Tag: Nancy Koenigsberg

Art Assembled: October

October 29, 2025 0 Comment

October was another month of intriguing artworks.; we featured four works from our recent exhibition, Beauty is Resistance: art as antidote. In Beauty, we celebrated artists for whom aesthetic creation serves as a form of radical defiance, cultural preservation, and political voice. In the exhibition, international artists spanning generations and geographies, challenged the notion of beauty as mere indulgence and reframed it as a tool for protest, remembrance, and imagination. 

Aby Mackie Gold wall hanging
Aby Mackie, We Can All Be Saved 19, repurposed textile, gold and copper leaf, shellac
79″ x 35″, 2024. Photo by Tom Grotta

First up was Aby Mackie’s Fragments of a Life Lived 3  made in 2025. Mackie’s textile-based artwork engages with themes of ecology, history, and resistance through a process of reclamation and transformation. Working with discarded historic textiles, she deconstructs and reconfigures them—disrupting their original function to create new meaning. In Fragments of a Life Lived 3 she used antique-ticking fabric as both material and metaphor. Once utilitarian, worn by time and use, the fabric is reconstructed through stitching and further manipulated with paint and gold leaf. These interventions reimagine its surface to form layered, disrupted visual narratives—echoing stories of erosion, endurance, and renewal. The use of gold leaf requires viewers to stop and consider what should be valued and what should be discarded.

Blue/Green Cooper Nancy Koenigsberg Wall sculpture
Nancy Koenigsberg, Ocean, coated copper wire, 32″ x 32″ x 3″, 2025, Photo by Tom Grotta

Next we focused on Ocean by Nancy Koenigsberg. The work is a meditation on movement and endurance, rendered in wire—an industrial material shaped into an evocation of tides, currents, and undertow. The piece positions material practice as a form of quiet defiance—an insistence on remembering, marking, and enduring. “The work is concerned with ecology,” Koenigsberg says, “as I’ve been very perturbed by the recent flooding and storms across the country.”

Mary Giles Waxed linen figurative sculpture
Mary Giles, 25mg Grey Shadow, waxed linen with iron base, 24.75” x 10.625” x 5”, 2001. Photo by Tom Grotta

In Grey Shadow, by Mary Giles, the human figure is used both as a formal reference and as an element of commentary. Throughout her career, Giles investigated various media including waxed linen, porcupine quills, and a number of metals like copper and iron. Giles often used coiling—a process associated with Native American basket traditions—to move between two and three dimensions in her sculpture. Giles said of her work, “I interpret and express explored communication and intimacy in relationships. The results are reflected in my figural work. I admire the directness and honesty I see in tribal art and I try to incorporate those qualities in my own.”

Neha Puri Dhir silk textile
Neha Puri Dhir, 11npd Luster of Time, pleating and stitch-resist dyeing on handwoven silk, 18.75″ x 18.25″ x 2.5″, 2023. Photo by Tom Grotta

The last work we looked at in October was Luster of Time, by Neha Puri Dhir. Dhir‘s textile study has been broad based, including time at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India, studies in Italy, Latvia, the UK, and a workshop with Americans Yoshiko Wada and Jack Larsen. Dhir has intentionally explored a variety of textile techniques, developing a particular appreciation for shibori and stitch resist. The delicate lines and textures in Luster of Time, evoke the beauty of aging and the stories embedded in the passage of time. The deep circular form at the center suggests a meditative stillness, grounding the viewer amidst the rhythmic folds. This piece celebrates time as a collaborator, turning fabric into a canvas where aging itself becomes a mark of grace and resilience.

If you’d like to learn more about the works in Beauty in Resistance you can purchase a catalog on our website or join us at a talkthrough of images from the exhibition on Zoom, Art on the Rocks: an art talkthrough with spirits, on November 11, 7 pm EST. 

Kisetsukan – Pursuing Seasonal Sense in Art

October 15, 2025 0 Comment

The weather’s changing here in Connecticut. Sweaters come out of storage, and sandals and sleeveless shirts are packed away. Light-colored duvets give way to warmer quilts and flannels. Pumpkins appear on porches and shelves, paving the way for twinkling lights in December.

What if we gave our art collections the same seasonal revisit?

The Japanese embrace this idea through a practice called kisetsukan, or “seasonal sense” — an aesthetic and cultural principle deeply rooted in their appreciation of nature and the home. This approach doesn’t just apply to art but extends to festivals, food, clothing, and everyday life. Kisetsukan reflects an awareness of the seasons and their emotional impact — something echoed in many cultures.

Sara Brennan, Gali Cnaani, Mary Merkel-Hess Details
Sara Brennan, Gali Cnaani, Mary Merkel-Hess, Lia Cook: Trees, woods and greenery in varying views.

