Saturday, March 17, 2012

Great Fiber Art Viewing Opportunities

If you live close to southern Indiana, you have a rare opportunity for the next few weeks. There are three good fiber arts exhibits within driving distance. I have viewed all three and all are worth a good drive. These shows contain wall quilts, soft sculpture, altered books, felted beaded work, knitting, crocheting, hand stitching, and more.

The first exhibit is at the Water Tower in Louisville, KY. I know this show intimately because I have two pieces in the show. (I'm very excited to report that one of my pieces has sold!) This is the annual juried LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) show. See a post about the show here--LAFTA Show. The show is located at the Water Tower, 3005 River Road, Louisville, KY. It opened March 1, 2012, and will be on display through April 6, 2012. There are pieces from more than twenty fiber artists in this show. For more information about the Water Tower, go to http://www.louisvillevisualart.org/. Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00 am-5:00 pm; Saturday CLOSED, Sunday 12:00-4:00 pm. Please check it out if you get the chance and let me know what you think.

Here is a picture from the opening reception. You can see a couple of the pieces in the background.

The second is a show called "Tools of the Trade: Fiber Art by Bette Levy." It will be held from March 16-April 28, 2012, at the Carnegie Center for Art & History, 201 East Spring St., New Albany, IN. Hours for the Carnegie are Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. If you get a chance to see this exhibit in person definitely go. At first I wasn't interested in going, because I thought the show only contained crocheted items. I'm not really into crochet, so this didn't interest me. I was SO pleasantly surprised by what I saw; I LOVED the crochet items--this is not your Grandmother's crochet! I'm hoping to entice those of you who can go see the exhibit by these photos. If you can't go in person, here is a little bit of what you're missing. (I apologize for the quality of the pics. I forgot to take my camera; these were taken with the camera on my phone.)
The piece above is made from a vintage pulley and uses synthetic cord and is crocheted. Wow, I never really considered crochet to be "art." I've changed my mind.
This piece (A Life and Times, 2009) is made from envelopes which have been machine stitched and waxed. (Be sure to click on the picture to view this a bit closer. You can see much more of the detail.) The envelopes are from letters the artist wrote to her parents over a 10-year period. I was touched by the fact that her parents saved all these letters. It reminded me of the things I have saved from my children's lives and made me smile.
This piece is called "Letters Home, 2009." It is made from cut-up letters and is machine stitched and waxed. Again, this piece really touched me. I wrote letters for years and years to my Grandmother. I think, in this day of electronic communication, hand-written letters are precious. The person that writes them has taken the time to sit down and think only of the recipient while they are writing that letter. How many of you have saved a letter/note written by a loved one? Hand-written correspondence is truly a gift. What a beautiful way to honor that tradition.
This is a piece called "Tools of the Trade II, 2011." It is made from rust cloth, cotton thread and kantha stitching. I loved the simplicity of this piece. I'm also partial to hand stitching; I love the texture it adds to the piece.
This crocheted piece reminded me of a spider web. The pieces attached to old, rusty tools took me back in time to my Grandpa's garage where he stored all kinds of wondrous tools.

To promote the show, members of LAFTA and others "crochet bombed" the Carnegie. I got a couple of pics of it--how fun!

All in all, I REALLY enjoyed this exhibit. I'm SO glad I didn't pass it up because I thought it was "just crochet."

The last exhibit I'd like to mention is "Word in Season" by artist Linda Henke. It is available till April 15, 2012, at the Archabbey Library Gallery at the Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Saint Meinrad, IN. You can see more about the exhibit here. It is a mixed-media art exhibition expressive of the Christian Liturgical Seasons. According to the brochure, "Inspired by the geography of her faith journey, Henke creates mixed-media art expressive of spiritual themes, sacred texts, and theological reflections." You can see the exhibit during these hours. I'd encourage you to visit.

2 comments:

Deb Erwin said...

Wow! Really unusual items but quite interesting. I like the letters too....reminds me of the things I have now that I gave to my mom as a child.

Karoda said...

Congrats on the sale of your piece! I've heard nothing but great things about the LAFTA show! I'm planning to see it this Saturday as well as Levy's exhibit.