Earlier this year, Françoise Grossen sent bga these congratulations on our 25th anniversary. Grossen’s remarkable contributions to the field predate ours. In 1972, her work was featured in, “Rope Art: A new form fit to be tied,” in Life Magazine in an article on the exhibition Deliberate Entanglements. “Françoise Grossen, a Swiss better at knotting than entomology, concocted a 20-foot Inch Worm” the magazine wrote. “Some viewers at New York’s Museum of Contemporary Crafts thought it moved.” (Life Magazine, December 1, 1972, pp.86-90). This year, Grosssen’s work, Ahnen Galerie, 10 braided bundles of dyed manila rope with appendages, 13 x 116 x 92 inches, was acquired by the Racine Art Museum. Ahnen Galerie is now on display in High Fiber: Recent Large-Scale Acquisitions in Fiber, http://www.ramart.org/content/high-fiber-recent-large-scale-acquisitions-fiber, at the Racine Museum of Art through January 20, 2013.
Looking Forward/Looking Back: Françoise Grossen
Exhibitions Abroad: On and Upcoming
West Sweden
100 Beginnings
Through September 9th
Dalslands Konstmuseum
Dail Behennah installation Dalslands Konstmuseum
One Hundred Beginnings detail
The installation features Dail Behennah and highlights 100 ways of starting a basket, some works made of copper wire and some enamel. Thicket, for example, is a three-dimensional drawings of twigs, made of iron wire. Dalslands Konstmuseum, Upperud 46440, Åsensbruk, Sweden. For information: phone +46530-30098; website: http://www.dalslandskonstmuseum.se.
ScotlandWeaving The Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012
Through October 7th
Dovecot Studios
Weaving The Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012 is the first major exhibition of tapestry in Scotland in more than 20 years. Curated by Elizabeth Cumming, the exhibition features more than 60 tapestries, rugs and designs spanning 100 years of Dovecot history including iconic and rarely seen works.The works in the exhibition represent the broad range of visual styles and technical weaving styles. In its 100 years, Dovecot Studios have collaborated with dozens of leading contemporary international artists including David Hockney, Paul Gauguin, Elizabeth Blackadder, Sir Peter Blake, Edward Wadsworth, Cecil Beaton, Graham Sutherland, Louise Nevelson and Claire Barclay. Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. For information: phone: +44 (0)131 550 3660; website: http://www.dovecotstudios.com.
WalesMichael Brennand-Wood: Forever Changes
Opens September 22nd; ends November 25th
Forever Changes is an exhibition documenting Michael Brennand-Wood’s practice over 40 years. Forever Changes will feature many previously unseen, new and important works with the emphasis very firmly on the ideas behind each piece. The exhibition will include installation, sculptural, relief, studio and commission works. It will be accompanied by a 200-page illustrate book that will present a biography of the work, exhibitions, events, places and concepts that have shaped Brennand-Wood’s practice. Ruthin Craft Center, Lon Parcwr, Ruthin LL15 1 BB, Denbigshire, North Wales, United Kingdom. For information: phone: 01824 704774; website: http://www.ruthincraftcentre.org.uk/comingsoon.html.
Canada
INVADERS by Norma Minkowitz, photo by Bobby Hansson 1991
Norma Minkowitz’s work, Invaders is one of the works included in a themed grouping on anthropomorphism in a permanent decorative arts and design gallery at the Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal. Also included are works by Niki de Saint Phalle, Gaetano Pesce and Pablo Picasso. Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal,1380 Crescent Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; (514) 285-1600; website: www.mbam.qc.ca.