Substituting artwork throughout the year can shift one’s emotional response and renew our connection with both the art and the environment around us. A single piece viewed in spring might evoke freshness and renewal; that same piece in the depths of winter could feel nostalgic or even melancholy.

One beautiful example is Paul Furneaux’s City Trees II, City Lights II, a memory of a hidden park in Tokyo where luminous white and pale pink cherry blossoms contrasted against dark-barked pines and the brutalist concrete and glass of the surrounding buildings — a moment of heightened beauty and tension. Works like this could be rotated in and out as the days lengthen or shorten, responding to the mood of the season.

Katherine Westphal, Merja Winqvist, Nancy Koenigsberg, Paul Furneaux details
Katherine Westphal (Fall Leaves); Merja Winqvist (Long Hot Summer); Nancy Koenigsberg (Winter Field), Paul Furneaux (City Trees II and City Lights II). Seasons highlighted in disparate media.

The Benefits of Seasonal Rotation

Rotating your artwork seasonally can:

  • Deepen your connection to nature by aligning your interior space with what’s happening outside.
  • Enhance appreciation for individual works by seeing them with fresh eyes each time they return.
  • Spark reflection on the passage of time and the impermanence of beauty — what the Japanese call mono no aware, a bittersweet awareness of life’s fleeting nature.
  • Expand your collection by giving you reason to collect more works and experiment with pairings, contrasts, and themes.

You don’t need to collect four new works for each season to begin. Start small. Instead of grouping similarly sized pieces, try alternating light and dark palettes, or switching black and white for bold color.

Grethe Sorensen diptych
Grethe Sorensen’s Interferens-7 and Blue-Color-Gradation can be hung together or rotated.
Cynthia Schira weavings
Cynthia Schira’s Nightfall and Spring-Lyric can be hung together or rotated.

Some pieces even offer built-in versatility:

Gyöngy Laky's Deviation displayed two ways
Gyöngy Laky’s Deviation installed two ways
  • Gyöngy Laky’s Deviation — OY can be displayed as “OY” for half the year and flipped to read “YO” for the other. Is it an existential “Oh, Why?” or a cheerful “Yo!” greeting? Let the season decide.
Laura Foster Nicholson's Shed displayed two ways
Laura Foster Nicholson’s Shed installed two ways

Laura Foster Nicholson’s work Shed can be hung vertically or horizontally, allowing a shift in visual weight and direction.

Sung Rim Parks sculpture on and off the wall
Sung Rim Park’s Beyond 220723. Displayed on the floor and floating in space.

Sung Rim Park’s Beyond series can be installed on or off the wall, offering new perspectives and levels of engagement.

Tall Lia Cook positive/negative image weaving
Lia Cook’s Big Richard front and back.

Lia Cook’s banners, like Big Richard, are impactful whether viewed from the front or reversed — another way to surprise the eye.

The more flexible the installation options, the more enjoyment you may find in your collection. Changing your art throughout the year brings new energy into a space, reawakens your senses, and reminds you of the beauty in change itself.

Beauty is Resistance – Artists in the House

October 9, 2025 0 Comment

The opening of Beauty is Resistance: art is antidote (October 11 – 19) is right around the corner. This Saturday afternoon October 11, 2025 at the opening we’ll be joined on Saturday afternoon by five of the 36 artists in the exhibition.

Here’s a preview of works by these artists that will be included. if you can If you can attend the opening, be sure to ask them about their pieces. (If you can’t attend, you can order a catalog or attend our Zoom talkthough on November 11th — more on that below.

Fragment by Blair Tate
21bt Fragment, Blair Tate, woven and knotted: linen, hemp cords, aluminum rods, 34 x 44”, 2025. Photo by Tom Grotta

Blair Tate’s Fragment (Reading Between the Lines) is a weaving made of elements — broad strips, larger and smaller blocks, and connecting cords. The elements are constructed and coordinated to suggest balance and imbalance. “I want the whole to feel tenuous, unsettled,” Tate says, “and in this way allude to the ubiquitous condition of change that defines our current times.”

Construction by Jin-Sook So
2jss Konstruction II, Jin-Sook So, electroplated steel mesh, 2004. Photo by Tom Grotta

On Saturday, we’ll also be joined by Jin-Sook So, via Sweden (and sometimes Korea). So’s work, Konstruction (Ritual and Renovation), is an innovative painted and electroplated textile made of steel mesh. The work is informed by bojagi,  a traditional Korean wrapping and layering technique. So has sought to reinterpret bojagi’s cultural and aesthetic essence through a contemporary lens, creating a dialogue between tradition and modernity.

