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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200810
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200901
DTSTAMP:20260503T045149
CREATED:20200817T134157Z
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SUMMARY:browngrotta arts presents Catalog Lookback: Chronicling the Canon
DESCRIPTION:Image: Ethel Stein\, Butah\, 2011\nPhoto: Tom Grotta \n  \nbrowngrotta arts \npresents\n\nCatalog Lookback: Chronicling the Canon\nAugust 10 – 31\, 2020 \nOnline exhibition: artsy.net/show/browngrotta-arts-chronicling-the-canon \nbrowngrotta arts is pleased to continue their online survey of Modern Craft with Catalog Lookback: Chronicling the Canon  – celebrating contemporary artists Sheila Hicks\, Lenore Tawney\, Lia Cook\, Jin-Sook So\, and Ethel Stein\, inspired by a retrospective selection of exhibition catalogs\, published between 1992-2001. \nContemporary fiber art is a fairly new art genre\, having begun in the 1950s with experiments in weaving abstraction in the US and Poland and achieving its first international acknowledgment in the 1960s (Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial\, Switzerland\,1962 and Woven Forms\, Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Craft Council\, 1963 and Wall Hangings\,  Museum of Modern Art 1969). browngrotta arts has been involved in promoting international art textiles and fiber sculpture since 1987 – or nearly half of that history. \nbrowngrotta arts has been fortunate to work with\, been guided by and document the work of pathbreakers and innovators in the field\, including Lenore Tawney\, Sheila Hicks\, Lia Cook\, Jin-Sook So and Ethel Stein. Each of these artists have played a significant role in more than one of browngrotta arts’ publications\, including Sheila Hicks\, Joined by seven artists from Japan (vol. 13)\, Lenore Tawney: celebrating five decades of work (vol. 28)\, and Beyond Weaving: International ArtTextiles (vol. 33). Three of them were the subject of artist monographs — Lenore Tawney: Drawings in Air (#1M); Lia Cook: In the Fold\, Works from 1973-1977 (#2M) Ethel Stein: Weaver (#3M); one of them an artist’s focus — Focus: Jin-Sook So (#1F). \nChronicling the Canon is a precursor to browngrotta arts’ upcoming “Art in the Barn” exhibition Volume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades\, opening at browngrotta arts in Wilton\, CT in September 12-20\, 2020. \n  \nExhibition Highlights \nIn 1996\, browngrotta arts worked with Sheila Hicks on an exhibition that included seven artists from Japan – Masakazu Kobayashi and Naomi Kobayashi\, Chiaki Maki\, Toshio Sekiji\, Hiroyuki Shindo\, Chiyoko Tanaka and Jun Tomita. “The choice to show these works together was personal\,” Hicks wrote in Sheila Hicks\, Joined by seven artists from Japan (#13). She chose browngrotta arts’ space in Connecticut\, intentionally\, noting that in the Connecticut landscape\,“it would be easy to contemplate their inner messages or\, at least\, to discover their structural wizardry.” \nHicks had shown these artists works to friends\, and noted that\, “A harmonious dialogue between their work and my own began to develop naturally.” Hicks designed the exhibition and the installation was in collaboration with Cara McCarty\, then-head of the Department of Decorative Arts and Design at the St. Louis Art Museum\, and Mathilda McQuaid\, then-Associate Curator\, Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA\, both now at the Cooper Hewitt. The exhibition was well received and led to others in Paris and Jerusalem and a follow up show in Wilton (Traditions Transformed (#22)). Ultimately\, Hicks and six of the artists appeared in the major MoMa survey: Surface and Structure: Contemporary Japanese Textiles (1998-99)\, curated by McQuaid and McCarty\, which highlighted the revolution that had occurred in the creation of textiles during the 90s. Hicks went on to be the subject of numerous solo exhibitions — Israel Museum\, Jerusalem\, Israel\, Centre Pompidou\, Paris\, France\, Museo Amparo\, Puebla\, México\, Municipal Cultural Center Gallery\, Kiryu\, Gunma\, Japan and The Bass\, Miami Beach\, Florida\, Museum of Nebraska Art\, Kearney\, Nebraska\, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia\, Virginia Beach\, Virginia\, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino\, Santiago\, Chile\, Bard Graduate Center\, New York\, Addison Gallery of American Art\, Andover\, Massachusetts\, and Joslyn Art Museum Omaha\, Nebraska. \nbrowngrotta arts’ representation of Lenore Tawney was equally meaningful to founders\, Rhonda Brown and Tom Grotta\, and influential to browngrotta arts’ evolution. When they decided to move their home and exhibition space\, a major factor was finding a room with a ceiling high enough to exhibit a Tawney “cloud” from the series for which she was well known). In 2000\, they were able to make that happen celebrating five decades of Tawney’s work. The exhibition illuminated the breadth of Tawney’s vision — including woven forms\, collage\, assemblage and drawings. Many of the works — created in the 50s\, 60s\, 70s\, 80s and 90s — had rarely been exhibited before. The catalog also included never-published excerpts from Tawney’s journals and an essay by Bauhaus scholar\, Sigrid Wortmann Weltge\, who authored Bauhaus Textiles: Women Artists and the Weaving Workshop (Thames & Hudson 1998). This was followed with a monograph (#1M) exploring Tawney’s Drawings in Air series — ruled drawings on graph paper that