Looking Forward/Looking Back: Ruth Kaufmann

December 12, 2012 0 Comment

SPIRAL SHAPES by Ruth Kaufmann, photo by Tom Grotta

“Americans were late arrivals in the field of tapestry weaving, which may account to some degree for the fact that the American tapestry weaver is less bound by tradition than his European colleague. His historical background, however, is probably the major factor. He projects into his work some of the dynamic exploratory spirit and inventiveness that are part of his pioneer past. He feels free to investigate, to challenge old established methods, and to extend the many possibilities of his medium. Furthermore, instead of undergoing the discipline of apprenticeship, he is in most instances trained in the art and craft departments of universities. Exposure to the entire field of art, its interaction and overlapping, results in a broader, more sophisticated attitude….

photo by Tom Grotta

Although our American artist-weavers have assimilated ideas from other countries, other times, and other art media, they have translated and utilized these entirely in terms of their own identity. A compelling new form of weaving has recently appeared as a result of  their unhampered experimentation — free hanging two- and three-dimensional woven objects. These stunning sculptural creations have refused to stay passively on the wall. Instead, they have moved into space. Enthusiastically received by weavers and art lovers here and abroad, they have added a promising new dimension to the craft.”

Ruth Kaufmann
The New American Tapestry
(Reinhold Book Corporation, NY.Amsterdam.London, 1968, pp. 10-11)

Born and educated in Germany, Ms. Kaufmann studied fashion and design, textile design under Lili Blumenau, rug-weaving with with designer Margit Pardo, and tapestry weaving with renowned artist Martta Taipale of Finland. In 1968, Ms. Kaufmann was one of the American tapestry weavers who exhibited with American Craftsman, Inc. in New York. In 1969, she opened the Ruth Kaufmann Gallery in New York.

Books Make Great Gifts 2013 — Part I

December 9, 2012 0 Comment

It’s that time of year again. Over the next few weeks, we’ll offer a wrap up of books that the artists, clients and staff of browngrotta arts have been reading and thinking about this year.

Kiyomi Iwata recommends Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. Hamilton is an owner of a restaurant called Prune in New York’s East Village but she is a chef, writer and an artist. This book also comes highly recommended by collectors/family members Sandra and Lou Grotta. Kiyomi’s second choice is Growing, Older, A Chronicle of Death, Life, and Vegetables by Joan Dye Gussow, Chelsea Green Publishing. “Gussow is a pioneer of the ‘Eat Local’ movement,” Kiyomi writes, ” and a very honest and funny writer.”

Dail Behennah admitted it was hard to whittle down her recommendations for books to read, but here goes: “The best book I have read this year is Making by Thomas Heatherwick and Maisie Rowe, published to accompany the exhibition at the V&A.” The 600 pages of drawings and photographs show the work of the designer Thomas Heatherwick and his Studio, with beautifully written explanations of each project. Arranged chronologically, each project is headed with a question “Can a giant sculpture fit through a letterbox?” “Can straight pieces of wood make a curved building?” Heatherwick’s enthusiasm for these problems is infectious, and he always comes up with an unpredictable solution which is elegant and deceptively simple. “I am sure,” she adds, ” that this is a book that I will return to over and over again.” The book that Dail is eagerly awaiting is Making and Drawing by Kyra Cane to be published this month by A & C Black. “It promises to provide inspiration and an insight into the way other makers think.” she writes. “Some of my favorite makers are included and I hope that it might change the way I draw. Some of my plans on graph paper are included in the chapter, “Drawing as Planning & Design.”

A book that Gyöngy Laky predicts could be just the right gift for an art lover is The Art of Rebellion III The book about street art by Christian Hundertmark. “I am intrigued by much of the free wheeling creativity and great skill I see in graffiti but also troubled by it – particularly when it is destructive, unwanted and messy, ” Laky writes. “The front of our house got tagged one night with ugly, awkward, large, purple marks. We were not happy. In this book, however, the works go beyond just graffiti to surprising street art, clever and comic installations, thoughtful environmental art or engaging guerrilla works. There are numerous, creative, inventive, original, playful, funny, crazy and fantastic conceptual works that will delight and inspire the reader. These artistic expressions do present a perplexing problem; if they are wonderful events and brilliantly creative, but made illegally and clandestinely on private property or public areas where they should not be made, can we still love and appreciate them?”

Ane Henricksen wrote us about Dr. Jessica Hemmings new book, Warp & Weft: Woven Textiles in Fashion, Art and Interiors. The book has six chapters: “Threads,” “All Kinds of Light,” “Dynamic Responses,” “Sound,” “Community” and “Emotion.” Described by its publisher as, “[a]n excellent resource for everyone with an interest in modern, woven textiles,” this book features work by Nuno, Ane Henricksen, Grethe Sørensen, Lia Cook and many others.