Curiosity Under Fire by Wendy Wahl
46ww Curiosity Under Fire, Wendy Wahl, Inked 1987 Academic American Encyclopedia pages, elm, stainless steel, rusted steel, 69″ x 51″ x 18″, 2025. Photo by Tom Grotta

At the turn of the 21st century Wendy Wahl began to view printed paper, particularly encyclopedias, from an elemental standpoint and as a material for expressing the ephemeral and the everlasting. Encyclopedia pages are used as a material  in works like Curiosity Under Fire (Reading Between the Lines)in part because the medium can be the message. The purpose of paper has changed, yet for over two millennia it has played a significant role in the identity of cultures and the relationship to their environments. “Each time I deconstruct a discarded encyclopedia book,” Wahl says, “I revisit that which has come before, bound in stillness, yet part of the present moment, asking me to re-see in ways that engage my mind, body and spirit.”

Frozen in Time by Norma Minlkowitz
120nm Frozen in Time, Norma Minkowitz, black crocheted book and personal items, 21.5″ x 15.625″ x 3″, 2023-2025. Photo by Tom Grotta

Works by Norma Minkowitz are often emotionally evocative. Frozen in Time (Threads of Memory), her work in Beauty is Resistance, is an example. The work is centered on remembrance, memory becomes tangible. Minkowitz wraps once-used personal items—combs, brushes, a diary—in dark threads as though there is a secret or story hiding between the pages of the book that is sealed and therefore can never be revealed. “Memories are a snapshot of the past that hasn’t been affected by the present,” Minkowitz says. “However, the act of remembering can also change the memory itself. I ask the viewer to be a participant in interpreting my work.“

Ocean by Nancy Koenigsberg
84nak Ocean, Nancy Koenigsberg, coated copper wire, 32″ x 32″ x 3″, 2025. Photo by Tom Grotta

Ocean (Radical Ornament) by Nancy Koenigsberg is a meditation on movement and endurance, rendered in blue, green, and black wire—an industrial material shaped into an evocation of tides, currents, and undertow. Its layered blue surface suggests water through reef or net. The work offers a vision of the sea as an archive of transformation. In Ocean, wire becomes wave, and pattern becomes persistence. 

Join us to see these and many more artworks. 

Exhibition Details:
Beauty is Resistance: art as antidote
October 11 – 19

browngrotta arts
276 Ridgefield Road 
Wilton, CT 06897 

Times:
Saturday, October 11th: 11AM to 6PM [Opening & Artist Reception] 
Sunday,  October 12th: 11AM to 6PM
Monday, October 13th through Saturday, October 18th: 10AM to 5PM
Sunday, October 19th: 11AM to 6PM [Final Day] 
Safety protocols: No narrow heels — we’ve got barn floors.

Can’t make the exhibition? You can get a copy of the exhibition catalog on our website or sign in to our Zoom presentation,  Art on the Rocks: an art talkthrough with a twist — Beauty is Resistance Edition.

We Get Great Press

February 19, 2025 0 Comment

We’ve been a bit lax at tooting our own horn this past year. Here’s a round-up of press mentions of artists that we work with and of browngrotta arts and our events — — digital and in print. 


We were thrilled in January when Artsy reported that fiber art is experiencing a resurgence, a trend Artsy expects ” to take hold across the contemporary art world in 2025.” In its “Trends to Watch” item Artsy featured several artists, including Lia Cook, Adela Akers, and Sheila Hicks.  

Artsy Trends to Watch

Shortly after that, American Craft Magazine asked to do a profile on Tom, Rhonda, and browngrotta arts. We are excited that the article, “A World of Fiber,” by Deborah Bishop — out now — gave us the chance to showcase so many of the artists that we promote. We appreciated the care that Deborah Bishop took with all the details and her writing that, “Among the few decades of global and multi-generational fiber arts, browngrotta arts is revered for its beautiful documentation of the craft.”

browngrotta arts American Craft Magazine feature

browngrotta arts got a nice listing in Museums1. 

Museums blog

Our recent exhibition, Japandí Revisited: shared influences and aesthetics, at the Wayne Art Center in Pennsylvania got a nice review in artblog  

artblog

A nice photo of works by Ulla-Maija Vikman and Mia Olsson that we loaned to the Garrido Gallery for their exhibition at the Salon Art + Design show in 2023, appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Art & Object.

Art & Object covers Salon Art + Design

Meanwhile, artists we work with were getting good coverage for their artistic pursuits and more. Hali Magazine ran a detailed and beautifully photographed article about James Bassler, whose work will be included in our upcoming exhibition, Field Notes: an art survey. In “An artist’s life,” Elaine Phipps explores his work, “within the context of his time and place in the American cultural landscape of the 1950s to the present day.” Phipps tracks the nuances of his growth and development as an artist/weaver, and the expanded world view and deep appreciation of a wide range of historic and ethnographic textile traditions that “transformed his creative process into new working methods.”

