, waxed linen, wood, (Back row from left to right: 48.5″ x 24″; 46″ x 24″; 50.5″ x 24″; 47″ x 24″) Front row from left to right: 49.5″ x 24″ ; 46.5″ x 24″; 48.5″ x 24″) 1962-63. Photo by Tom Grotta.
Pop culture is a potent inspiration for artists, from Andy Warhol’s portraits of Liz Taylor Marilyn Monroe and Superman. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck for Roy Lichtenstein (On a Dare from His Son, Roy Lichtenstein Unwittingly Invented Pop Art, Alina Cohen, Artsy, October 1, 2018) and Pinocchio and Mao Tse-tung for Jim Dine.
164r Sports Illustrated, detail, Ed Rossbach, commercial cotton fabric, dye, silk screen, heat transfer printed, 132” x 42”, 1980. Photo by Tom Grotta
Artists whose work is shown by browngrotta arts are not immune to the attractions of these images. Ed Rossbach, is one such artist — he created a printed textile based on images from Sports Illustrated — highlighting advertisements in particular.Other works featured John Travolta and US astronauts. Rossbach is best known for including Mickey Mouse in many examples of his work — woven in damask, painted on cedar baskets, illustrated in lace, featured in embroidered photographs. Rossbach’s The New Mickey basket features images of Mickey throughout. He reportedly co-opted the world’s famous rodent in response to snide remarks about his classes and occupation. The motif came to be included in some of his best-known works — including works in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Cleveland Art Museum.
214r The New Mickey, Ed Rossbach, paper and various fibers, 12.5″ x 12.5″ x 12.5″, 1995. Photo by Tom Grotta
“If you’re doing knotless netting, you need an image, or I want an image,” Rossbach explained in an oral history prepared by Harriet Nathan in 1983. “What image do you put in nowadays? Sometimes the images were there for you, certain religious images, and now in our culture, what images do you put in? So you put in Mickey Mouse, and it’s a statement about that, too, I think. I like Mickey Mouse. I think it’s partly because it’s a defensive attitude on my part, that what people think very much is Mickey Mouse. They refer to the classes that you teach as Mickey Mouse classes, and everything is just dismissed as, ‘It’s Mickey Mouse.'” Rossbach found that very damaging. “So I put a Mickey Mouse on baskets and the most elaborate textile; I wove Mickey Mouse in double damask,” he said laughing. “I did him in ikats. I’ve done a lot of Mickey Mouses. And Mickey Mouses sell,” he added wryly.
001gk Prayer Rug III, Glen Kaufman, cotton, silk, 18“ x 15“ x 2.5”, 1983. Photo by Tom Grotta
In our recent work with the estate of Glen Kaufman, we discovered pop culture themes interested him as well. In 1983, he created a series works that took the form of diminutive prayer rugs with McDonald’s arches replacing the traditional mihrabs — arch-shaped designs that indicate the direction of Mecca.
8jb Shop, James Bassler, made of brown paper Trader Joe’s shopping bags, cut and twisted and with yellow and red waxed linen thread; 16” X 10” , 2009. Photo by Tom Grotta
James Bassler’s interest was in Trader Joe’s market — literally. He created a bag from their bags. He wanted to introduce his class to the technology of spinning. What materials do we have readily available, he asked. “I spotted a Trader Joe bag on a table, in which I had carried supplies to class,” he says. “At that point, much to my surprise, I had established my lesson plan for the day. I told them that their first assignment was to cut and spin yam from a T.J. bag. I then demonstrated what it takes to do this … I proceeded to weave, using the resulting brown paper ‘yarn.’ As I wove, my concept crystallized to create a Trader Joe Bag. It took approximately eight bags, a lot of spinning and 2-3 intermittent years to complete.”
