Tag: Hideho Tanaka

Art Assembled – New This Week in February

Spring is right around the corner, and things are heating up over here at browngrotta arts. We’ve been hard at work preparing to get our upcoming exhibition, Discourse: art across generations and continents (May 4 – 12, 2024), in full swing! But, that’s just the beginning of the excitement. Throughout the month, we’ve also featured an array of talented artists on our ‘New This Week’ series. Now, we’re recapping everything we covered so you don’t miss a thing.

Read on for the full scoop!

Hideho Tanaka
Featured: 14ht Vanishing and Emerging, Hideho Tanaka, paper, 12.25” x 12.25”x 1”, 2009. Photos by Tom Grotta.

We started off the month of February by highlighted renowned Japanese artist Hideho Tanaka. Tanaka, now in his 80s, continues to explore contradictory elements in his work, using time, which he sees as an agent of change, as one guide to his aesthetic choices.

In the 70s, Tanaka taught art, while participating in solo and group exhibitions as a teacher. When asked about this experience, Tanaka explained that he worked to nurture younger generations, as artists, to think not only of soft cloth, but also less-used materials such as wood, paper pulp and stainless steel thread.

Following this important work, Tanaka also expanded his art practice in the 80s to include the creation of art textiles using paper — creating dynamic works by virtue of the material used in the works and their sense of scale.

Tanaka’s work has been exhibited extensively internationally, and he has been widely recognized for his textile work. We are honored to have been able to share pieces of his work with you all!

 John McQueen
21jm Same Difference -Elephant John McQueen, wood, sticks 54” x 26” x 18”, 2013

Up next in the month, we highlighted the iconic work of artist John McQueen. McQueen is recognized for his unique artwork pieces where he arranges natural materials to make vessels, sculptural figures, representational images, and text.

More specifically, he is known for his bark-covered sculptures and drawings made of sticks, much like Same Difference – Elephant the piece we highlighted this month! These sculptures and drawings lead viewers to question their relationship to the world and their view of the natural order of things.

It is no wonder why he comes so accredited for his work! We sure can’t seem to get enough of it ourselves.

 Sylvia Seventy
17ss Thrums, Sylvia Seventy, molded recycled paper, wax, foil, wire, beads, plastic tubing, stickers and threads, 2.5″ x 8″ x 9.75″, 2007. Photos by Tom Grotta.

Things really started to heat up this month when we featured the colorful, creative work of artist Sylvia Seventy. Inspired in part by her studies of the art of the Pomo Indians, this California-based artist has been exploring innovative techniques in papermaking since the 70s.

Her vessels are created over molds, earthy bowl shapes, with embedded bamboo, cotton cord and sisal. From a distance, they look like ceramic or stoneware. On closer inspection, their fragility is evident. 

Often, her vessels feature an accretion of items: compositions of beads, feathers, fishhooks, googly eyes, hand prints, and buttons. The walls of Seventy’s vessels contain a record number of processes, that not only mark change, but trace time. All things that we think stand as a testament to her excellence in the art world!

Masako Yoshida
12my Kuu series Cubic Jack O’Lantern, Masako Yoshida, walnut and nettle, 9.75″ x 9.5″ x 9.25″, 2011. Photos by Tom Grotta

We concluded this series on a high note this month by featuring art from Masako Yoshida. It is no secret to us why her has garnered national acclaim and has been exhibited so extensively. When creating, Yoshida has made a point to work with natural mediums.

Throughout her career, Yoshida has also studied under renowned basketmaker Hisako Sekijima and has been part of a group exhibiting with Sekijima in Japan annually for 30 years.

We are continuously impressed by the work Yoshida creates, and we are proud to have the opportunity to exhibit her work at bga!


We hope you enjoyed our February ‘New This Week’ series! Stay tuned for some exciting months ahead with our upcoming exhibition. For more information or to register for the event now click here.


Presents With Presence – an artful gift guide

Jin-Sook So gold boxes
54jss Black 15 Boxes, Jin-Sook So, steel mesh, electroplated gold, gold leaf, painted acrylic and patinated thread, 43″ × 65″ × 3″, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta.

