Last night was the opening for Connective Thread, a multi-artist, fiber show curated by Joetta Maue at Sweet Lorraine Gallery in Red Hook, Brooklyn.When I walked into the gallery, I was completely blown away by the quality of craftsmanship and imaginative treatment of materials. Wow! I especially loved Rebecca Rinquist's machine- and hand-stitched fabric collages that buckle and bend under the weight of so much stitching. Her work seems both violent and loving at the same time.
I was also quite taken with the work of Crystal Gregory, who incorporates crochet into the urban landscape as a form of graffiti. Her crocheted doilies adorn and disrupt brick, cinder blocks, and menacing fences. Other pieces reference the body and metabolic processes in lace-like stencils and quilts. All of her handwork seems to have a delicate, lace-like quality, in sharp contrast to the subject matter and contexts in which she likes to create installations.
Finally, as an applicant whose work was not selected for the show, I was invited to hang work just for the opening. I decided to show the piece above, Deflowered, which consists of hand-made "underwear." This piece is conceptually part of my Were I So Besotted series, but not as literally narrative as most of my work. I have never shown this piece before, nor even shared it with my gallerist, Muriel Guepin. I don't think I've ever included it in an application for a show, either. It seems a bit of a departure aesthetically from my other work. Nonetheless, I did receive some positive feedback.
Many thanks to Joetta Maue for galvanizing a truly inspiring fiber art exhibit (and within walking distance of my home!). I hope you will check it out, too, if you live in the New York area. The Gallery is located at 183 Lorraine Street, 3rd Floor. Public hours are Weds-Fri, 12-4pm and by appointment (contact Joetta).
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