Hali James Bassler feature article

In its Fall 2024 issue, Fiber Art Now ran an insightful profile of Dutch Artist Marianne Kemp, “Achieving the Perfect Balance,” by Noelle Foye. Kemp’s work will also be in Field Works at browngrotta arts in May. Foye writes that Kemp has two parts to her weaving process. “There is the creative, poetic side of weaving — the feel, the touch, the colors. Then there is the technical side, which involves the mechanical challenges of manipulating the loom to translate the creative vision into reality.”

Marianne Kemp Fiber Art Now feature

The magazine also headlined Nancy Koenigsberg’s work, Copper Patches, in its Summer 2024 issue.

Nancy Koenigsberg in Fiber Art Now

An article in the Fall 2024/Winter 2025 issue of basketry+ Magazine looked back at the first 10 years of the National Basketry Organization, illustrated with work by Jennifer Falck Linssen, Kari Lønning, and Nancy Moore Bess. Linssen’s work will be included in Field Notes.

basketry + Kari Lønning, Nancy Moore Bess, Jennifer Falck Linssen

Norma Minkowitz’s achievements as an athlete and an artist were described in “Runner’s World” by Sara Gaynes Levy, in the January 2025 issue of Westport Lifestyle. Levy writes, “The world-record mile time for a woman aged 85-89 is nine minutes, 45 seconds, 45 tenths of a second. And it belongs to Westport resident, Norma Minkowitz, 87.” The article notes that Minkowitz is a world-renowned artist as well whose work is in 35 museum collections worldwide. “There’s a connection between running and art the way I do it,” the article quotes Minkowitz as saying. “My work is in fiber, and the process is to do this crochet stitch over and over. It’s very repetitive, as is running.” Minkowitz’s work will be included in Field Notes at browngrotta arts.

Norma Minkowitz in Westport Magazine

Last, but not at all least, the passing of Hiroyuki Shindo, an exceptional indigo artist from Japan was noted by in the selvedge blog,”Lives Well-Lived: Horoyuki Shindo (1941-2024).” 

Selvedge obituary: Hiroyuki Shindo

He was also remembered in Text, the Textile Society Magazine. Both remembrances were written by Jenny Balfour-Paul and each featured images of Shindo and his work by Tom Grotta.  

Text Magazine Hiroyuki Shindo obituary cover article

Art Assembled – New This Week in December

January 9, 2025 0 Comment

As we welcome the new year, we’re excited to share the ongoing buzz around our current exhibition, Japandi Revisited: Shared Aesthetics and Influences, now live at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania. This exhibition, which opened on December 7, 2024, revisits the fascinating dialogue between Japanese and Scandinavian artists—a theme we first explored three years ago. We’ve uncovered even more intriguing connections and cultural influences that continue to shape the work of artists from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Japan. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, we’d love to have you join us before the show closes on January 25, 2025.

In addition to the exhibition, our New This Week series has spotlighted the work of six exceptional artists throughout December: Nancy Koenigsberg, Karyl Sisson, Annette Bellamy, Yeonsoon Chang, and Marian Bijlenga. Let’s take a look back at these inspiring artists and their contributions to the world of art.

Nancy Koenigsberg
83nak City View, Nancy Koenigsberg, coated copper wire, 27″ x 24″ x 3″. photo by Tom Grotta

We started the month of December off by featuring the talented artist Nancy Koenigsberg, renowned for her intricate wire sculptures. Koenigsberg’s work challenges both visually and conceptually, with sculptures that are free-standing, wall-mounted, or part of installations. Her pieces are created using a variety of materials—copper, steel, and aluminum wire—woven and knotted into grids that are shaped and layered.

Koenigsberg’s use of materials that are both shiny and dull, fragile and industrial in strength, creates an interesting interplay between form and texture. This combination of contrasts has made her work notable in the contemporary art world, with an extensive exhibition history in the United States, Europe, and South America. Koenigsberg’s ability to work with both fragile and industrial materials, pushing the boundaries of wire as an artistic medium, has garnered her numerous commissions.

Karyl Sisson
106-109ks Straw Suites, Karyl Sisson, woven vintage paper drinking straws, 14″ x 13.75″ x 1.5″ each, 2016. Photo by Tom Grotta

We continued the month by featuring the exceptional artist Karyl Sisson, whose work draws from the materials of everyday life. Based in Los Angeles, Sisson’s work explores the intersection of fiber art and sculpture, using materials both past and present to create intricate, textured forms. Her artistic influences range from the landscape of Los Angeles to microbiology and even fashion manufacturing, bringing a multidisciplinary approach to her practice.

Throughout her three-decade-long career, Sisson has consistently focused on pattern, repetition, and structure as central themes in her work, which she explores dimensionally. Drawing from her background in basketry and needlework, she transforms everyday materials into art that speaks to the complex relationships between domesticity, gender roles, and traditional craft.

Sisson’s recent work, particularly with paper straws, is inspired by cells and organisms, which inform the organic, growing shapes she creates. Her work has been featured in numerous museum collections, and she is part of the Craft in America collection, further cementing her place in the contemporary craft world.