Out of ideas for the ideal gift for a cherished friend or family member? Consider a work of art. It will make an indelible impression. In its Guide to Giving Art as a GiftDecktheWalls.com notes “Even for the person who has everything, a piece of artwork makes an amazing gift. It shows forethought, effort and a flair for gift giving. Art is a wonderful gift for any occasion, whether it is for Christmas or Hanukkah, a baby shower, a wedding or thank you gift.” 

Glass Hand by Dorothy Gill Barnes
83dgb In Hand, Dorothy Gill Barnes, cherry wood, cast glass (glass by Ohio State University department of art students), 7” x 7” x 3.5”, 2000s-2010s. Photo by Tom Grotta
Small Bamboo Vase
104jy Black Laybug, Jiro Yonezawa, bamboo, glass, kiribako box, 6.5″ x 4.75″ x 5″, 2021 (Box 7.25″ x 5.5″ x 5.5″). Photo by Tom Grotta
Small woven silk Glen Kaufman weaving
040gk Kyoto Kawara IV, Glen Kaufman, yarn-dyed woven silk, copper leaf, 15″ x 14″ x 2.5″, 1995. Photo by Tom Grotta.

The benefits of viewing art are well documented — looking at art stimulates the brain and puts our innate knack for organizing patterns and making sense of shapes to use. In addition, viewing art boosts our mood. Looking at a painting, sculpture, or other artwork increases blood flow to the brain by as much as 10% — the equivalent of looking at someone you love. Choosing an art gift is an effective way to say, “Your well-being matters to me.”

small Sue Lawty weaving
30sl Tacitum II, Sue Lawty, hemp and linen on cotton warp, 11.75” x 8.5” x 1″, 2022. Photo by Tom Grotta.

Here are some suggestions for one-of-kind items that may be just what you are looking for.

Jennifer Falck Linssen hand carved paper sculpture
9jl Arezzo, Jennifer Falck Linssen, Katagami-style handcarved archival cotton paper, aluminum, waxed linen, paint, and varnish, 6.5″ x 30″ x 9″, 2011. Photo by Tom Grotta.

Some come with their own boxes. We can wrap your gift if you order it this week.

Hideho Tanaka collage drawing
31ht Emerging 008, Hideho Tanaka, Japanese carbon ink drawing, inkjet print, collage cotton cloth, Japanese tissue paper, 14.5” x 18.325” x 1.25,” 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta.

Art Out and About: US

The opportunities to see great art are endless this summer! Heading to the West Coast for work? Take a detour and visit  the newly opened Nordic Museum to check out Northern Exposure: Contemporary Nordic Arts Revealed in Seattle, WashingtonVisiting friends or family in the Northeast? Make plans to spend the day in New Haven and see Text and Textile at The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library on Yale’s campus. Whether you are in the North, South, East or West there are a wide variety of strong exhibitions on display across the US this summer, here are a few of our favorites:

Grethe Wittrock's Nordic Birds at the Nordic Museum

Grethe Wittrock’s Nordic Birds at the Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Grethe Wittrock

Northern Exposure: Contemporary Nordic Arts Revealed at the Nordic Museum, Seattle, Washington

The newly opened Nordic Museum hopes to share and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds through Nordic art. The museum is the largest in the US to honor the legacy of immigrants from the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Northern Exposure studies “how the Nordic character continues to redefine itself within an evolving global context” by challenging “perceptions of form, gender, identity, nature, technology and the body,” explains the Museum. The exhibition features work by internationally acclaimed artists, including Grethe Wittrock, Olafur Eliasson, Bjarne Melgaard, Jesper Just, Kim Simonsson and Cajsa Von Zeipel. Made of Danish sailcloth, Wittrock’s Nordic Birds immediately attracts the eye upon entering the exhibition. Northern Exposure: Contemporary Nordic Arts Revealed will be on display through September 16, 2018. For more information click HERE.