Exhibition News: Sourcing the Museum at the Textile Museum in DC through August 19th
Sourcing the Museum Lia Cook inspired by Syrian 6-7th century and Egyptian 550-625 coptic textile
For Sourcing the Museum, 11 artists (Olga de Amaral, James Bassler, Polly Barton, Archie Brennan, Lia Cook, Helena Hernmarck, Ayako Nikamoto, Jon Eric Riis, Warren Seelig, Kay Sekimachi, and Ethel Stein) were invited by renowned textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen to artists explore the Museum’s historically and culturally varied collections. The resulting exhibition includes 12 new artworks that the artists created, displayed alongside the fabrics that inspired them. The historical textiles highlight the wide scope of the Museum’s collections, ranging from rare Pre-Columbian and Late Roman weavings to Japanese kimono and Central Asian ikats.
Sourcing the Museum Helena Hernmarck re-envisiones this 9th-century Egyptian fragment
Helena Hernmarck, for example, re-envisioned a 9th-century Egyptian fragment in an abstract, loose weave. “It was the color that won the day,” she says,”and getting to closely study what an 1100-year-old thread looks like woven in a carpet. There is pile in the carpet, and that made me think, in this case I would weave a looser structure to capture the illusion of pile. This is an oxymoron, since pile is the fiber being seen into its cut, and I am letting the fiber, lying down flat, carry that message. A challenge: but to me, this kind of time-consuming, visually intimate study of something greatly enlarged, is rewarding. I find the advantage of making the plastic strips carry the structure, means I am allowed flexibility how I weave the wool weft — it feels more like sketching than weaving. And it has volume, the volume of puffy wool threads, lending an extra dimension. In other words, this is a double weave, with the lower layer made with the plastic strips; and the upper, plain weave and soumak layer, made with wool, linen and cotton threads. It is the first time I have tried loosening the surface structure like this, still aiming to give an illusion of depth.”
Ethel Stein inspired by a 19th century robe , central asia, Uzbekistan and Bukhara, photo by Tom Grotta
According to the Washington’s Post (“At the Textile Museum weaving tradition into art,” Danielle O’Steen, 3/24/12), Sourcing the Museum “feels fresh and raw…” O’Steen describes the connections that the artists made between old and new as, “loose, and maybe fleeting in the grand scheme of a textile tradition. But the strength of Sourcing the Museum lies in its premise, as it challenges contemporary practitioners to consider a history of traditions, and maybe even embrace lost legacies.” The exhibition continues through August 19, 2012. The Museum is at: 2320 S Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008-4088;Phone: (202) 667-0441.
Dispatches: Palm Beach, Florida
Tom behind a work by Chang Yeonsoon and in front of a Jun Tomita ikat. 2011 © Carter Grotta – courtesy cbgimages.com
Dawn MacNutt and Ceca Georgieva installation photo by Carter Grotta
We took a few days off and visited Florida last week. More rest than recreation, but we managed to visit Cocktail Culture at the Norton, which we had seen previously at the RISD Museum. Great fun! We wound up at the Apple Store and admired the iPhone cases by Fresh Fiber and appreciated the jewel-toned, stretched raw silk panels in our room at the Omphoy Resort. We also visited friends who have two great works of fiber art: a pair of Dawn MacNutts from the Kindred Spirit series and Landscape for Men by Ceca Georgieva. On the Florida fiber art front, though, it’s hard to beat our in-laws’ collection.
John McQueen (1994) JUST UNDER THE RECORD private Collection photo by Tom Grotta
Here’s Tom behind an abaca square by Chang Yeonsoon and in front of an ikat by Jun Tomita, along with shots of a fanciful marlin by John McQueen,
two bows by Masakazu Kobayashi
Masakazu Kobayashi installation photo by Tom grotta
and work by Keiji Nio.
Blue Keiji Nio, photo by Tom Grotta
September Site-ings from New York to LA and Como to Cheongju
rush-hour-shanghai, photo by Grethe Sorensen
September offers an abundance of exhibition openings of interest. On Sunday the 11th, Connecting opened at the Ostrobothnian Museum in Finland (Museokatu 3 – 4, 65100, Vaasa, Finland; +358 (0)6 325 3800; http://museo.vaasa.fi/w/?lang=3&page=9. Ending on November 27th, the exhibition features 40 artists from Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Germany, including Grethe Sørensen.