Annette Bellamy
5ab Threading Fish. Annette Bellamy, Pacific Halibut, Sockeye Salmon, Yellow Eye Rockfish skins, linen, artificial sinew, embroidery thread, and plastic strands, 26.875″ x 26.875″ x 2.5″, 2023. Photo by Tom Grotta

We then highlighted the work of Annette Bellamy, an artist based in Alaska whose work reflects her unique life experiences. Having spent many years commercially fishing in Alaska, Bellamy’s life on the water has deeply influenced her artistic practice. The physicality of both her work as a fisherwoman and her art-making process have fueled each other, creating a dynamic relationship between the two.

Bellamy strives to create art that communicates through a universal visual language. She works with both ceramics and textiles, weaving her life and experiences into pieces that speak to a broader audience. Her work reflects a balance of her life on the water and her craft, merging physicality and art with sensitivity and strength.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her and showcase her art!

Yeonsoon Chang
27yc The path which leads to the center III 202304 LG, Yeonsoon Chang, Teflon mesh. Pure Gold leaf. eco-Resin, 23.875″ x 22.5″ x 6.125″, 2022. Photo by Tom Grotta

We continued our December features with Yeonsoon Chang, whose masterful use of Teflon mesh, pure gold leaf, and eco-resin creates a dynamic interplay of texture and form that blends the modern with the traditional.

Chang’s work beautifully bridges cultures and techniques, merging contemporary materials with ancient traditions, resulting in pieces that captivate both the eye and the mind. Her precision and delicate craftsmanship make her a standout figure in contemporary art. Chang received the Craft Design Award of the Year from the Korea Craft & Design Foundation in December.

With her innovative approach, Chang has developed an eco-friendly resin that she applies to structures crafted from abaca fibers and Teflon-coated glass-fiber mesh. She uses a special glue to attach gold leaf to the fibers, resulting in pieces that evolve with the light. As the light shifts, the structures change, casting intriguing shadows and reflecting or refracting light, transcending the functional to become art that’s constantly in motion.

Marian Bijlenga
40mb Scale Flowers, Marian Bijlenga, dyed Nile Perch fish scales, 22.375″ x 18.875″ x 2.5″, 2019

Finally, we turned our attention to Marian Bijlenga, whose work continues to challenge traditional notions of textile art. Known for her intricate woven sculptures and use of natural materials, Bijlenga explores the relationship between form, texture, and the space around her work.

Her pieces often play with the idea of repetition and the fluidity of materials, creating a dynamic conversation between the natural world and the human hand. Bijlenga’s work is celebrated internationally, and we are proud to feature her work at browngrotta arts.

Keep following along and stay tuned for more exciting updates all of 2025.

Art Assembled – New This Week in September

October 3, 2024 0 Comment

September has been a remarkable month at browngrotta arts, highlighted by the success of our exhibition, Ways of Seeing. We are immensely grateful to everyone who came out to join us for our Fall Art in the Barn exhibition. Your support means the world to us, and we are grateful for every opportunity we get to connect with each of you.

As we reflect on this past month, we’re excited to recap the talented artists featured in our New This Week series throughout September. Read on to see what talented artists we’ve put a spotlight on!

Mary Merkel-Hess
212mm Another Autumn, Mary Merkel Hess, paper cord, paper, 28″ x 18″ x 12″, 2023.

Kicking off the month, we had the pleasure of highlighting the work of Mary Merkel-Hess. Known for her intricate sculptures that evoke the natural world, Merkel-Hess draws inspiration from the beauty found in her surroundings. Using reed, paper, and paper cord, she creates what she refers to as “landscape reports,” sculptural forms that reflect her deep connection to nature.

Merkel-Hess’s work often incorporates broken borders and insets, allowing the viewer to engage with the layers and textures she so thoughtfully constructs.

Merkel-Hess was also one of the 20 women artists who were featured in, Impact: 20 Women Artists to Collect, in September. It’s no wonder to us why her work comes so acclaimed!

John McQueen
81jm The Weight of Empty, John McQueen, willow, 50″ x 26″ x 26″, 2020

We then turned our spotlight to the remarkable John McQueen and his intricate work. A sculptor, McQueen arranges natural materials to create vessels, sculptural figures, and representational images that challenge our perception of the natural order.

His bark-covered sculptures and drawings made from sticks lead viewers to reconsider their relationship to nature. McQueen’s work has been acquired by numerous prestigious museums, including the Museum of Arts and Design and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and he is recognized with several accolades, such as the Gold Medal of the American Craft Council for his impactful contributions to the field of sculpture.