Traces: Wonder by Lia Cook at the Racine Art Museum, Gift of Karen Johnson Boyd. Photo by Jon Bolton

Traces: Wonder by Lia Cook at the Racine Art Museum, Gift of Karen Johnson Boyd. Photo by Jon Bolton

Honoring Karen Johnson Boyd: Collecting In-Depth at Home and at RAM, Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin

The Racine Art Museum’s new exhibit Honoring Karen Johnson Boyd: Collecting In-Depth at Home and at RAM showcases art advocate and collector Karen Johnson Boyd’s collection of ceramic, clay and fiber art. The exhibition, which is broken up into a series of four individually titled exhibitions, with varying opening and closing dates, highlight Boyd’s interests, accomplishments and lifelong commitment to art. Throughout her life, Boyd was drawn to a diverse array of artistic styles and subjects. Boyd, who collected fiber in an encyclopedic fashion, supported artists of varying ages with varying regional, national and international reputations. Boyd’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home provided her with many display options for her fiber collection. Though baskets encompassed the majority of Boyd’s fiber collection, she regularly altered her environment, adding and subtracting works as she added to her collection. The exhibitions feature work from Dorothy Gill Barnes, Lia Cook, Kiyomi Iwata, Ferne Jacobs, John McQueen, Ed Rossbach, Hideho Tanaka, Mary Merkel-Hess, Norma Minkowitz, Lenore Tawney and Katherine Westphal. Honoring Karen Johnson Boyd: Collecting In-Depth at Home and at RAM will be on display at the Racine Art Museum through December 30th, with exhibited pieces changing over in mid-September. For more information on Honoring Karen Johnson Boyd: Collecting In-Depth at Home and at RAM visit the Racine Art Museum’s website HERE.

Text and Textile at The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Text and Textile at The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut

In New Haven, Connecticut, The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently opened Text and Textile. The exhibition, which will be on display through August 12th, explores the relationship and intersection between text and textile in literature and politics.Text and Textile draws on Yale University’s phenomenal collection of literature tied to textiles, from Renaissance embroidered bindings to text from Anni Albers’ On Weaving. Additionally, the exhibition features: Gertrude Stein’s waistcoat; manuscript patterns and loom cards from French Jacquard mills; the first folio edition of William Shakespeare’s plays; the “Souper” paper dress by Andy Warhol; American samplers; Christa Wolf’s “Quilt Memories”; Zelda Fitzgerald’s paper dolls for her daughter; Edith Wharton’s manuscript drafts of “The House of Mirth”; an Incan quipu; poetry by Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Susan Howe and Walt Whitman; and “The Kelmscott Chaucer” by William Morris. For more information on Text and Textile click HERE.

Kaki Shibu by Nancy Moore Bess. Lent by Browngrotta Arts

Kaki Shibu by Nancy Moore Bess. Lent by Browngrotta Arts

Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry In America at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Houston, Texas

The traveling exhibition Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry In America is now on display at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas. The exhibition, which is set to travel around the United States through the end of 2019, chronicles the history of American basketry from its origins in Native American, immigrant and slave communities to its presence within the contemporary fine art world. Curated by Josephine Stealy and Kristin Schwain, the exhibition is divided into five sections: Cultural Origins, New Basketry, Living Traditions, Basket as Vessel and Beyond the Basket which aim to show you the evolution of basketry in America. Today, some contemporary artists seek to maintain and revive traditions practiced for centuries. However, other work to combine age-old techniques with nontraditional materials to generate cultural commentary. Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry In America features work by browngrotta arts’ artists Polly Adams Sutton, Mary Giles, Nancy Moore Bess, Christine Joy, Nancy Koenigsberg, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Ferne Jacobs, Gyöngy Laky, Kari Lønning, John McQueen, Norma Minkowitz, Leon Niehues, Ed Rossbach, Karyl Sisson and Kay Sekimachi.

Kay Sekimachi in Handheld at the Aldrich Museum

Kay Sekimachi in Handheld at the Aldrich Museum. Photo by Tom Grotta

Handheld at the Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut

The Aldrich Museum’s new exhibition Handheld explores how contemporary artists’ and designers’ perceive the meaning of touch. Touch is one of the most intimate and sometimes unappreciated senses. Today, the feeling our hands are most familiar with are our that of our handheld devices and electronics. Touch is no longer solely used to hold objects such as pencils and tools, in fact, touch is increasingly taking the form of a swipe, where the sensation is ignored in favor to the flat visual landscapes of our own selection. “Handheld takes a multifarious approach—the hand as means of creation, a formal frame of reference” explains the Aldrich Museum. It serves the viewer as “a source of both delight and tension as they experience sensual objects in familiar domestic forms, scaled for touch, that can be looked upon but not felt.” The group exhibition, which features work by Kay Sekimachi will be on display until January 13, 2019. For more information on Handheld click HERE.