Looking Forward/Looking Back: Françoise Grossen

December 3, 2012 0 Comment

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.

November 26th: Our Online Exhibition Opens With an Offer for CyberMonday

November 26, 2012 0 Comment

On Monday, November 26th, browngrotta arts will present an online version of our 25th anniversary exhibition,Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture at browngrotta.com. The comprehensive exhibition highlights browngrotta arts’ 25 years promoting international contemporary art. Viewers can click on any image in the online exhibition to reach a page with more information about the artists and their work.

“Some works in Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture reflect the early days of contemporary textile art and sculpture movement,” says Tom Grotta, founder and co-curator at browngrotta arts. “There are also current works by both established and emerging artists, which provide an indication of where the movement is now and where it may be headed.”

Since Monday the 26th is CyberMonday this year, sales of art, books, catalogs, videos or dvds placed online or by telephone that day will be discounted 10% (excluding tax and shipping). In addition, bga will make a donation to the International Child Art Foundation for each sale made from November 24th through December 31, 2012. Visit browngrotta.com. For more information call Tom at 203.834.0623 or email us at art@browngrotta.com.

Looking Forward/Looking Back: Randy Walker

November 12, 2012 0 Comment

Woven Corncrib Copyright Randy Walker 2008

Ten years ago, I wound a spool of thread around a bent-up steel tomato cage for no reason at all. The idea of using thread to make art never entered my mind. I was just playing.

Trained as an architect, I thought in terms of solid things made from serious materials like concrete, glass, wood and steel. I had no affinity for textiles of any kind. Thread was soft, formless and barely visible. It also came in colors, which any sophisticated architect would be suspicious of. Furthermore, I found it difficult to handle, and I was surely not using it for what it was intended.

As I continued to wrap the deformed metal frame, a surface began to emerge. Not a solid surface, but an intricate, transparent one that allowed the entire volume of the cylindrical shape to be seen at once. As the lines of thread multiplied, their color intensified and light played off them. It was magical. I realized that textiles were none other than surfaces like the one I was making, only more solid. I became fascinated with the idea of an in-between surface, neither solid nor completely transparent.

6rw Skimmer, Randy Walker, old cheese curd skimmer, nylon thread, steel base, 67.5″ x 21.5″ x 15.25″, 2008

Pleased with my three-dimensional creation, I went to the sewing store and bought an entire shelf of this thread. I searched for other things to wrap and found saw blades and kitchen sieves, a badminton racquet, scythes, and all manner of rusty implements to be ideal for my fibrous interventions. With each framework, I had to invent a way of adapting the fiber, and it was unknown and exciting territory.

I eventually discovered the work of Naomi and Masakazu Kobayashi, and from there browngrotta arts. I realized that browngrotta represented a small yet international community of artists that were pushing the traditional boundaries of textile arts. It was a place where art, craft, sculpture and architecture merged, unbounded by narrowly defined categories.

Randy Walker Skimmer detail

Over the years, I have continued to search for objects and spaces for my artistic investigations in thread. My explorations have led me to investigate the possibilities of fiber as a workable medium in architectural settings. At this large, public scale, I have used found objects and spaces that include an abandoned corncrib, concrete grain elevator, a historic wrought iron bridge and urban water fountains. Using fiber in the public realm challenges accepted notions of permanence and process traditionally associated with public art. I find that I must invest time not only in my art making, but in the research and development of fiber technology. On a more philosophical level, fiber has caused me to reflect deeply on what I am trying to do as an artist, and where my work is taking me.

Most of the time I am up to these challenges, but I have set out on a lonely and meandering artistic path. browngrotta is for me a beacon. I have only to look through these artists’ work to remind me of the unlimited and largely unexplored potential of this medium.

Randy Walker
November 2012

Looking Forward/Looking Back: Tamiko Kawata

November 6, 2012 0 Comment

Tamiko Kawata installations

Safety pin has been my primary medium for some time.  It functions variously as thread, yarn, clay or truss in my work process.  Safety pins entered my life soon after I arrived from Japan, out of the necessity to shorten the all-too long American clothing.

In the beginning, I made simple flat pieces, finding ways to interlock the pins as if weaving.  Each piece was an experiment and each piece took me to another unexpected stage.  Slowly and naturally I found constructing systems as I went along, using only the inherent structural properties of the pins, and I can now create from anything from drawing-like works to three-dimensional self-standing works and jewelry forms.

In 1999, I was given the opportunity to install these works outdoors.  It is a challenging and exciting practice, to expose this very domestic, usually hidden thing,  to the open, rough environment of nature, where it must face all kinds of weather and is susceptible to damage and decay.  Working outdoors gives me another angle to express my concept.