Serino_japan society
On Friday the 16th, it’s Fiber Futures: Japan’s Textile Pioneers at the Japan Society in New York (333 East 47th Street, (212) 832-1155; http://www.japansociety.org/gallery, through ). Six artists represented by browngrotta arts — Kiyomi Iwata, Naomi Kobayashi, Kyoko Kumai, Hisako Sekijima, Naoko Serino and Hideho Tanaka — are included. (We’ll have more on the opening and the exhibition next week).
Aerie by Lizzie Farey, photo by Tom Grotta
On Wednesday September 21st the Cheongju Biennale opens in Korea (through November 30th; http://eng.okcj.org/home/contents/view.do?menuKey=277&contentsKey=137) which includes Randy Walker, Chang Yeonsoon and Lizzie Farey. On Saturday the 24th, Energhia — 2011 Miniartextiel Como opens in Italy.
Lightwear 2006 by Anda Klancic
Installed through November 20th, the exhibition features dozens of international artists, including Anda Klancic and Gyöngy Laky (former Church of San Francesco and other locations, Como, Italy; 011-39-31-30-56-21; http://www.miniartextil.it.
PRESENCE/ABSENCE: IN THE FOLDS by Lia Cook photo by Tom Grotta
The ambitious International Kaunas Biennial, Textile 11: Rewind-Play-Forward takes place from September 22nd to December 4, 2011, in Kaunas, Lithuania The Biennial offers a rich programof diverse events – collective and individual exhibits, performances, workshops and a series of conferences organised by the European Textile Network (ETN) – aimed at examining the conceptual evolution of visual and textile arts. On the 23rd, in “Rewind into the Future” several speakers, including Lia Cook, Cynthia Schirra, Reiko Sudo and Chunghie Lee, will discuss how to empower textile culture for the future, why it is important and what is to be done for the upcoming generation. Lia Cook will also show work from her latest research project in cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine including jacquard weavings and a video, in a satellite exhibition About Face. http://www.bienale.lt/2011/?p=375&lang=en Elsewhere, the Fondation Toms Pauli, which played an important role in the International Tapestry Biennials of Lausanne (1962-1995), will exhibit the works of some of the artists represented in its collection of twentieth-century textile art, such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jagoda Buić, Kati Gulyas, Ritzi and Peter Jacobi, Jean Lurçat, Maria Laszkiewicz, Wojciech Sadley and Mariyo Yagi http://www.bienale.lt/2011/?p=391&lang=en. For more information, visit the Biennial’s website http://www.bienale.lt/2011/?page_id=2&lang=en or ETN’s http://etn-net.org.
On Sunday the 25th, Golden State of Craft: California 1960 -1985 opens at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Boulevard (at Curson), Los Angeles; 323.937.4230; www.cafam.org. The exhibition, which runs through January 8, 2012, surveys an extraordinary, innovative artistic period that blossomed in post-World War II California.
The-puzzle-of-Floating-World-#2 by Katherine Westphal
Working in a range of materials and forms—from furniture, ceramics, and metals to textiles, jewelry, and glass—artists such as Sam Maloof, Katherine Westphal, Ed Rossbach, Lia Cook, Arline Fisch and Marvin Lipofsky defined the ethos of the era and the West Coast way of life through their creations. The message that these artists presented resounded across the country, shaping how people perceived their homes and instilled art into their daily lives; it made people see the fabric of their environments in a remarkably new light. The exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time, http://www.pacificstandardtime.org, a series of exhibitions, involving 60 cultural institutions, mounted in conjunction with the Getty, which celebrates the birth of the L.A. art scene.