Still Crazy…30 Years: The Catalog

Still Crazy...30 Years: The Catalog Cover Naoko Serino and Mary Yagi

Still Crazy…30 Years: The Catalog

It’s big! It’s beautiful (if we do say so ourselves –and we do)! The catalog for our 30th anniversary is now available on our new shopping cart. The catalog — our 46th volume — contains 196 pages (plus the cover), 186 color photographs of work by 83 artists, artist statements, biographies, details and installation shots.

Still Crazy...30 Years: The Catalog

Naoko Serino Spread

Still Crazy...30 Years: The Catalog

Michael Radyk Spread

Still Crazy...30 Years: The Catalog

Lilla Kulka Spread

Still Crazy...30 Years: The Catalog

Jo Barker Spread

The essay, is by Janet Koplos, a longtime editor at Art in America magazine, a contributing editor to Fiberarts, and a guest editor of American Craft. She is the author of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture (Abbeville, 1990) and co-author of Makers: A History of American Studio Craft (University of North Carolina Press, 2010). We have included a few sample spreads here. Each includes a full-page image of a work, a detail shot and an artist’s statement. There is additional artists’ biographical information in the back of the book. Still Crazy After All These Years…30 years in art can be purchased at www.browngrotta.com http://store.browngrotta.
com/still-crazy-after-all-these-years-30-years-in-art/.
Our shopping cart is mobile-device friendly and we now take PayPal.


Contemporary Art Influenced by Korea and Japan: An Unexpected Approach

Opens September 16th in Greenwich, Connecticut

Mary Yagi Outdoor Sculptor Art from Japan

Mariyo Yagi preparing her outdoor sculpture “A cycle- Infinity” for the upcoming exhibit in the US. Photo by Yuna Yagi

From September 16th to November 4, 2016, the Bendheim Gallery of the Greenwich Arts Council in Greenwich, Connecticut will present Contemporary Art Influenced by Korea and Japan: An Unexpected Approach, curated by browngrotta arts. The exhibition includes select works of ceramics, textiles, baskets and sculptures by artists from Japan, Korea and the United States that each reflect an Asian sensibility.

Textiles and Ceramic Art from Korea and Japan

Weaving by Chiyoko Tanaka, Ceramic by Yasuhisa Kohyama. Photo by Tom Grotta

Varied materials and techniques

The 23 artists in this exhibit have a close relationship to a traditional craft aesthetic, manifested in a contemporary manner. They have chosen conventionally Asian materials and/or techniques (dyes, papers, gold leaf, persimmon tannin, kategami) used in both time-honored and unconventional ways. Examples include studies by Hiroyuki Shindo of the vanishing art of natural indigo dyeing and by Jun Tomita on ikat dyeing.  Jennifer Linssen’s innovative sculptures of katagami and Keiji Nio’s Interlacing-R, which references complex Japanese sumihimo braiding reimagine conventional techniques. Masakazu and Naomi Kobayashi, Naoko Serino and Kyoko Kumai also create new relationships among disparate material and techniques.

Kiyomi Iwata Gold Mesh Sculpture

Auric Grid Fold, Kiyomi Iwata, aluminum mesh, french embroidery knots, gold leaf, silk organza, 19″ x 18″ x 10″, 2013. Photo by Tom Grotta

In other works, like Kiyomi Iwata’s Auric Gold Fold, Glen Kaufman’s Shimogamo Scrolls: Studio View II and Jin-Sook So, Pojagi Constructions I and II, gold and silver leaf play a role, their luster and longevity suggesting immortality, power, divinity. The artists share a concern for surface and material interaction, evident in Chiyoko Tanaka’s Grinded Fabric-Three Squares Blue Threads and Blue #689, of linen distressed with earth and stones, Hideho Tanaka’s Vanishing and Emerging series of stainless steel and singed paper and Mariyo Yagi’s twisted rope sculpture, A cycle-Infinity. The artists in Contemporary Art Influenced by Korea and Japan: An Unexpected Approach create work that is formal and contained while visibly involving the hand of the artist. This exhibition is a collaboration between the Greenwich Arts Council and browngrotta Arts.