Nancy Koenigsberg
58nak Pocket Scroll, Nancy Koenigsberg, twisted copper, 73.5″ x 17.5″ x 6″, 2007

Following McQueen, we featured the captivating work of Nancy Koenigsberg. As a celebrated artist and educator, Koenigsberg’s pieces are a testament to her exploration of materiality and technique. Utilizing her expertise in weaving and embroidery, she creates intricate textile artworks that often reflect personal narratives.

Koenigsberg’s practice challenges the boundaries of traditional textile art, as she incorporates various techniques and materials to create layered, textural compositions that resonate with emotion and meaning.

She is one of our favorite artists to date, and we hope you all enjoy her work as much as we do!

Anneke Klein
7akl Black Monologue, Anneke Klein, hemp, cotton, linen, acrylic paint, 28.5″ x 28.5″ x .5″, 2020.

We then turned our attention to Anneke Klein, a talented artist from the Netherlands originally educated as a goldsmith. Her passion for weaving emerged from a desire to move away from hard, cold materials toward the warmth and softness of textiles. After designing and manufacturing clothing, she created commissioned works for renowned artists such as Richard Tuttle and Alexis Gautier, showcasing her ability to blend her goldsmithing precision with textile art.

Klein has developed her own style for wall objects, often employing the rhythmic and repetitive expressions learned during her time as a goldsmith. Her work reflects a unique exploration of materials, inviting viewers to engage with both tactile and visual elements.

Jin-Sook So
71jss Soul of Bowl II, Jin-Sook So, steel mesh, electroplated silver, pure gold leaf, acrylic, steel thread
6” x 12.75” x 9.75”, 2023.

Finally, we highlighted the work of Jin-Sook So, an artist renowned for her innovative approach to fiber art. So’s creations are characterized by their intricate layering and attention to detail, reflecting her deep understanding of traditional techniques while embracing contemporary aesthetics. Her work often incorporates elements of nature and cultural heritage, inviting viewers to consider the connections between art and identity. Jin-Sook So’s dedication to her craft and her ability to weave together diverse influences make her work truly exceptional.

As we step into October, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all who engaged with our September New This Week features and our Ways of Seeing exhibition. Your support means the world to us! Stay tuned for more artistic explorations and updates as we continue this creative journey together.

Scenes from an Exhibition: Crowdsourcing the Collective this Week

May 11, 2022 0 Comment
Photo by Juan Pabon/Ezco Production

Despite some Covid cancellations, we’re enjoying good attendance to our Spring Art in the Barn exhibition, Crowdsourcing the Collective; a survey of textile and mixed media art this week. We had visitors in line on Sunday morning. We have had artists stop by, including Dawn MacNutt, Norma Minkowitz, Wendy Wahl, Nancy Koenigsberg, Jeannet Lennderste and Kari Lønning. We are hoping to see Blair Tate and Christine Joy later in the week.

We’ve had visits from groups from the Wilton Encore Club and Westport MoCA and a curator from the Flinn Gallery at the Greenwich Public Library. We are expecting more curators yet this week. 

The inspiration for the works in Crowdsourcing is of great interest to those attending. Lia Cook’s tapestries incorporate images of ferns from her California garden. Blair Tate experiments in visual layering based on frescoes interrupted by superimposed paintings and incised niches that she saw throughout Bologna. She rearranged separately woven strips to create windows on the wall — intentionally splintered, fragmented, unsettled as a reflection of our times. Dawn MacNutt’s works of seagrass and copper wire, The Last One Standing and Interconnected, are the last two works remaining from her earlier series, Kindred Spirits.

Dawn MacNutt and Norma Minkowitz
Dawn MacNutt and Norma Minkowitz. Photo by Tom Grotta

There are five days remaining — hope you can join us.

Remainder of the exhibition
Thru – Saturday, May 14th: 10AM to 5PM (40 visitors/hour)

Final Day
Sunday, May 15th: 11AM to 6PM (40 visitors/ hour)

Address
276 Ridgefield Road Wilton, CT 06897
(203)834-0623

Safety protocols
Eventbrite reservations strongly encouraged • We will follow current state and federal guidelines surrounding COVID-19 • As of March 1, 2022, masks are not required • We encourage you to wear a mask if your are not vaccinated or if you feel more comfortable doing so. • No narrow heels please (barn floors)

Art for a Cause: A portion of browngrotta arts’ profits for the months of May and June will benefit Sunflower of Peace, a non-profit group that provides medical and humanitarian aid for paramedics and doctors in areas that are affected by the violence in Ukraine. browngrotta arts will also match donations collected during the exhibition as part of browngrotta arts’ 2022 “Art for a Cause” initiative. A portion of the artists’ proceeds for certain works will also go to Sunflower of Peace: https://www.sunflowerofpeace.com/. 