Exhibition News: Flora and Fauna, Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Rhonda’s friends from high school in Arizona visited New York from LA and Philadelphia in early August. We talked up the Museum of Arts and Design and the High Line as must-see sites and met them at the Museum and had a terrific time. We were all Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities (through September 18, 2011), which features artists constructing small-scale hand-built depictions of artificial environments and alternative realities, either as sculpture or as subjects for photography and video. These are worlds of “magic realism” conceived and realized through intense engagement with materials, attention to detail, and concern for meaningful content.
Dorothy Gill Barnes UNTITLED 1995
Gyöngy Laky Red Birds
Mary Merkel-Hess Tall Grass
Tom & Connie McColley Along the Path
There were also some remarkable pieces in A Bit of Clay on the Skin: New Ceramic Jewelry (through September 4, 2011). Flora and Fauna, MAD about Nature (through November 6, 2011), however, was less successful. There were individual works that we liked, including Steffen Dam’s Marine Forms, Wayne Higby’s Mesa Gap and Beth Katelman’s Folly and the works pictured here (two of which were sold to collectors by browngrotta arts, and the Gyöngy Laky work that lead us to contact her about representation back in the 90s). But by mixing works featuring motifs from Nature, like fish and flowers and butterflies, with works made of branches and bark and other natural materials, the curator has created a bit of a mashup — two exhibitions with very different sensibilities installed as one. Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019, 212-299-7777, http://www.madmuseum.org/see.
Dispatches: All Things Considered IV and More at the Fuller Craft Museum
We traveled to Brockton, Massachusetts this weekend to see juried works by members of the National Basketry Organization at the Fuller Craft Museum http://www.fullercraft.org/exhibitions.html#Basketry.
Sunrise Artifact by Mary Giles
Woven Vessel by Jonathan Kline
Marked by a Sapsucker by Dorothy Gill Barnes
Among the highlights in our view: Sunrise Artifact by Mary Giles; Woven Vessel by Jonathan Kline; Marked by a Sapsucker by Dorothy Gill Barnes; Tipped by Nancy Koenigsberg a Basket Book #5 by Arlene McGonagle (of course, we’re suckers for anything related to books). Most impressive, however, were works that appeared to be diptychs. First, was a pair of large works, Cave and Snag by Linda Bills, made a year apart, but seamlessly echoing each other in shape and offering an intriguing contrast in volume.
Tipped by Nancy Koenigsberg
Basket Book #5 by Arlene McGonagle
Cave and Snag by Linda Bills
Second was a single piece, Wait, Weight by Jo Stealey, that seems to be two, interlocking basket/bowls of letters (yes, she had us at “A”). The show, which runs through December 11th, is worth seeing — with 85 pieces there is considerable variety in materials, technique and aesthetic. The exhibition would have benefited from more white space, however. The works are placed so close to one another it requires a second walkthrough to really focus on individual pieces.
Union by Christine Joy
Memories by Judy Mulford
Sidestep by Dona Anderson
Untitled 1985 by Kay Sekimachi
Kibiso III by Kiyomi Iwata
Wait Weight by Jo Sealey
CHAT by Jiro Yonezawa
Cradle to Cradle by Gyongy Laky
Calycanthus by Marion Hildebrandt
If you can get there before Loom and Lathe: The Art of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale closes on September 11, 2011, do. There are interesting works by Kay Sekimachi in this show that did not appear in previous exhibitions of these artists’ work. Although this exhibition also features a large number of pieces in a limited space, as a result of Stocksdale’s and Sekimachi’s minimalist aesthetic and muted color palette, the installation is more successful.
We missed Fold It: Deena Schnitman, an installation of cookbooks which is on view in the café because we didn’t know it was there. We didn’t miss the Flint Farm Stand, though, just down the road in Mansfield. Great fresh corn and ice cream that has people standing in line.
Dusk by Norma Minkowitz
All Things Considered IV includes 12 artists whose work is represented by browngrotta arts. Click any image to see more examples of these artists’ work.
Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton, MA 02301
508-588-6000
http://www.fullercraft.org/home.html.