The complete list of artists participating in this exhibition is:

Nancy Moore Bess (United States); Pat Campbell (United States); Kiyomi Iwata (Japan); Glen Kaufman (United States); Masakazu Kobayashi (Japan); Naomi Kobayashi (Japan); Yasuhisa Kohyama (Japan); Kyoko Kumai (Japan); Jennifer Falck Linssen (United States); Keiji Nio (Japan); Toshio Sekiji (Japan); Hisako Sekijima (Japan); Naoko Serino (Japan); Hiroyuki Shindo (Japan); Jin-Sook So (Korea/Sweden); Norkiko Takamiya (Japan); Chiyoko Tanaka (Japan); Hideho Tanaka (Japan); Takaaki Tanaka (Japan); Jun Tomita (Japan); Mariyo Yagi (Japan); Chang Yeonsoon (Korea); Jiro Yonezawa (Japan); Shin Young-ok (Korea).

The Bendheim Gallery is located at 299 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, Connecticut; 203.862.6750; info@greenwicharts.org.


Art Update: April Openings and Closings Here and Abroad

Beyond the Trees: Dona Look and Dorothy Gill Barnes. Photo courtesy of the Wood Turning Center

Beyond the Trees: Dona Look and Dorothy Gill Barnes. Photo courtesy of the Wood Turning Center

It’s a Spring chock full of interesting exhibitions in the US and abroad. You’ve have just a few days remaining to see Beyond the Trees: Dona Look and Dorothy Gill Barnes http://centerfor
artinwood.org/
exhibition/dorothy-
gill-barnes-dona-
look-beyond-the-
trees/ at the Center for Wood Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two browngrotta artist are featured in this exhibition, which closes April 23rd.

photo by Tom Grotta, Green From the Get Go, Morris Museum

Photo by Tom Grotta, Green From the Get Go, Morris Museum

Their work can also be seen through June 26th at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey in Green From the Get Go: Contemporary International Basketmakers, curated by browngrotta arts. In New York, New York, the Experiments in Art & Digital Technologies includes innovative bga artist Lia Cook, http://www.liacook.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EADT-Press.pdf who will lecture in New York on May 5th https://creativetechweek2016.sched.org/event/6DN5/weaving-and-digital-innovation.

12 of 32 Lia Cook Su Series Tapestries

12 of 32 Lia Cook Su Series Tapestries

Work by Lia Cook is also front and center in a San Francisco, California exhibition, Lines that Tie: Carol Beadle and Lia Cook http://sfmcd.org/press-release-lines-that-tie/ the exhibition is curated by bga artist, Deborah Valoma. Cook will lecture there tomorrow, April 21st. Identify Yourself, in Honolulu, Hawaii http://honolulumuseum
.org/art/exhibitions/
15320-identify_yourself/
, which closes this week, on April 24th, also features work by Lia Cook. Two events in Wilton, Connecticut to attend. Hickory, Ash and Reed: Traditional Baskets, Contemporary Makersat the Wilton Historical Society, http://www.wiltonhistorical.
org/exhibitions.html
, Includes several baskets by the late Marian Hildebrandt, whose work is represented by browngrotta arts and whose work is also currently on exhibit in Green from the Get: International Contemporary Basketmakers at the Morris Museum.

Detail of Nordic Gold by Birgit Birkkjaer. Photo by Tom Grotta

Detail of Nordic Gold by Birgit Birkkjaer. Photo by Tom Grotta

Artboom: Celebrating Artists Mide-Century, Mid-Career is open at browngrotta arts for just 10 days, from April 30th-May 8th https://arttextstyle.com/
2016/04/19/art-barn-
2016-artboom-
celebrating-artists-
mid-century-mid-
career-wilton-ct-
april-30th-may-8th/
.