54hh Juicy Fruit, Helena Hernmarck, Photo by Tom Grotta
Popular products often serve as graphic inspiration. Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Tomato Soup can prints and Brillo boxes are prime examples. For a commission, Helena Hernmack created a collage that incorporated a Juicy Fruit label, then wove the imagery into a tapestry.
For more information about our artists, visit browngrotta.com.
Detail: Kiyomi Iwata’s Southern Crossing Three, woven kibiso and paint, 55” x 108”, 2014. Photo by tom Grotta
Material Matters: Kibiso, Japanese Silk
This is another installment in our series of information on materials used by artists who work with browngrotta arts including horsehair, agave and today, kibiso silk.
Kibiso refers to silk drawn from the outer layer of the silk cocoon, considered “waste” in compared to the smooth filament that makes up the inner cocoon. This thick cocoon layer is also called choshi in Japan, frison in the USA, knubbs in Great Britain, sarnak in India, frissonette in France, and strusa in Italy. In the past, it had been discarded as too tough to loom.
Since 2008, NUNO, the innovative Japanese textile firm, has focused on the use of kibiso. Working with elderly women in Tsuruoka, one of Japan’s last silk-weaving towns, NUNO started a kibiso hand-weaving project. These women set up looms in their garages and kitchens for extra family income, and made woven bags out of the thick, stiff kibiso yarn, as well as handknit hats. NUNO has refined kibiso down to a thickness that allows automatic machine looming, resulting in a whole line of new fabrics, most of which have normal silk warps and kibiso wefts. As part of an effort to revitalize Japan’s once-booming silk trade, NUNO’s head designer, Reiko Sudo, also works with the Tsuruoka Fabric Industry Cooperative on a variety of products under the “kibiso” label.
The fiber is water repellent and UV resistant. Machine-made kibiso yarn was originally produced in Yokohama, writes the Cooper-Hewitt, the center of silk exportation in Japan between the 1860s until the 1920s. This silk waste was considered a high-quality material, and produced good quantities with little waste. However, the industrial process to obtain this fiber was not considered cost-effective and it progressively lost its appeal until Reiko Sudi and NUNO addressed revival of kibiso yarn production. Kibiso comes from about 2% of the silk cocoon, Slow Fiber Studio says. It contains an especially high amount of sericin protein, which means it takes dye very strongly and offers great opportunities to explore body and texture. It’s used in its original, more rigid state, to create sculptural forms, or degummed with soda ash to soften the fibers.
Detail: Fungus Three, Kiyomi Iwata, Ogara Choshi are gathered. The surface is embellished with gold leaf and French embroidery knots, 6.5″ x 8″ x 7.5″, 2018. Photo by Tom Grotta
Kiyomi Iwata is an artist who has explored the artistic opportunities that kibsio presents. Iwata was born in Kobe, Japan. She immigrated to the US in 1961. She studied at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and the Penland School of Craft. In the 1970s, she and her family relocated to New York City, where she studied at the New School for Social Research and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She returned to Richmond in 2010 and began working on a body of work using kibiso. She explained to Amanda Dalla Villa Adams in an interview for Sculpture Magazine (“Qualities of the Unsaid: A Coversation with Kiyomi Iwata,” Sculpture Magazine, Amanda Dalla Villa Adams, February 11, 2021) what apealed to her about the material.
Southern Crossing Three, Kiyomi Iwata, woven Kibiso and paint, 55″ x 108″, 2014. Photo by Tom Grotta
“Kibiso has a very different attraction for me, contrary to my usual silk organza, which is woven from fine silk thread,” Iwata told Adams. The silkworms produce 3,000 meters of thread during their lifetime, and kibiso is the very first 10 meters. “By using kibiso,” the artist says, “I am using the silkworm’s whole life output, which is gratifying. I went back to the traditional manner of using thread to weave. Whatever the thread had from its previous life, such as the silkworm’s cocoon, I left it where it was and dyed the thread.”