Summer Site-ings: Exhibitions from Coast to Coast
CRADLE TO CRADLE by Gyongy Laky ©2007 Tom Grotta
If you vacation in the East, Midwest or West this summer, you can see work by artists represented by browngrotta arts. In Washington, D.C, at the Textile Museum, is Gyöngy Laky’s work is included in Green: the color and the cause through September 11, 2011.
FB 1008, Kay Sekimachi ©2008 Tom Grotta
At the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, you can see Loom and Lathe: The Art of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale, through August 11th and All Things Considered IV, the National Basketry Organization’s biennial exhibition from July 30 to December 4th, which includes work by Kiyomi Iwata, Norma Minkowitz and Gyöngy Laky.
KIBUSO III, Kiyomi Iwata ©2010 Tom Grotta
BINARY TRACES: DREAM GIRL, Lia Cook, ©2005, Tom Grotta
In Pittsburgh, Lia Cook is one of three female artists exploring race gender and culture in contemporary art production in Bridge 11, at the Society for Contemporary Craft through October 22nd.
Early Light, Mary Giles ©2006 Tom Grotta
Well represented in the Midwest, work by Mary Giles is included in Field of Vision: Artists Explore Place, at the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin, through October 2nd and in Basins, Baskets and Bowls: Women Explore the Vessel at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts through October 23rd.
Legs, Norma Minkowitz, 6″x7″, 1974, Neusteter Textile Collection, photo by Bobby Hansson
In Colorado, at the Denver Art Museum, Norma Minkowitz and Lia Cook are among 14 artists included in Sleight of Hand, through December 31st.
TIMELINE, Lawrence LaBianca, photo by Lawrence LaBianca
Two stops in California: At the Bolinas Museum you’ll find Lawrence LaBianca & Wolfgang Bloch: Tracking Nature, through July 31st and at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, you’ll find
MATRIX 112570 Chang Yeonsoon, ©2007, Tom Grotta
Chang Yeonsoon’s work included in Wrapping Tradition: Korean Textiles Now, through October 22nd.
Dispatches: Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art
Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, photo ©2011, Tom Grotta
Alphonse Mattia, Architect’s Valet Chair, 1989. Museum purchase with Funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Courtesy of Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
We delivered our aspiring artist (now on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/
shop/cbgarts?ref=seller_info ) to the pre-college program at RISD last week and had a chance to visit the art museum in the same trip.
The on-going exhibition iof 20th century art and design items from the permanent collection, Subject to Change, was well selected. Highlights during our visit were a weaving of saran monofilament from 1962 by Jack Lenor Larsen, a small but exquisite painting by Agnes Martin, the Architect’s Valet Chair by Alphonse Mattia (a professor at RISD) and the iconic Valentine typewriter by Olivetti. The items are changed continuously; the textiles rotated every five months to protect from light damage.
Furnishing textile, ca. 1939 American linen; plain weave, hand screen‐printed; 35.5″ x 26.25″ Gift of Howard and Schaffer, Inc. Courtesy of the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Cocktail Culture catalog available from risd/works
The Cocktail Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920-1980 exhibit is a delight. (“Highballs and High Art,” The New York Times dubbed it.) One of the largest exhibitions in the Museum’s history, it combines more than 200 items — fashion, film, jewelry, fine art, design and commercial fabrics from Prohibition to disco; from Dansk to Dior. You have until the end of July to transport yourself to a more glamorous time — if you can’t make it in person, there’s a slide show at InStyle: http://news.instyle.com/
photo-gallery/?postgallery=51241#4 and a lavishly illustrated catalog, Cocktail Culture, available from risd/works: http://www.risdworks.com.
Guest Post Alert: Crafting Modernism by Carol Westfall
In her second post, Carol Westfall reviews Crafting Modernism
Music Rack Wendell Castle, 1964 REQUIRED PHOTO CREDIT: Purchased by the American Craft Council, 1964
at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York CIty through January 15, 2011.
https://arttextstyle.com/guest-posts-carol-westfall