“… At a time when our collective attention is dangerously adrift, trapped in the freefall of our social-media feeds and snared in a pit of fake facts, handwork provides a firm anchor. It cannot be spun. It gives us something to believe in.”
Glenn Adamson, Senior Scholar, Yale Center for British Art
Ingenuity writ large; technique knit large
How do 80 artists, working primarily in fiber, hone their conception of beauty and truth while integrating a mixture of materials ( both natural and synthetic ) with technique? The amazing feature of this show is how the work of individual artists working within the same medium can be totally different… even provocatively so.
The debate about fiber art as fine art is, thankfully, moot. Contemporary fiber art prioritizes aesthetic value over utility. Manual labor, choice of materials, and process are prized elements of a work’s significance. Dialectical thinking guides the work of these multi-layered artists in a way demonstrating that ingenuity triumphs over all.
For example, who knew that cable ties could be employed in such a seductive way? Who knew that leather and suede cut with an xacto knife could express so much about urban life… while weaving in social commentary? Who knew that electronic sensors could be seamlessly integrated into an alluring form? We could go on and on.
Handwork cannot be described. It must be seen. “It gives us something to believe in.”
Dates: February 5 – 23, 2020
Opening: February 5, 6:00 PM
Closing: February 23, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Location: Westbeth Gallery, 55 Bethune St., between West and Washington Sts. Enter at silver ramp
Time: Wednesday - Sunday, 1 - 6 PM
The following artists and their work have been invited to show in the Gold Standard at Westbeth Gallery on February 5-23, 2020.
Liz Alpert Fay: Sixteen Stories
Ludmila Aristova: The Alternation of Seasons
Meredith Armstrong: Wild
Kate Barber: Above and Below Three
Polly Barton: Thistledown
Katherine Bennett: Memory Capsules
Stacy Bogdonoff: Off the Loom
Allegra Brelsford: Sails 6 Green Current
Eva Camacho: The Scars we Carry
Sayzie Carr: Migration
Leonie Castelino: Finding Passion
Anne-Claude Cotty: Promise
Don DonCee Coulter: First Avenue part III: Urban Renewal
Virginia Davis: Flames
Rachael Dorr: Wedding Dress Study 1
Chiaki Dosho: The Crossing Times 7
Emily Dvorin: Perhappiness
Patricia Frik: Tracks
Jayne Gaskins : Sensory Perceptions
Irene Gennaro: Cloud Cluster
Sandra Golbert: Cure
Joyce Goodman: 1Week/2Ways
Carolyn Halliday: Natural Disaster and Human Invention 3
Liz Hamilton Quay: Ovum
Marilyn Henrion: Great Escapes Triptych
Susan Hensel: Orange Tesselates
Pat Hickman: Flayed
Eileen Hoffman: Had Something to Say
Leslie Horan Simon: Bird's Eye
Lauren Horowitz: Circles
Mary Jaeger: UNFOLDING PROJECT: Duster #30 "Seriously Ruby"
Tracy Jamar: Coiled
Ruth Jeyaveeran: The Seven Seas
Setsuko Jimbo: SHO
Mo Kelman: Whirlwind
Julia Kiechel: NOW-Braille
Judy Kirpich: Indigo Composition #10
Nancy Koenigsberg: Winter Field
Dianne Koppisch Hricko: Shift
Lisa Lackey: Eden
Fannie Lee: Contemplation
Janet Levine: Untitled
Elaine Longtemps: Stardust for Twenty Angels - Part 1 and 2
Mary Lor: Belle of the Ball
Patricia Malarcher: Selfie
Saberah Malik: Habitats Unknown
Ruth Marchese: Space in Time
Dorothy McGuinness: Zig Zag 2
Susan Moss: Rice Pudding
Yasuko Okumura: Spirits in the Desert VI
Sui Park: Portrait
Helen Perry: Color Orb
Bonnie Peterson: Drone Shadow
Tanya Prather: Primordial Energy
Ellen Ramsey: Obi I
Szilvia Revesz: Multiverse
Patricia Rogers: Serpentine Indigo River
Kari Roslund: Surge
CARO: fico
Lois Russell: Where Whales Live
Ellen Schiffman: Yet Still a Proud Voice
Robin Schwalb: Speak No Evil
Chizuko Sekiguchi: Deep Sea
Julia Shepley: Migrant #2, Moire
Adrienne Sloane: Marking Time
Elizabeth Starcevic: No to the Wall/No al Muro
Hillary Steel: Return
Amy Supton: Cailleach, Goddess of Winter
Kim Svoboda: Between Heaven and Earth
Naomi Tarantal: Rift Valley
Sumiko Tasaka: A Vessel for Share 2
Charlotte Thorp: Sea Creature
K. Velis Turan: Intersections 18
Betty Vera: Delivered
Ann Vollum: Let's Go Fly a Kite
Shari Werner: Series II
Saaraliisa Ylitalo: My Life
Ada Yonenaka: Breaking Gridlock
Pamela Zave: Roll
Betti Zucker: Demise of the Osage Indians