Iwata has made objects of kibiso and also grid-like tapestries which Adams described as apearing as fragments,… “there is an unfinished quality to them,” she writes. “Some are large and freeform, while others are intimate and marked off by a frame.” According to Iwata, the “complex nuance of North versus South” has influenced her work since she re-crossed the Mason-Dixon line. It’s been in the last decade, I that she has transformed woven kibiso made into tapestry-like hangings. “They are either dyed or embellished with gold leaf,” she explains, “and I enjoy the process as much as the results. The whole idea of working, using hands and mind, and letting the process lead me is an eternal moment of joy for me. Sometimes I use a frame to give the piece a limitation, and other times I let the wall space frame the piece. It really is a difference in how I like to present the piece.” In Iwata’s hands, kibiso leads to striking results.
The human figure in art is the most direct means by which art can address the human condition, says The Roland Collection of films on art, architecture and authors. “In early societies its significance was supernatural, a rendering of gods or spirits in human form. Later, in the Renaissance, although Christianity provided the dominant social belief system, Western art’s obsession with the figure reflected an increasingly humanist outlook, with humankind at the center of the universe. The distortions of Modernist art, meanwhile, may be interpreted as reflecting human alienation, isolation and anguish.”
Dawn MacNutt, Testimony 1 & 2, woven willow 51” x 24” x 24”, 1980s 42” x 22” x 22”, 1980s. Photo by Tom Grotta
Among the artists represented in the browngrotta arts’ collection are several who recreate the human figure in three-dimensions with provocative results. Dawn MacNutt of Canada is known for her nearly life-size figures of willow and seagrass. The sculpture and architecture of ancient Greece has been a major influence on her vision. “I first experienced pre-classical Greek sculpture in the hallways of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a teenager in the 1950s.” she says. “When I visited Greece 40 years later, the marble human forms resonated even more strongly. The posture and attitude of ancient Greek sculpture reflects forms as fresh and iconic as today… sometimes formal … sometimes relaxed. Her works, like Praise North and PraiseSouth, reflect the marble human forms, columns, caryatids … sometimes truncated… found outdoors as well as in museums in Greece. They were inspired by two study and work trips to Greece just before and after the millennium, 1995 and 2000.
Stéphanie Jacques sculpture installation. Photo by Tom Grotta
Figures created by Stéphanie Jacques of Belgium are clearly humanoid, but less literal. “For a long time I have been trying to create a figure that stands upright,” Jacques explain. “…all of this is related to the questions I ask myself about femininity and sexual identity. My driving forces are the emotions, the wants and the impossibilities that are particular to me. Once all this comes out, I seek to make it resonate in others. My work is not a lament, but a place where I can transform things to go on.”
Detail: Lead Relief, Mary Giles, lead, iron, wood, 23.75” x 56 .75” x 2”, 2011. Photo by Tom Grotta
As Artsy has chronicled, drawn, painted, and sculpted images of human beings can be found in Han Dynasty tombs in China, in Mayan art, and even in the nearly 30,000-year-old wall drawings of the Chauvet Caves in southern France. In incorporating the figure into her work, Mary Giles responded to the graphic power of the male image in early art, such as the petroglyphs of the Southwest, aerial views of prehistoric land art, and the rudimentary figures of Native American baskets. She used similar representations of men on her baskets. Her husband, architect, Jim Harris, told the Racine Art Museum, “Sometimes they were made with the bodies of the men created as part of the coiling process but with the arms and legs added as three-dimensional elements, Some baskets were supported by the legs of the figures. Later, this idea evolved into totems with coiled bodies, the legs as part of a supporting armature, and the arms as free elements. She made over 50 totems! They were small and large, singular and in pairs. They were embellished with everything from puka shells gathered at the beach, to all sorts of metal elements both found and individually made by Mary.”