MER LUMINEUSE and J'AI MA LA MER S'ILLUMINER by Mariette Rousseau-Vermette. Photo by Tom Grotta

Mer Lumineuse and J’ai Ma La Mer S’illuminer
by Mariette Rousseau-Vermette. Photo by Tom Grotta

In the halls of the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, Nomadic tapestries, an exhibition of some of the extensive contemporary collection of the Toms Pauli Foundation, traces in the evolution of textile art from the 1960s to 2000s,
http://www.musees.vd.ch/en/museem-beaux-arts/exhibition/past-exhibitions/tapisseries-nomades-fondation-toms-pauli-collection-xxe-siecle/. browngrotta arts has work available by twelve of the artists included in this very significant international survey of art textiles — Magadalena Abakanowicz, Lia Cook, Sheila Hicks, Jan HladikRitzi Jacobi, Naomi Kobayashi, Maria Laszkiewicz, Jolanta Owidzka, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, Wojciech Sadley, Sherri Smith and Hideho Tanaka. The exhibition will be on view through May 29th. In Tilburg, the Netherlands the Textile Museum is hosting a major retrospective of American artist and textile pioneer Sheila Hicks, born 1934 http://www.textielmuseum.nl. Internationally renowned, thanks to her participation in numerous large solo and group exhibitions, this is her first appearance in the Netherlands for many years. The exhibition extends through June 5, 2016.


In Honor of Asia Week: Eight More Japanese Artists

Among the museum offerings in Asia Week New York 2013 is the Guggenheim’s No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, through May 22nd.The first exhibition in the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative features work by 22 artists and collectives representing some of the most compelling and innovative voices in South and Southeast Asia today. No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia revokes national borders as limits to understanding, revealing in their place networks of influence and resistance. It will be followed by art from Latin America and the Middle East. At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street), New York, New York. And, as our last tribute to Asia Week, the work of eight more artists from Japan — basketmakers, weavers and a ceramist.

Revolving Gaps Between 03 by Noriko Takamiya, photo by Tom Grotta

Revolving Gaps Between 03 by Noriko Takamiya, photo by Tom Grotta

Norkiko Takamiya (Japan)

Four Squares by Chiyoko Tanaka, photo by Tom grotta

Four Squares by Chiyoko Tanaka, photo by Tom grotta

Chiyoko Tanaka (Japan)

Vanishing: Emerging 1, 3 & 4 by Hideho Tanaka, photo by Tom Grotta

Vanishing: Emerging 1, 3 & 4 by Hideho Tanaka, photo by Tom Grotta

Hideho Tanaka (Japan)

A Harden Nest by Takaaki Tanaka, photo by Tom Grotta

A Harden Nest by Takaaki Tanaka, photo by Tom Grotta

Takaaki Tanaka (Japan)

Imyo by Tsuruko Tanikawa, photo by Tom Grotta

Imyo by Tsuruko Tanikawa, photo by Tom Grotta

Tsuruko Tanikawa (Japan)

Kasuri Panels by Jun Tomita, photo by Tom Grotta

Kasuri Panels by Jun Tomita, photo by Tom Grotta

Jun Tomita (Japan)

Untitled by Jiro Yonezawa, photo by Tom Grotta

Untitled by Jiro Yonezawa, photo by Tom Grotta

Jiro Yonezawa (Japan)

Kuu 410 and 441 by Masako Yoshida, photo by Tom Grotta

Kuu 410 and 441 by Masako Yoshida, photo by Tom Grotta

Masako Yoshida (Japan)


Coast to Coast — Exhibitions Around the US

Here’s a round up of exhibitions throughout the US that are worth traveling to see.  They are listed in date order — a few of them close this month or next; others are open through the fall.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Craft Spoken Here
Last Week – through August 12th

Artists in the exhibit include: clockwise; WATERFALL by Lenore Tawney; SPIRALS AND PATHS by Rebecca Medel; CERAMIC 42 by Yasuhisa Kohyama; BODY LANGUAGE by John McQueen; SEASIDE by Krystyna Wojtyna-Drouet; RAY by Mary Merkel-Hess

With Craft Spoken Here, curated by Elisabeth Agro, the Nancy M. McNeil Associate Curator of American Modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art seizes the opportunity to experiment with its craft collection and to understand craft in an international context. Some 40 contemporary works from 1960 to the present in ceramic, glass, metal, wood, lacquer, paper and fiber—some by living, acclaimed artists, including Lenore Tawney, Rebecca Medel, Yasuhisa Kohyama, John McQueen,  Krystyna Wojtyna-Drouet, and Mary Merkel-Hess and others by lesser-known creators—are on view. Representing the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe, the works highlight formal qualities that cross cultures, time, and media. Hear Agro describe the evolution of the exhibition and the installation of Tawney’s Fountain of Water and Word, in a podcast at the art blog.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Perelman Building
2525 Pennsylvania Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19130
phone 215.763.8100
www.philamuseum.org

