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Inspiring Artists Working with Fibers, Part I

Ernesto NETO Cai Cai Marrom 2007 polyamide, wood, spices 196 3/4 x 118 x 118 inches; 500 x 300 x 300 cm Collection Perez Art Museum, Miami

Ernesto NETO
Cai Cai Marrom
2007
polyamide, wood, spices
196 3/4 x 118 x 118 inches; 500 x 300 x 300 cm
Collection Perez Art Museum, Miami

Starting this summer at Southeast MO State University, I will be teaching a four-week Fibers Art Workshop course. I will also most likely be teaching our Fibers course during the regular semester for the 2018-2019 academic year. I’m really looking forward to this opportunity! Blake and I have been working more and more with fabric as a raw material and surface within our 2D and sculptural/installation work. This past summer, we taught a week-long workshop at Frogman’s called The Quilted Print, which involved basic woodcut printmaking techniques in combination with sewing and crochet. This workshop culminated in a two-month long exhibition of the students’ work called Dispatch which exhibited in Iowa and Oregon.

I found this great exhibition listing of the show Fiber: Sculpture 1960 – present, https://www.desmoinesartcenter.org/exhibitions/fiber, and through that and some recommendations from friends have discovered a whole new army of fiber artists to look at and learn from. Here are some of my new (and old!) faves:

Xenobia Bailey, Mothership 1: Sistah Paradise’s Great Walls of Fire Revival Tent

Xenobia Bailey, Mothership 1: Sistah Paradise’s Great Walls of Fire Revival Tent

 

21. Xenobia Bailey, Installation at Chaos Into Clarity, Re-Possessing A Funktioning Utopia, image courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation.

Xenobia Bailey, Sistah Paradise’s Mystic Domain installation.

 

Alexandra Bircken,Püppi auf Abwegen«, 2009

Alexandra Bircken,Püppi auf Abwegen«, 2009

 Alexandra Bircken, Mixed Race, 2012, 90% nylon, 10% elastane, fabric stiffener, 142.5 x 239 cm. Image courtesy Herald St, London


Alexandra Bircken, Mixed Race, 2012, 90% nylon, 10% elastane, fabric stiffener, 142.5 x 239 cm. Image courtesy Herald St, London

 

Alexandra Bircken »New Model Army 1–5«, 2016 installation view at Kunstverein Hannover 2016 Courtesy BQ, Berlin, and Herald St, London Photo: Raimund Zakowski

Alexandra Bircken »New Model Army 1–5«, 2016
installation view at Kunstverein Hannover 2016
Courtesy BQ, Berlin, and Herald St, London
Photo: Raimund Zakowski

 

Ernesto NETO Simple and light as a dream...the gravity don’t lie...just loves the time 2006 polyamide textile, nylon stockings, glass beads, styrofoam 15 x 24 x 18 feet; 4.5 x 7.5 x 5.5 meters

Ernesto NETO
Simple and light as a dream…the gravity don’t lie…just loves the time
2006
polyamide textile, nylon stockings, glass beads, styrofoam
15 x 24 x 18 feet; 4.5 x 7.5 x 5.5 meters

 

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 2011. Photo by Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media.

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 2011. Photo by Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media.

 

"Sheila Hicks: 50 Years," installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo: Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media.

“Sheila Hicks: 50 Years,” installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo: Aaron Igler/Greenhouse Media.

 

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Lenore Tawney, Seed Circle (1967)

Tanya Aguiñiga, "Teetering of the Marginal" series Photo by Joshua White/JW Pictures Courtesy of the Artists and the Landing, Los Angeles

Tanya Aguiñiga, “Teetering of the Marginal” series
Photo by Joshua White/JW Pictures
Courtesy of the Artists and the Landing, Los Angeles

 

Jagoda Buić - retrospektiva

Jagoda Buić – retrospektiva

 

Josh Faught. It Takes a Lifetime to Get Exactly Where You Are, 2012; handwoven sequin trim, handwoven hemp, cedar blocks, cotton, polyester, wool, cochineal dye (from ground cochineal insects), straw hat with lace, toilet paper, paper towels, scrapbooking letters, Jacquard-woven reproduction of a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, silk handkerchief, indigo dye, political pins, disaster blanket, gourd, gold leaf, plaster cat, cedar blocks, and nail polish; 8 x 20 ft. Courtesy of Lisa Cooley, New York.

Josh Faught. It Takes a Lifetime to Get Exactly Where You Are, 2012; handwoven sequin trim, handwoven hemp, cedar blocks, cotton, polyester, wool, cochineal dye (from ground cochineal insects), straw hat with lace, toilet paper, paper towels, scrapbooking letters, Jacquard-woven reproduction of a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, silk handkerchief, indigo dye, political pins, disaster blanket, gourd, gold leaf, plaster cat, cedar blocks, and nail polish; 8 x 20 ft. Courtesy of Lisa Cooley, New York.

 

Josh Faught. Untitled, 2012; disaster blanket, nail polish, and linen thread on canvas; 43 x 36 x 2 in. Courtesy of the Artist.

Josh Faught. Untitled, 2012; disaster blanket, nail polish, and linen thread on canvas; 43 x 36 x 2 in. Courtesy of the Artist.

 

Josh Faught at Kendall Koppe

Josh Faught at Kendall Koppe

 

Naomi Kobayashi - Ito wa ito, 1980

Naomi Kobayashi – Ito wa ito, 1980

 

Francoise Grossen - Inchworm, 1971

Francoise Grossen – Inchworm, 1971

 

1969. Work by Peter and Ritzi Jacobi

1969. Work by Peter and Ritzi Jacobi

 

El Anatsui

El Anatsui

 

Ritzi and Peter Jacobi, Transilvania I, 1972 Flax, goat hair, and horsehair Textilmuseum, Heidelberg, West Germany

Ritzi and Peter Jacobi, Transilvania I, 1972 Flax, goat hair, and horsehair Textilmuseum, Heidelberg, West Germany

 

Beryl Korot

Beryl Korot

 

Aurèlia Muñoz

Aurèlia Muñoz

 

T-7 Pauseway, 2013 Knit and crocheted trims, laces and yarns; individual pieces installed on site for use, to make a place of congregation and conversation.

T-7 Pauseway, 2013
Knit and crocheted trims, laces and yarns; individual pieces installed on site for use, to make a place of congregation and conversation.

 

T-7 Pauseway, 2013 Knit and crocheted trims, laces and yarns; individual pieces installed on site for use, to make a place of congregation and conversation.

T-7 Pauseway, 2013
Knit and crocheted trims, laces and yarns; individual pieces installed on site for use, to make a place of congregation and conversation.

 

Sheila Pepe, 2nd Vatican Council Wrap, 2013, Kneeling view

Sheila Pepe, 2nd Vatican Council Wrap, 2013, Kneeling view

 

And… I’m going to have to do a part II of this new/old (to me) fibers artists because there are so many I want to share!

 

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