White City Detail by Tamiko Kawata, photo by Tom Grotta

I like to use materials suitable for expressing my belief in respect for common people and small lives, and things that reflect my feelings toward the American life that I have happily adopted.  The impact of the differences between these two countries, in the lifestyles and the philosophies is so great that it still preoccupies my mind, even though I have lived longer here than I lived in Japan.  Unconsciously, I continually connect two cultures.

I like to interweave these thoughts through my works… it is my diary in visual form.

Tamiko Kawata

September 2012

Hot off the Press: Our Largest Catalog Yet

October 24, 2012 0 Comment

The catalog for Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture is an ambitious venture for us. Currently weighing in at 182 pages, it features a timeline of art textile events from the 40s to the present, including the Lausanne Biennials (1962 to 1995), Fiber/Revolution in Milwaukee in 1986, Beyond Weaving in Greenwich, Connecticut in 2006, and key dates for fiber pioneers like Dorothy Liebes, Lenore Tawney, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Ed Rossbach. The catalog also includes two essays, one by designer Jo Ann Stabb, formerly on the design faculty at the University of California, Davis, on the emergence of contemporary textiles and fiber arts, the other by Lesley Millar, Professor of Textile Culture at the UK’s University of the Creative Arts, on recent developments in the field and what’s ahead. The catalog will be available in our online bookstore at  http://browngrotta.com/Pages/c37.php for $55.00, plus shipping and  sales tax where applicable.

 

Looking Forward/Looking Back: Simone Pheulpin

October 22, 2012 0 Comment

Simone Pheulpin at work, photo courtesy of Simone Pheulpin

The material I use for my artworks is very simple: raw cotton bands that I still find from the Vosges – my native region in eastern France. This material, I make unrecognizable, modifying its structure and nature by forming a dense and regular stacking of thin folds that retain their shape thanks to pins. My sculptures become organic material, vegetable or animal, and I could not imagine that they now have often travelled around the world!

In the last three years, my sculptures have been exhibited and traveled at an incredible pace, in amazing places full of history such Venetian palaces, mansions in Paris and Brussels, Swiss chalets, or European palaces (such as the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, the Hotel de la Paix in Geneva, the Fairmont Monte Carlo, the Conrad Brussels) and also in unique museums as Villa Empain in Brussels and the Museum of Contemporary Tapestry in Angers, in addition to the United States and Asia, specifically, South Korea and Japan. These worldwide exhibitions have allowed my artworks to join Public and Private Collections for which I am very proud!

Falaise 4 detail by SImone Pheulpin, photo by Tom Grotta

I am also very proud of my intergenerational cooperation with a young and talented artist, Jeremy Gobé, a graduate of Decorative Arts in Paris and winner of the 2011 Bullukian Award. Launched in September 2011, the Bullukian Award assists young artists with contemporary creation. The Award, which includes a scholarship, a workshop opportunity and the production of a catalog, was a resounding success, with more than 160 applications. The jury, chaired by Véronique Ellena, rewarded Jeremy Gobé for his exhibition project monuments hands. The Bullukian Foundation will host an exhibition of the artist in November and December 2012, and Jeremy Gobé will honor me, Simone Pheulpin, in this exhibition!

From the Vosges in France, around the world, my travelling while artworks makes me happy!

Simone Pheulpin
September 2012

Make a Day of It! Visit Retro/Prospective and Other Art Events Near Wilton, CT

October 20, 2012 0 Comment

If you plan to come to Wilton, Connecticut between October 26th and November 4th for browngrotta arts anniversary exhibition, Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture, consider adding a stop at one of the other cultural venues in our area on your trip. There are several exhibitions to choose from — all within 30 minutes of browngrotta arts:

Flinn Gallery
Greenwich Library
9 x 9 x 3: New Visions
101 West Putnam Avenue
Greenwich, CT 06830
203.622.7947
through November 28, 2012

Katherine D. Crone, Blades of Grass, Wood, Usuyou Gampish, nylon monofilament Digitally altered photograph, inkjet printed, bookbinding stitched

9 x 9 x 3: New Visions is an exhibition of works created by members of the Textile Study Group of New York to fit inside wooden boxes with 9” x 9” x 3” exterior dimensions. Juror for the exhibition was Janet Koplos, who is a contributing editor of Art in America, where she was senior editor for 18 years. Among the artists included in the exhibition are: Katherine D. Crone, Margaret Cusack, Jeanne Heifetz, Nancy Koenigsberg, Carole P. Kunstadt, Yasuko Okumura, Gail Resen, Lois Russell, Barbara Schulman, Naomi Tarantal, Charlotte Thorp, K. Velis Turan, Saaraliisa Ylital and Erma Martin Yost. The Gallery hours are: Sunday 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Thursday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm.