Adaptation Opens Saturday at browngrotta arts, Wilton, CT

May 5, 2021 0 Comment
from left to right works by Paul Furneaux and Eduardo Portillo & Mariá Eugenia Dávila. Photo by Tom Grotta

This Saturday at 11 am, our Spring Art in the Barn exhibition: Adaption: Artists Respond to Change opens to the public. We can’t describe it better than ArteMorbida: the Textile Arts Magazine did. “This project is born from the reflection on how the world of art and its protagonists, the artists, had to rethink and redesign their action, when the pandemic, significantly affecting the global lifestyle, compelled everyone to a forced and repeated isolation,” the magazine wrote. “But the need to adapt their responses to change, generated by the complicated health situation, was only the beginning of a broader reflection that led the two curators [Rhonda Brown and Tom Grotta] to note that change itself is actually an evolutionary process immanent in human history, generative, full of opportunities and unexpected turns.”

Tapestries by Carolina Yrarrázaval. Photo by Tom Grotta

The 48 artists in Adaptation pose, and in some cases answer, a series of interesting questions about art. Does it offer solutions for dealing with daily stress? For facing larger social and global issues? How do artists use art to respond to unanticipated circumstances in their own lives. The work in the exhibition offers a wide variety of responses to these questions.

Several of artists wrote eloquently for the Adaptation catalog about how art has helped them manage the stress and upheaval of the past year. Ideally, for those who attend Adaptation: Artist’s Respond to Change that calming effect will be evident and even shared. 

pictured: works by Lawrence LaBianca, Włodzimierz Cygan, Chiyoko Tanaka, Gizella Warburton, Norma Minkowitz, Polly Adams Sutton

Wlodzimierz Cygan of Poland says the time of the pandemic allowed him to draw his attention to a “slightly different face of Everyday, the less grey one.”  He found that, “slowing down the pace of life, sometimes even eliminating some routine activities, helps one to taste each day separately and in the context of other days. Time seems to pass slower, I can stay focused longer.” Life has changed in Germany, Irina Kolesnikova told us. Before the pandemic, “we would travel a lot, often for a short time, a few days or a weekend. We got used to seeing the variety in the world, to visit different cities, to go to museums, to get acquainted with contemporary art. Suddenly, that life was put on pause, our social circle reduced to the size of our immediate environment.” Kolesnikova felt a need to dive deeper into herself and create a new series of small works, Letters from Quarantine, “to just work and enjoy the craft.”

clockwise: Adela Akers, Irina Kolesnikova, Ane Henriksen, Nancy Koenigsberg, Laura Foster Nicholson, Lawrence LaBianca, Gizella Warburton. Photo by Tom Grotta

Other artists were moved to create art that concerned larger social issues. Karyl Sisson’s Fractured III, makes use of vintage paper drinking straws to graphically represent in red and white the discontents seen and felt in America as the country grappled with police violence against Black Americans, polarized election politics and larger issues like climate change and the environment.  Climate change and the danger of floods and fire were reflected in the work of the several artists in Adaptation. New Yorker Nancy Koenigsberg created Approaching Storm, adding an even greater density of the grey, coated-copper wire that she generally works with to build a darkened image that serves as a warning for the gravity of current events.

High water appears in Laura Foster Nicholson’s view of Le Procuratie, which envisions a flooded Venice, metallic threads illustrating the rising waters. Works by Adela Akers and Neha Puri Dhir were influenced by wildfires in California and India, respectively.

left to right: Karyl Sisson, Jennifer Falck Linssen, Sue Lawty, Jin -Sook So

Still other artists found way to use their art as a meditative practice in order to face their sense of personal and public dislocation. For Jennifer Falck Linssen, the solution was to turn off all media, go outside and find inspiration in morning and evening light. For Paul Furneaux, initially cut off from his studio, the garden became an obsession as he undertook an extensive renovation.  Returning to art making, the spring colors, greens and yellows he had seen while gardening, created a new palette for his work.  Feeling the need for complete change, Hisako Sekijima turned away from basket finishing. Instead, immersing herself in the underlying processes of plaiting. Her explorations became both meditative and a process that led to new shapes. 

Experience these artists’ reflections on change in person. Schedule your appointment for Adaptation: Artists Respond to Change here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adaptation-artists-respond-to-change-tickets-148974728423

The full-color catalog(our 51st) for Adaptation: Artists Respond to Change is available Friday May 7th:

http://store.browngrotta.com/adaption-artist-respond-to-change/

The Artful Gift Guide: 5 Under $1500

December 2, 2020 0 Comment

Is there someone special on your gift list? Or maybe it’s you who deserves an inspirational, one-of-kind item to wake up to each morning?

One of these five works of art from our crated collection might fill the bill.

Tissus d’ombres, Stéphanie Jacques, print on canvas, wool embroidery, 35.5”x 35.5”, 2014

Tissues d’ombres is a stitched, image of basketry by Stéphanie Jacques of Belgium. Jacques works in a variety of media. She uses volume to give life to an unfilled interior space in her vessels and prints. This space allows her to speak of something other than what is shown by the visible form: the movements of the body, the desire, the intuitions, a certain savagery, something that remains alive despite everything, that pushes from the inside, cracks the carapaces, overflows. 