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
At First Light: The Katagami Sculpture of Jennifer Falck Linssen
through September 16, 2012

Handcrafted vessel of katagami-style handcarved paper. Materials include archival cotton paper, aluminum, waxed linen, paint, varnish, freshwater pearl, and sterling silver.

Utilizing the ancient Japanese paper carving technique of katagami, Colorado-based artist Jennifer Falck Linssen creates three-dimensional sculptures that explore the beauty of line and the delicacy of nature. Since 2003, Jennifer has been shaping katagami stencils into three-dimensional vessels and sculptures, combining the katagami paper carving with more traditional metal-smithing and basketry techniques to create contemporary sculptures that transform the two-dimensional stencil into a unique three-dimensional art form.

Myrtle Beach Museum of Art
3100 South Ocean Boulevard
(across from Springmaid Pier)
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
phone 843.238.2510
fax 843.238.2910
www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org

East Hampton, New York
Accumulations NOW
through October 6th

Dawn MacNutt is one of the artists included in Accumulations NOW

Accumulations: NOW bills itself as, “[s]imply, the best of craft. NOW.” Cuurated by Jack Lenor Larsen, the exhibition at LongHouse Reserve features 500 works made in the last 100 years, including a number of important pieces from the collection of the late Dena Katzenberg. Artists shown in the NOW collections include, in fiber Anni Albers, Jun-ichi Arai, Dawn MacNutt, Ed Rossbach, Peter Collingwood, Ethel Stein, Helena Hernmarck and Chunghie Lee; in clay Hans Coper, Toshiko Takezu and Peter Voulkos; hollowware by Chunghi Choo; and furniture masters including Judy Kensley McKie and Edward Wormley. You can see the exhibition catalog and installation shots, here: Accumulations_Now_Catalog.pdf and here: http://www.longhouse.org

LongHouse Reserve
133 Hands Creek Road  East Hampton, NY 11937
phone 631.604.5330
http://longhouse.org

 

San Francisco, California
Fiber Futures: Japan’s Textile Pioneers
Part one through October 6th
Part two October 13 – December 29th

Takaaki Tanaka in front of his work at Fiber Futures when it was in New York at the Japan Society

If you missed this remarkable exhibition last fall at the Japan Society in New York (or in an earlier incarnation in Japan) you’ve got another chance. Fiber Futures explores a new art that is emerging from a remarkable fusion of Japanese artisanal and industrial textile making. Coaxed from materials as age-old as hemp and newly developed as microfilaments, a varied array of works by 30 artists from multiple generations, including Hisako Sekijima, Takaaki TanakaNaoko Serino, Hideho Tanaka, Naomi Kobayahsi and Kyoko Kumai, are on view in this important two-part exhibition.

Museum of Craft and Folk Art
51 Yerba Buena Lane
San Francisco, CA 94103
phone 415.227.4888
http://www.mocfa.org

Minneapolis, Minnesota
In Our Nature: Tapestries of Helena Hernmarck
through October 14th

Helena Hernmarck 2009 FOREST PATH , wool and linen, 6′ 7″ x 6′ 7

In Our Nature: Tapestries of Helena Hernmarck, is an assemblage of 19 large-scale tapestries by  legendary trompe-l’oeil weaver, Helena Hernmarck. Monumental works immerse the viewer in the best of nature: lush blooms, rich green forest scenes, and sunny poppy pastures. Hernmarck’s work represents a lifetime of closely honed weaving technique that combines intensely sensitive attention to color with one-of-a-kind combination of textures creating layered, shaded effects. The tapestries in In Our Nature: Tapestries of Helena Hernmarck are on loan from three major arts museums, several corporate and individual collectors, and from Hernmarck’s own collection.

American Swedish Institute
2600 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55407
phone 612.871.4907
http://www.asimn.org


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 11thConnecting 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 25thGolden 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 Timehttp://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.