Famously, Penelope spent twenty years weaving a shroud for her father-in-law Laertes, waiting for the return of her husband Odysseus from ten years of war and ten more years of adventures on his way home, while she rebuffed numerous suitors. Her craft is still associated with the quintessential values of domesticity, fidelity, resilience, perseverance, all attributes of femininity. In the 1950's the term "fiber art" was coined to include a wide range of material and skills to produce pieces loosing their functionality to gain in aesthetics in an attempt to set boundaries between craft and art. The works from thirty women artists have been selected for the exhibition Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women, ongoing at the Renwick Gallery steps away from the White House in Washington, D.C. The promising title reflects fiber art's expanded horizons, from media, techniques, to themes, revealed through thirty-three pieces displayed on the first floor of the venue, home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's program of contemporary craft and decorative arts. All the works belong to the Smithsonian's collection and span more than three quarters of a century from 1918 to 2004.
Enthralled by the display, it is easy to miss the informative wall text at the entrance of the show. At the center of the room, defying gravity, Coil Series III-A Celebration (1978) set on a low circular pedestal is like a spring gushing from the ground, falling in a fountain of un-dyed strands of hemp and wool, turning into red soft foamy curls on the floor. The result of a laborious process of knotting and wrapping, the dazzling sculpture from Claire Zeisler is a perfect example of the "free from the loom" fiber art. Keeping on with the upbeat start, a figurative wall piece from Emma Amos Winning (1982) features the black silhouette of a woman leaping with joy, free, hair flowing, on a bright background mixture of painted and woven fabric, ribbons and threads. Red and Blue (1969) from Else Regensteiner, a more traditional woven wall hanging, underlines the Bauhaus's influence on the artist who attended the Chicago Institute of Design, previously known as the New Bauhaus. Framed by the arched entrance to the next gallery, Box of Falling Stars (1989), part of the Cloud series from Lenore Tawney is another technical feat, catching the light in thousands of thin white strands of linen thread falling from the sky (a square metal frame attached to the ceiling). Every angle of the composition offers a piece of paradise and at times the shadow of a cloud. Close by an earlier piece, In the Dark Forest (ca. 1959), illustrates the skills of the weaver who transforms the loom into a canvas, mixing patches of autumnal colors. The haptic piece with its mossy texture transports us in the deep wood where a few rays of light filter through the trees. Across, Reflections (1982) from Cynthia Schira offers a serene aquatic landscape made of delicate touches of color, like ripples. In the same area, two wall pieces, Cal y Canto (ca.1979) from famous Colombian artist Olga de Amaral and Breeze (ca.1958) from Mariska Karasz, fashion designer and textile artist, complete the display.
Each of the thirty artists is represented by one work (occasionally two) complemented by a discrete but enlightening wall text with a photograph and a quote from the artist, comments about the work and relevant biographical information. The show proceeds in the main gallery, a long, wide space under a high ceiling, allowing an enjoyable visit despite the flow of visitors. More tightly packed the works are mostly hanging on the walls, a few are displayed in glass cases. The variety of the works, from colors, material, themes, techniques, could be overwhelming, especially as they seem to be randomly set. It becomes an adventure of a sort to progress through the riveting exhibition looking at a native American rug, a colorful sculpture made by an artist with Down syndrome, or a quilt heavily influenced by African roots, and discover works from less known artists next to famous ones. A towering iconic sculpture from Sheila Hicks The Principal Wife Goes On (1969), gets a prominent spot in the middle of the gallery close to a humble embroidered quilt from Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, memorial to little girls who perished at the Mexican-American border while migrating to the United States. Every piece tells a story, from the quilt made by Clementine Hunter who never left the Melrose plantation, a place she also describes in her paintings with the same fresh naive style, to a large "femmage" about domesticity assembled by Miriam Schapiro, an engaged feminist artist. From a Birmingham Jail: MLK (1996) from L'Merchie Frazier, a tribute to the civil rights movement's leader, is a patchwork of fuzzy portraits of MLK mixed with images of African sculptures and fragments of texts. More powerful than slogans, Unveiling the Statue of Liberty (1964), a very busy quilt from Katherine Westphal presents a new version of Edward Moran's patriotic painting of the same name made in 1886, with harbor and celebratory flags replaced by a jambalaya of shredded fabrics under the statue. Faith Ringgold, a multimedia artist who just passed in April 2024, favored quilting over painting to celebrate her culture and a piece of American history as her alter ego Cee Cee evolves amid the Harlem Renaissance society. In a side gallery, two suspended sculptures Medusa (1975) from Neda Al-Hilali, born in the Czech Republic and Nagare VII (1970) from Kay Sekimachi find a place in the floor to ceiling niches while a Peruvian inspired tapestry from Susan L. Iverson and a kinetic seascape from Adela Akers line up the walls. Fiber art can be utilitarian with a decorated dress or a bedspread, figurative or abstract like Crazy Too Quilt (1989) from Lia Cook. It includes also beadwork represented by an elaborate necklace and a sculpture Birth of Mammy #4 ( 2004) from Joyce Scott, a local artist who just had a rousing retrospective at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
The last room accommodates a display of archival notes, drawings, samples of colored thread, swatches in glass cases, all part of the meticulous preparatory work leading to the realization of the piece of art.
Fiber art has come a long way since the scathing review of the show Woven Forms by Louise Bourgeois for Craft Horizons in which she states: "These weaving, delightful as they are, ...., if they must be classified, they would fall somewhere between fine and applied art... The pieces in the show rarely liberate themselves from decoration." Works from Lenore Tawney and Claire Zeisler were included in the exhibition and her comments may be reflecting the "low culture" connotations of fiber art in the early sixties. The show at the Renwick Gallery gives a new broad outlook on fiber as a medium to create art and underlines the variety of works and their far reaching topics, opening new worlds for the viewer. Independent of fashions or movements, fiber art touches all ways of life.
Yes, "Subversive, Skilled, Sublime".
photographs by the author:
- Lenore Tawney "Box of Falling Stars" (1989)
-Katherine Westphal "Unveiling the Statue of Liberty" (1964)
-Claire Zeisler "Coil Series III-A Celebration" (1978)
-Sheila Hicks "The Principal Wife Goes On" (1969)
-Clementine Hunter "Melrose Quilt" (ca.1960)
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