The Penland Gallery and Visitors Center is pleased to present its eighth and final Focus exhibition of 2012, a collection of special hand-made scarves by Penland affiliated artists. This collection of over 50 scarves by ten uniquely talented textile artists includes a diverse range of techniques and fibers. Woven shibori, tied shibori, machine and hand felting, natural dyes, resist and vat dye techniques, machine and hand embroidery, machine knitting, hand-woven and specialty mill-woven cloth… and skill, skill, and more skill are combined to produce this very inviting selection of textiles.
The show is on view in the Focus Gallery from Friday, November 2nd through Sunday, November 25th.
“Enriched by my curiosity in the parallel, yet sometimes blurry line between jewelry and apparel, my work is fueled by a direct response to contrasting materials that when together, create complementary relationships. Traditional to jewelry, gold and silver are limited in the palate, fairly rigid and tend to hold their shape. Traditional to apparel, fibers such as silk can be dyed infinite colors, they are soft and tend to conform. Next to each other the contrast is heightened; it is bolder, more lively. Sheet metal seems incredibly stiff and strong. Silk appears light, delicate and vivid. Twisted thin wire is amazingly similar to the plied silk it is next to, yet functions so differently. Stone or glass beads unite, being hard like metal yet sharing color with fiber. Grids, both manufactured and organic are used in many variations, creating a surface that allows for different applications of the same materials – making evident qualities innate to them. These structures and supports are integral, sometimes they are left to appear as a visible design element, other times they disappear and only the handiwork – stitching, weaving, or knotting – can be seen. These pieces are layered, made to be worn, with the human desire to adorn at the core of their creation.” – Raissa Bump
“I construct fabrics by weaving threads on a loom. My original training was in traditional woven techniques, which led me to weave functional fabrics in natural fibers for many years. For the last number of years my career has been defined by the discovery and exploration of the woven shibori process. Woven shibori transforms a traditional stitched resist into one that conjoins with a woven application, providing a new freedom in fabric design. Woven shibori has challenged all that I know about weaving and has led me to investigate new materials, resists, dyes and finishing processes.” – Catharine Ellis
“The natural world is rich with eccentric surfaces and lush, layered hues. My goal is to express or reflect this deep beauty in my textiles. By manipulating fabric with dyes, shibori, screen-printing, drawing and piecing techniques, I coax the cloth into one–of-a-kind, handmade compositions – small poems that seek to represent the ephemeral and suggest the eternal.” – Carmen Grier
“My work departs from traditional Japanese techniques and a stereotypical Japanese aesthetic…but I hope to retain some of the invention and skill found in Japanese indigo dyed Shibori. In the working “dialogue” of the studio, I incorporate western fabrics, tools, and dye techniques with traditional Shibori concepts. I have found parallels in forgotten western techniques of smocking, shirring, and ruching. Most recently I have explored digital printing based on scanned scraps of my hand dyed Shibori.” – Ana Lisa Hedstrom
“Employed throughout antiquity for its protective qualities, felt is an ideal material to make visual commentary on our human vulnerability and the ways we seek physical security and mental defense. Lisa Klakulak incorporates both objects and images of natural materials as well as reclaimed human-made products that offer a sense of comfort and security in her work. Inspired by humanity’s age-old relationship with the community and time involved fiber processes, her primary use of fiber and natural dyes represents a fight for the threatened values of community responsibility, patience, physical activity, and an intimate relationship with our natural world. Lisa instructs workshops nationally as well as pursuing opportunities to work with children to integrate fiber art into the visual art curriculum and to raise cultural awareness and appreciation inspired by her international travels.” – Lisa Klakulak
“My work in functional fiber arts satisfies my need to contribute to and enhance the simple pleasures in daily life-warmth, comfort, texture and color….enlivening the senses. My raw materials are fine wool and silk and my process the ancient technique of felting practiced in a contemporary light. Felting in theory is simple – wool’s microscopic scales curl during the process of applying heat, pressure and moisture thus creating an interlocking fabric. Complex is my approach to composition-multiple layers blending rich tones and intricate patterns are felted then hand blocked and sculpted to achieve a harmony of color and form.” – Noellynn Peopos
Penland’s Focus Gallery is a space primarily dedicated to single-artist exhibitions. Focusing on individual artists over the course of the year, it presents a larger selection of their work to gallery visitors and patrons.
You can click here to visit the Penland Gallery website.