In 2007, Giles made a piece with individual male figures made of wrapped wire placed directly into the wall. It was composed of hundreds of torched copper wire men arranged outwardly from dense to sparse. She continued this work by placing the figures onto panels. These dealt with Giles’ concerns about population. “They are not baskets,” she explained , “but the men they incorporate have been on my vessels for nearly 30 years. I am still working with these ideas of overpopulation, density and boundaries,” she said in 2013 in her remarks on being awarded the Master of the Medium Award for Fiber from the James Renwick Alliance.
Detail: Its a Small World Isn’t it?, Judy Mulford gourd, waxed linen, fine silver, antique buttons, Japanese coins, beads and antique necklace from Kyoto flea market, pearls from Komodo Island, photo transfers, pounded tin can lids, Peruvian beads, paper, dye, paint; knotting and looping 13″ x 13″ x 16.5″, 2003. Photo by Tom Grotta
Where Mary Giles featured male figures in her works, Judy Mulford’s figures were nearly always women — mothers, sisters, daughters. “My work is autobiographical, personal, graphic and narrative,” she said. “And always, a feeling of being in touch with my female ancestral beginnings.
43jm Guise, John McQueen, willow, 48″ x 18″ x 18″
The humans that John McQueen creates of bark often answer questions. McQueen received a Gold Medal from the American Craft Council this year. He has “revolutionized the conventional definition of a basket by raising issues of containment and isolation, security and control, and connections between humans and nature through his work” in the view of the Council, “creating highly original forms.” InCentered, that connection is front and center as a figure emerges from leaves. In Guise, a male figure wears a skirt to help his balance, the artist says. Tilting at Windmills, speaks for itself — a human figure tips sidewise on one leg — holding its own for the moment, but capable of toppling over at any time.
Collected by Norma Minkowitz, mixed media, fiber, wire, shell, paint and resin, 2004. Photo by Tom Grotta
Norma Minkowitz also began her explorations with vessels, sculptural and crocheted, adding depictions of human figures later in her career. “As I exhausted the possibilities of the many enclosed vessel forms that I had created,” Minkowitz told Zone Arts, “I turned to my interest in the human form. My earliest drawings in pen and ink were always about the human form as well as the human condition. I now returned to the idea of using the figure in my sculptures which was a difficult transition to create –making them transparent and at the same time structured. These where at once much larger and more complicated than the vessel forms. These veiled figurative sculptures were mostly created in the 1990s to the mid- 2000’s. I have also created multi-figure sculptures that illustrate the passage of time and other kinds of transitions, I call these installations sequential as I often use several juxtaposed and related figures together.”
Magdalena Abakanowicz in her art room and Klatka i plecy, Wikimedia Commons
The best-known human figures of fiber are perhaps those by Magdalena Abakanowicz, made of burlap (and later of steel). “Abakanowicz drew from the human lot of the 20th century, the lot of a man destroyed by the disasters of that century, a man who wants to be born anew,” said Andrzej Szczerski, head of the National Museum in Krakow when the sculptor died in 2017. (https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-magdalena-abakanowicz-20170424-story.html). She had begun her art work as a painter, then created enormous woven tapestries, Abakans, in the earlier ’60s, which heralded the contemporary fiber movement. These works led to burlap backs, then standing figures then legions of figures of metal, like those in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Like other artists promoted by browngrotta arts, Abakanowicz, “… showed that sculpture does not need to be in one block,” art critic Monika Branicka said, “that it can be a situation in space and that it can be made of fabrics.”
3jh Wings, Jan Hladik, wool, 1973; 4jh Der Rote Gobelin, Jan Hladik, wool, 1966. Photo by Tom Grotta
Join browngrotta arts for a private Tour and Reception in Saturday, October 15th from 4 pm to 7 pm to benefit World Affairs Forum. The event will be our Fall 2022 Art for a Cause.
The Details At 4PM, Tom Grotta will host a Private Tour of the exhibition Allies For Art: Work from NATO-related Countries. From 5 to 7PM, there will be brief Remarks by speakers from WAF and browngrotta arts will host a Reception, with exhibition-themed canapés and a curated cocktail where guests can socialize, view and learn more about the exhibition’s works of art.
