The fiber exhibition “Handmade: Women Reshaping Contemporary Art” which I recently wrote about is a very finely-curated exhibit. You’ve got to see it. There are well-known fiber artists in the show and some names I hadn’t yet heard of. Also, there are varied types of fiber arts on view including hand embroidery, weaving, quilting, mixed media, and “digital sewing”.
In this article, I’m going to give you a visual review of most of the works on view in the exhibit. I took and sorted through 200 plus photos in order to bring you this photo review (which added up to well over 12 hours of computer work). I’m missing a couple of artists because I couldn’t get good photos of their displayed pieces.
Don’t forget to click on each artist’s name to see even more of their works in addition to the photo galleries I’ve created for you here.
Orly Cogan Exhibiting in “Handmade”
Ok. let’s get to it. My favorite artist in the show is Orly Cogan. She combines drawing with sewing and that’s exactly where my interests are. She uses vintage fabrics and some found embroideries. Then she hand embroiders on them. Her outlines are hand embroidered and then she colors within the outlines with paint.
Her subjects are often nude women. She says, “my quest is to tell a story about the role of women in our ever-changing society. Who do we want to be?”
Her work is so rich in detail. I just love her creativity. I’ve enjoyed seeing her work online. Seeing her work in person at this exhibit, was the highlight of my visit. Enough talking. Go ahead and view her work in the photo gallery below.
Faith Ringgold Exhibiting in “Handmade”
Faith Ringgold is a distinguished African American artist who is known for her narrative quilts. She is the recipient of 22 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees, She started by making oil paintings in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s her work evolved and she started making unstretched acrylic paintings on canvas with quilted borders. Then a decade later, she began to combine her story quilts with hand-written text.
She’s quoted as saying,
“I’m not presumptuous enough to feel that people are going to feel what I have in mind, so I tell a story, you know, let them read something, that doesn’t change, that as I have said it, you know, so that’s the way I feel about the viewer, the viewer has a mind of their own and eyes of their own and they’re going to see it their way, I just hope they look.”
It was my honor to see her work in person for the very first time. Notice the pieced and quilted border in her piece “Wedding on the Seine” which was on view in this exhibit.
Chiyoko Tanaka Exhibiting in “Handmade”
“Placing the fabric on the ground, I trace out the ground texture and surface of the fabric. The act of tracing is a transformation of time coherence into space and grinding is the transformation of space coherence into time. The final color of the surface is not so important, more the effect achieved by the application of a certain soil, charcoal or choice of tool which helped translate the texture of the ground more readily into my “canvas.”
Margo Woloweiec Exhibiting in “Handmade”
“Her hand-woven panels use data sourced from the Internet that she finds through hashtags, geotags, google searches and news feeds. In her woven work, Wolowiec selects images and text which she puts through a multi-step process that begins with a dye-sublimation transfer onto polymer threads. She then weaves on a traditional floor loom to create woven panels which she continues to dye and paint throughout the weaving process.”
For the rest of the article, I’ll leave you to view the individual artist galleries in “Handmade“, while I make comments only occasionally. Enjoy!!!
Carolina Yrarrázaval Exhibiting in “Handmade”
Judith Scott
Miriam Schapiro
Norma Minkowitz
Sermin Kardestuncer
Sophia Narett
I’ve previously written a review about Sophia Narett. She was one of the artists who exhibited in Intimate Lines. You can read that review here. She and Faith Ringgold, among others, are mentioned in a recent New York Times article entitled: “Some of the Most Political Art is Made with Fibers”. She’s got an upcoming solo exhibition in Brooklyn’s BRIC Arts/Media center in May, 2018
Terri Friedman
Anna Betbeze
Leslie Dill
Ghada Amer with Reza Farkhondeh
I’m not sure what they mean by “digital sewing” but I sure would love to find out. Could it be piecing in Photoshop?
And there you have it. A visual review of “Handmade: Women Reshaping Contemporary Art”. I hope you enjoyed this review. The exhibit is on view through June 2, 2018. And there will be a curator’s talk and panel discussion led by “Handmade” curator Elizabeth Gorayeb on April 21 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.,
Get more info from the Westport Art Center.
Warmest Regards,
And, as always, if you know someone that might benefit from this post, please do share it with them – they won’t be mad at you for providing them value. Promise!
Get behind the scenes and learn more about my art practice, events, exhibitions and release of new artworks
Also published on Medium.
Leave a Reply