|
Fiber art: Ingenuity with respect for tradition
By MARY ANN MARGER
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 2000
Eva Walsh’s Flight of Fancy, 1999, fiber and beads, 26 by 6 inches, is on display at Florida Craftsmen in St. Petersburg.
|
ST. PETERSBURG -- From wall hangings to sculpture, from paper to gold lame, from an elegant purse to an appliqued apron, the fiber art at Florida Craftsmen Gallery shows the medium's possibilities.
The exhibit of 39 works by 34 artists was judged by Ken Uyemara, founder and former chair of the department of weaving and fiber art at the University of Miami. The exhibit opened at the Lowe Art Museum on campus in June; Florida Craftsmen is the first of five locations it will tour.
The show can be used for some basic lessons; you take it from there:
Ingenuity is essential. It's easy to see in Val Carroll's whimsical wet mops and Jan Boyer's silk "leaves" wrapped around wire and spiked with beads, but it's less obvious (still present) in Connie Forneris' woven rug, which has to conform to a pattern, or Erman's Lazaro's Field, which sets out to present a landscape. Erman, of Miami, is the only man represented in the show.
Fine craftsmanship is to be prized. Some works at first seem haphazard. But it helps to visualize the process of making a work or to ask gallery personnel how something was accomplished.
Fiber art can be labor intensive, as anyone who has knitted knows. Eva Walsh's Flight of Fancy, a bib of fiber and beads, shows the patience required to execute this balanced, one-of-a-kind design.
Irregularities are okay. Puckers in Carol Prusa's dresses and quarter circles that don't match up in Barbara Grodin's hanging raise the works above the taken-for-granted evenness of machine work -- which is what the contemporary crafts movement sets out to do. Look, too, for asymmetry and an odd mix of materials.
Respect tradition. Uyemara looked for it in choosing artists who paid attention to established techniques while carrying their medium into the future. Sheila Brew's ikat, a fabric of tie-dyed yarn, brings an Asian form into Western expression. Kathleen Holmes incorporates aged crochet pieces into mixed media sculpture, suggesting a narrative in which the new grows out of the old. Emmie Seaman's A Gift, a tongue-in-cheek tribute to a kitchen mixer, shows her understanding of Gothic art with its halos and flowing fabric (apron strings).
With these principles accepted, viewers can enjoy other works in the show, from Kimberly Childs' self-explanatory 50 Years Old to Rosemarie Chiarlone's dazzling gold Palm Book.
More of Kathleen Holmes' work is in a one-person show at the Arts Center. She also appeared in the 1998-1999 Florida Visual Art Fellowships show at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art last spring.
Several other artists in the exhibit have figured prominently around the bay. Laura Militzer Bryant of St. Petersburg has won many prizes for her geometric weavings. Jean Yao wins frequent prizes, including best of show at Mainsail, for her baskets of branches left in their natural state. Eleanor McCain won best of show at Florida Craftsmen's annual statewide exhibit, held last spring at the Arts Center, St. Petersburg.
Bay area artists Boyer and Mei-Ling St. Leger are also in the show.
The show, presented by both Florida Craftsmen and the South Florida Fiber Artist, overflows its space. Don't miss the works in the room just off the hall. Florida Craftsmen hopes to break through the wall to ease the flow for future exhibits.
E-mail: marger@sptimes.com
At a glance
"Beyond the Fringe: Florida Fiber Art 2000," Florida Craftsmen, 501 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Oct. 27. Free. Call (727) 821-7391; http://www.floridacraftsmen.net
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