The Speakers
Two experts on art and culture will speak briefly about making and protecting art in conflict zones. Cindy Maguire, PhD is a researcher and professor, and co-author of the book “Arts and Culture in Global Development Practice,” also with Ann Holt, PhD. Rob McCallum, PhD is both a practicing artist who has exhibited his work at numerous international solo and group shows, as well as a global educator with a PhD in Art Education.
left to right: 82mk, Markku Kosonen, Curly Birch 5.2, 2001; 69mk, Markku Kosonen, Object No. II, birch, metal, 2000, 17ak Anda Klančič, Human Presence, 2019; 40sp Simone Pheulpin, Ondes, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta.
The Cause/World Affairs Forum In addition to 100% of the proceeds from public ticket sales, 10% of the proceeds from all sales of art, books, or catalogs at this Art for a Cause event will be donated to World Affairs Forum, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to engaging the public and leading voices to better understand the world. Since 1946, World Affairs Forum in Stamford, CT has been providing top-level and thought-provoking presentations, debates, and discussions of foreign policy and global affairs featuring world leaders, economists, diplomats, scholars, business luminaries, corporate change-makers, authors, journalists, and Nobel laureates. Its mission is to create conversations in our community about global affairs, foreign policy, and America’s role in the world.
19sj Carapace, Stéphanie Jacques, wood, wool 46” x 12” x 6.5”, 2010-2011. Photo by Tom Grotta
The Exhibition: Allies for Art: Work from NATO-related countries (October 8 – 16) features over 130 pieces from nearly 50 artists, and will highlight work from 21 countries in Eastern and Western Europe made from the 1960s to the present. The diverse fiber works and sculpture in the exhibition were created by artists who fled repressive regimes, who have worked under and around government restrictions and who have been influenced by current conditions.
Signing Up Public registration for the general reception, from 5pm to 7pm, is $25. Public registration for the 4pm private tour + general reception from 5pm to 7pm is $50. Click to register: Art for a Cause.
Note: We will be closing registration when the gallery venue reaches capacity, so please register as soon as possible to secure your tickets.
Our Art for a Cause mixologist and master chef, Max Fanwick and expert assistant Suzanne.
Address: 276 Ridgefield Road Wilton, CT 06897
Safety protocols: Eventbrite reservations strongly encouraged • We will follow current state and federal guidelines surrounding COVID-19 • As of October 1, 2022, masks are not required • No narrow heels please (barn floors.)
The works of art in our last exhibition, Crowdsourcing the Collective: a survey of textile and mixed media art utilized a abundance of unusual materials — hog gut, kibiso silk, seaweed and agave among them. Over the next several months, we’ll take a closer look at less-than-common materials and the artists who use them. This week: horsehair.
Marian Bijlenga, 33mb Korean Bojagi, horsehair and fabric , 22″ x 20″, 2017. photo by Tom Grotta
In the early 1990s, Dutch artist Marian Bijlenga’s drawing tool narrowed to a single material: horsehair. (Jessica Hemmings, Embroidery magazine, March/April 2008, pp. 22-27). The fiber provides Bijlenga the necessary strength and flexibility to construct embroidered compositions of lines and dots. Bijlenga uses textiles in her work, but textile application is not her real interest. She secures the horsehair in her works with embroidery, but she has said “for me it is not real embroidery. Sometimes my work is in an embroidery exhibition, but it could also be in a sculpture exhibition. For me it is not so important.”
Marian Bijlenga working with horsehair
Bijlenga studied textile design but for her, weaving was too slow. “It takes a lot of time before you could start,” she says, “and I did not like the technique. I was looking for a more direct way of working.” Bijlenga took the threads held by the loom and began instead to make drawings, stiffening the fiber by dipping it in glue. ” I work with thread, fabric and horsehair, fishscales and parchment, materials which are soft, light, flexible and open to endless development.”