Silver Stream II, Greg Parsons, mercerized cotton, metallis, maple and magnets, 6″ x 30.5″, 2002

Silverstream II by Greg Parsons evokes a sparkling stream or a sky full of swift-moving cirrus clouds. Parsons is is a curator and a textile and product designer who has worked for Burberry among others. 

Orbit, Jiro Yonezawa, bamboo, urushi lacquer, 9.75″ x 13″ x 7.75″, 2019

Jiro Yonezawa is a master Japanese bamboo basketmaker. For Yonezawa, bamboo basketry is an expression of detailed precision. In baskets like Orbit, you can see the contrast of disciplined formality in technique and natural freedom in form that is characteristic of his work.

Aurora, Nancy Koenigsberg, coated copper wire, 8.5″ x 13″ x 13″, 2011

Nancy Koenigsberg sculpts works of copper and steel narrow gauge wire. In Aurora, lace-like layers allow for transparency, the passage of light and the formation of shadows. Lines cross and re-cross to create a complex network.

Ceramic Plate, Claude Vermette, ceramic, 9.75″ x 9.75″, 1980

This charming ceramic plate is by Claude Vermette, a artist from Montreal, Canada. Early in his career, Claude Vermette concentrated his efforts on architectural ceramics for which he created new forms of composition for clay, a wider variety of modules for tiles and bricks, and patented, new enamels. In his 25 years as ceramist, he produced large works in more than 100 public buildings, more than a dozen Montreal subway stations, and the General Motors building in New York. The latter part of his career was spent as painter.

These works can all be found at our store at http://store.browngrotta.com/art/.

Acquisition News

May 22, 2019 0 Comment
Diagonal, Kyoko Kumai, stainless steel, 2016.

We have learned about a host of acquisitions for artists who work with browngrotta arts’ since our acquisition reports last July and August 2018.  A large number of our artists’ work are now included in the collection of The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum thanks to the remarkable gift of the late Lloyd Cotsen, former chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Neutrogena Corporation, which included 4,000 textiles, an endowment and equipment to support the textile collections he assembled.

Attitude, Lia Cook, Handwoven cotton and rayon, 1999.Photo by: Bruce M. White@ Lloyd E. Cotsen, 2016.

The gift includes the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection, one of the world’s most significant textile study collections ever assembled by an individual and The Box Project: Uncommon Threads, organized by Cotsen Foundation for Academic Research, which includes work by John Garrett, Helena Hernmarck, Agneta Hobin, Kiyomi Iwata, Lewis Knauss, Naomi Kobayashi, Nancy Koenigsberg, Gyöngy Laky, Heidrun Schimmel and Hisako Sekijima. Cotsen’s gift also included Lia Cook’s 1999 work, Attitude.

Other acquisitions of note:

Ed Rossbach: Bobbin Lace, 1970, was acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, through browngrotta arts.

Eduardo Portillo and Mariá Eugenia Dávila: New Nebula, 2017, was acquired by the Toledo Art Museum in Ohio, through browngrotta arts.

Norma Minkowitz: The Minneapolis Institute of Art purchased a crocheted and stitched wall hanging called Journeys End, 2017, and a stitched drawing with collage and crochet, Lunar Landing, 2017.

Shin Young-ok: Rhymes from 2000 was acquired by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea

Moot, Helena Hernmarck, wool, linen, cotton, 1971. Photo by Helena Hernmarck.

Chang Yeonsoon:  In addition to being a finalist for the Loewe Craft Prize in 2018, the Loewe Foundation in London collected three works of Chang Yeonsoon’s works in August, 2018.

Polly Barton: Fertile Ground, was chosen by the Art in Embassies program to be in the US Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Nancy Koenigsberg: Teal Concentric Boxes was a gift from Camille and Alex Cook to the Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin.

Ampersand by Gyöngy Laky

Ethel Stein: Butah, 2011, went to the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois through browngrotta arts.

Kyoko Kumai: Kumai’s tapestry, Diagonal, which was acquired by teh Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2016, is on display at the Museum until the end of July 2020. The National  Museum of Art in Riga, Latvia collected Kumai’s work in 2018.

Åse Ljones: Three pieces from Ljones’ series, It is Still Quiet, were acquired by KODE Museum, Bergen, Norway in 2017.

Adela Akers: In 2018 Akers’ work, Traced Memories, was acquired by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/De Young Museum.

Gyöngy Laky: In addition to This Way and That, which is part of The Box Collection, which went to the The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Seek, from 2016, was acquired by the United States State Department for the new Kosovo Embassy in Pristina. 

Helen Hernmarck: Moot, 1971 was acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.