I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the above-named exhibit the other day in Santa Fe. An important family celebration kept me away from the opening last weekend, timed to kick off the 2018 New Mexico Fiber Crawl, but I hear it was a hoot. The show remains up in Santa Fe through June 17, when it will travel to Tansey's Denver gallery for July 7 - August 5.
This exhibit, sponsored by the
Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) in collaboration with
Tansey Contemporary Gallery of Santa Fe and Denver, showcases invited and juried artists from the Southwest region.
The show's theme was expressed in this way: "Does our past build us, or do we build our past? Things remembered can be as sharp as the current moment or so blurred that only a feeling remains."
This dovetails nicely with the questions I've explored in my Mary series, questions about the ongoing impact of the image and myth of the Virgin Mary for women down the millenia. I was thrilled when my piece
Mary (Yes) was accepted.
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Mary (Yes) by Molly Elkind back left;
In Mind by Amanda Speer back right |
There is much to see in this show, and work by other Tansey gallery artists is also on exhibit so the space is chock-full of cool stuff to look at. I would love to share all the fiber pieces with you, but time and space do not permit. And in fact there is a complete slideshow
HERE and an online catalog with artists' bios and statements
HERE , so you can browse to your heart's content. I recommend taking the time to read the artists' statements. Here I will focus on the work of those weavers whose work captivated me on this visit. I plan to revisit the exhibit and imagine I will find more work that pulls me in then.
For me it was a thrill to see this piece by Elizabeth Buckley in person after having only seen it on a screen.
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| Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50". |
Elizabeth's mastery of values, hues, subtle color gradation and transparency in tapestry are breathtaking. She fully exploits the techniques of the medium to serve her image without letting the techniques become an end in themselves. And the image itself conveys a sense of layers of deep time in the landscape, alluding to the sea that used to cover much of New Mexico.
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| detail, Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50" |
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| detail, Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50" |
I could study and learn from this tapestry for a long time.
I could say the same of Cindy Dworzak's piece
Circles.
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| Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37" |
Again, my eye delighted in the subtle gradation of colors, the use of transparency, the masterful tapestry techniques employed . . . and all those overlapping circles! Circles are probably the most difficult shape to weave in a medium based on the grid, and here Cindy has woven bunches. . .and made it look effortless. I was interested to learn that for Cindy this piece recalls her mother's love of color and the complexity of her personality.
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| detail, Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37" |
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| detail, Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37" |
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Speaking of grids, a couple of artists explicitly acknowledged the woven grid while at the same time bending it to their own will. These pieces prompted me to wonder "How did they do that?" I do recognize various shadow-weave patterns in Amanda Speer's piece but in the brief time I had I couldn't tease out how she managed to blur their edges and transition between them. A look at her statement disclosed that she works with ikat dyeing. This piece, with its mosaic of color and complex pattern set off by a black border, is dedicated to the 36 young people who perished in the "Ghost Ship" warehouse fire in Oakland, CA in December 2016.
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| Amanda Speer, In Mind, 38" x 38" |
Jennifer Moore is well-known for exploring the possibilities of doubleweave. She writes that this piece's design revolves around fractals based on the golden proportion. The central rectangle spins off smaller, proportional rectangles in multiple generations. . . much as the human family reproduces itself and its cultures. I have a very general understanding of how Jennifer wove this but I marvel at the nuances of color gradation and luminescence she achieves.
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| Jennnifer Moore, Introspection, 40" x 30.5" |
I must include a look at two more tapestry artists before closing. Navajo/Dine' weaver Titus Steiner Cody wove a piece that is rooted in Navajo methods and imagery and yet feels utterly contemporary.
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| Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68" |
Cody credits the influence of his grandmothers, both in teaching him to weave and in handing down the creation stories of the Navajo, which are pictured in this piece. Again, there is much to see and to study here.
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| detail, Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68" |
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| detail, Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68" |
Finally, Irvin Trujillo included a piece informed by a number of influences: his own multiple-generation heritage of Rio Grande weaving, the patterns in a Tunisian headscarf he observed in a Santa Fe museum, and the protests of the Arab Spring that occurred during the time he wove the piece. Because he was limited to a small loom at the time, the piece was woven in two strips and seamed down the center. The weaving is of course meticulous.
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| Irvin Trujillo, Emergence in Tunisia, 80" x 48" |
I was interested to note that this piece is woven in half silk, half merino wool, at a very fine sett.
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| detail, Irvin Trujillo, Emergence in Tunisia, 80" x 48" |
There is so much more to see in this exhibit than I have presented here so briefly, fascinating and gorgeous works in stitch, sculpture, quilting, and mixed media. If you are in Santa Fe or will be in Denver in June, I urge you to see the show. Or at least curl up with the online catalog
HERE.