Marianne Kemp weaving horsehair. Photo by Tom Grotta
Marianne Kemp has developed a unique specialty in weaving with horsehair. She uses techniques that she has developed which enable her to mold, knot, curl, and loop the material — which she interweaves with linen, cotton, silk, or wool — in unconventional ways. “Through the different properties and qualities like texture, color, and the shining of horsehair, the end result can be shiny and smooth – organic and wild – flexible and stiff,” wrote Sam at TextileArtist.Org (https://www.textileartist.org/ marianne-kemp-horsehair-weaving/).
2mk Red Fody, Marianne Kemp, cotton, horsehair, acrylic, 56” x 19” x 8”, 2013. Photos by Tom Grotta
Some of her works are meditative in their repeat of patterns, others boisterous in their choice of bright colors. In 2001, Kemp created a small collection of designs based on her hand weavings with John Boyd Textiles, professional weavers of horsehair in the UK. She was excited to discover that it was possible to weave her design mechanically. Kemp spent three-and-a-half years in London, then traveled to Cape Town South Africa. With just one tail of horsehair and a loom borrowed from the local Weavers Guild of Cape Town, Kemp designed many interesting new weavings, including a large wall hanging, called Africa. “It was a great time, learning from local weavers and giving them workshops too, helping them discover new techniques,” Kemp told Sam at textileArtist.Org.
60aa Night Curtain, linen, horsehair, paint & metal. 38” x 36”, 2018. Photo by Tom Grotta
A third artist who works in horsehair is Adela Akers. Before Akers devoted her life to the arts, she completed studies to be a pharmacist, which influences her artwork. “There is a mathematical discipline in the way the work is constructed,” says Akers. “This mathematical sequence is in strong contrast to the organic process — handweaving — and materials — linen and horsehair — that bring the work to fruition.” In the 1970s, Adela Akers lived on the East Coast teaching at Temple University, but she has been creating art as a resident of Califonia for the last 25+ years. Drawing inspiration from African and South American textiles, Akers creates woven compositions of simple geometric shapes, bands, zigzags and checks. She incorporates horsehair into many of her weavings, adding texture and dimensionality. She also cuts metal strips — from recycled California wine bottle caps — and stitches them into the woven linen strips that make up these works. Her techniques and materials produce images that change under different lighting conditions. In Night Curtain, the horsehair becomes a veil through which metal can shine through, reminiscent of stars peeping through a thin curtain of clouds in the night sky.
An butterfly of horsehair from Chile. Photo by Tom Grotta.
Finally, we were introduced this month to crin, a unique traditional form of horsehair art making from Chile by Caroline Yrarrázaval. When the artist visited bga in June, she brought us a beautiful example of that work. Artisans from a remote rural area of Chile create miniature flowers, animals, butterflies, birds, angels, and witches, woven out of crin de caballo, dyed or natural-colored horsehair. Their delicate creations are unique to this part of the world, largely due to their geographic and historical isolation. The horsehair weaving in Chile uses strands from the horses’ tails — thicker, longer and sturdier than that of their manes — combined with the imported vegetable fiber ixtle to keep the structure more firm and durable. The decorative pieces come almost exclusively from two neighboring rural villages, Rari and Panimavida, located 22 kilometers east of the town of Linares in the Andean foothills, roughly 300 kilometers south of Santiago. “Sitting in their doorways or under a tree, during the evening or between domestic tasks, some 150 women carry out the intricate labor of weaving the horsehair, a tradition that has been passed down for over two hundred years, using only their hands and a needle to finish off their creations,” wrote Maria Vallejos, for AARP International (Mariela Vallejos, “Tightly Woven Community,” AARP International, https://www.aarpinternational.org/the-journal/current-edition/tightly-woven-community). The horsehair used by Kemp and Akers, by contrast, comes from live horses overseas, mainly from the Far East, China and Mongolia.