The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
Wendell Castle
Wandering Forms— Works from 1959–1979
258 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877
203.438.4519
through February 20, 2013

Wendell Castle birdsyeye Maple Veneer and Mahogany Table, private Collection
photo by Tom Grotta

Celebrated American designer/craftsman Wendell Castle (b. 1932) has been creating unique pieces of handmade sculpture and furniture for over five decades. Castle, who has consistently challenged the traditional boundaries of functional design since the outset of his career, was instrumental in helping to shape the American studio furniture movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He remains one of the most important American furniture makers working today.”To be inventive and playful and produce furniture which is a complement to nature, rather than in contrast to it is my philosophy,” Castle wrote in the catalog for the exhibition, Fantasy Furniture, held at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, New York in 1966.”My idea is not to reconstruct or stylize natural forms, but to produce a synthesis or metamorphosis of natural forms.” The Aldrich Museum hours are: Tuesday to Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
united states
Artist’s Projects
through February 24, 2013

united states is a semester of solo exhibitions and artist’s projects that approach both the nature of the United States as a country and “united states” as the notion of uniting separate forms, entities, or conditions of being. Timed to coincide with the 2012 American election season, united states is presented at a time when political and social divisions in this country are readily apparent, and polarization on many major issues is at an historical high. The Aldrich Museum hours are: Tuesday to Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm.

The Wilton Historical Society
Building a Future From the Past: Architecture
224 Danbury Road
Wilton, CT 06897
203.762.7257
through October 31, 2012

Architect David Ling holding, model of the browngrotta barn from the building a Future From the Past: Architecture exhibit ion. Photo by TomGrotta

This exhibition explores architects’ work to preserve antique homes while bringing them into the 21st Century. Among the homes included is browngrotta arts‘ home/office, designed by David Ling Architect, New York, New York. The Society’s hours are: Tuesday through Friday: 10 am to 4 pm; Saturday: 1 to 4 pm; 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month 1 to 4 pm.

browngrotta arts
Retro/Prospective: 25+ Years of Art Textiles and Sculpture
276 Ridgefield Road
Wilton, CT 06897
203.834.0623
October 26 through November 4, 2012

Ray Series, Mary Merkel-Hess, paper, reed, 24″ x 24″ x 6″ each, 2012, photo by Tom Grotta

This exhibition features work by more than 70 artists, some are pioneers, some mid career and some new to the field of art textiles, while others work in wood and metal, porcelain, glass and clay. Artists’ reception and Opening: October 27th, 1 to 5 pm; http://browngrotta.com’ hours October 26th and October 28th- November 4th: 10 am to 5 pm.

Looking Forward/Looking Back: Anda Klancic on the 2011 Miniartextil

October 15, 2012 0 Comment

 

Aura, 2006 artwork and photo by Anda Klancic

In 2011, Artist Anda Klancic  participated in the exhibition Energheia Miniartextil presenting the work Aura F & M in the former church of San Francesco in Como, Italy. The exhibition traveled to Milan, Venice and Montrouge in the suburbs of Paris. The excerpt below is from an interview with Olga Damiani in Arte & Arte, May 2012, http://www.miniartextil.it/news_press.php, translated with the help of the artist, Google and browngrotta arts:

Growth, 2002 by Anda Klancic, photo by Tom Grotta

“It seems to me that in contemporary art, which rightly includes textile art, the value should be appreciated by the innovative content of the work, not by conformity with measures required and antiquated techniques. Miniartextil has the great merit of being able to pass these strict limits….I used optical fiber and fiber from the bark of palm for Aura F & M, but the research of artificial equipment and plant material, necessary for the  work, was not my main thought. The choice of suitable materials was conditioned by the demands of expression. With Aura F & M I have chiefly tried to express in form of an objective construction the theme Energheia, that was proposed for this Miniartextil. I wanted to show the vital energy in the human species: the light, connected across from man to the earth and the universe, has the rhythm of breath, feeling of life. By creating this strong expressive content, communications that I consider important for humanity, I thought about various properties and the quality of the work submitted at different levels. At the first level, I inserted the shape and movement of light, as a pleasant, fresh element, one that may fail to attract the viewer’s eye in a social environment where people are bombarded at every turn by visual and audio advertising and information disequilibrium. In the second level, I tried to arouse in the viewer memories of distant experiences and thoughts of wisdom forgotten in quiet, and in doing so to create mnemonic associations in the present. The choice of materials can also be understood as a metaphor: the products are technological, they represent rationality combined with artistic intuition inherent in organic materials, again, used in order to induce subconscious associations. The diversity of rhythms lighting the two bodies, with the sources of halogen light obscured at various points, also contributes to a second level of meaning. It creates a metaphor for everyday life, that man and woman are rarely both in the light at the same moment, opening a window on the primordial difference between the sexes.”