predated systemic drawings of Minimalists like Sol Lewitt and served as the impetus for three-dimensional thread sculptures three decades later. “I did some of these drawings that look so much like threads that people think they are threads\,” Tawney wrote. “but I didn’t do them with that in mind …. It’s like meditation — you have to be with the line all the time—you can’t be thinking of anything.” \nLike Hicks and Tawney\, Lia Cook was a participant in Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial\, first in 1973\, just after she completed her Master’s degree at the University of California\, Berkeley in Art & Design. Since that time Cook has reinvented her art practice several times\, first creating macroscopic imagery of woven structures\, then exploring images of draped fabrics incorporating hand-painted rayon warp threads. In the 90s\, she began weaving photographic compositions and then\, in the 2000s\, she began taking measurements of brain waves as people looked at photos and then at woven images\, integrating them into her work as well. “Cook’s work defies the ocular-centricity of Western art by overturning the hierarchy of the senses\,” wrote Deborah Valoma in our monograph on Cook (#2)\, “and repositioning the sense of touch in the foreground …. Cook asks her viewers to ’see’ the experience of touch — to imagine the sensations of touch through the visual experience of seeing.” The uniquely tactile experience created by Cook’s work has been featured in dozens of exhibitions worldwide\, many of them solo exhibitions. Her work is found in dozens of museum collections\, including that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, the De Young Museum\, Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. \nJin-Sook So is another innovator with an international presence who has moved from working with wool to working with organza\, and for the last two decades\, stainless steel and copper mesh. For the Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial in 1989\, she worked directly with flat steel mesh\, pleated manually\, and colored black and blue and brown with a blow torch. By the mid-90s\, “her form language had become more distinct and more consistently constructivist\,” Kerstin Wickman\, Professor of History of Design and Craft at Konstfack\, University College of Arts Crafts and Design in Stockholm wrote in Focus: Jin-Sook So (#1F). “In spite of their minimal and precise shapes\, [her] boxes\, as well as the folded constructions\, impart a softness and a sensuality created by the illusionary ‘movements\,’ the variations and the poetic surfaces.” Born in Korea\, studies in Japan and New York and nearly three decades of residence in Sweden\, So’s work is influenced by each of these experiences. The shimmering gold and blue and black of her constructed works reflect light in ways that recall urban landscapes in New York and Sweden’s remarkable\, diffused light. More recent works\, including the bowl shapes which link back to her childhood\, tie more directly to the past\, evoking a pool of memories\, of stories told and feelings expressed. Her work has been exhibited in Asia\, Scandinavia\, Japan\, and the US. \nA contemporary and colleague of Tawney’s in New York and also invited to the Lausanne International Tapestry Biennale\, when Ethel Stein began weaving in the 60s\, she took a different tack than the textile artists creating large\, dimensional and off-loom works. Instead\, despite her background as she worked “counter trend” in Jack Lenor Larsen’s words\, her weavings remained small and flat. She immersed herself in difficult and exacting cloth traditions\, using an ancient drawloom which was replaced 200 years ago by the Jacquard loom. browngrotta arts’ monograph\, Ethel Stein: Weaver (#3M)\, follows Stein through her early art instruction\, work as a sculptor and creation of damasks\, double weaves and feathery skates. At 96\, the fresh expressions that Stein created from her explorations into ancient techniques brought her well-deserved recognition in a one-person exhibition\, Ethel Stein: Master Weaver\, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014\, which featured large images and information from the monograph. The delay\, the Art Institute’s material surmised\, was due\, in part\, to the fact that\,“her weavings look deceptively simple\, with the result that only those well versed in the craft she practices can truly appreciate the sophistication of Stein’s work and the magnitude of her accomplishment.” \nCatalog Lookback: Chronicling the Canon  is on view on Artsy from Aug 10 – 31\, 2020\nwww.artsy.net/show/browngrotta-arts-chronicling-the-canon \nVolume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades\, opening at browngrotta arts in Wilton\, CT from Sept 12-20\, 2020\nhttp://www.browngrotta.com/Pages/calendar.php \nFor media inquiries\, contact State PR at (646)714.2520 or browngrotta@statepr.com \n 
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/browngrotta-arts-presents-catalog-lookback-chronicling-the-canon/
LOCATION:browngrotta arts\, 276 Ridgefield Road\, Wilton\, CT\, 06897\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Virtual Events + Viewing Rooms
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200713
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200801
DTSTAMP:20260503T045149
CREATED:20200717T211025Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200717T211025Z
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SUMMARY:browngrotta arts presents Catalog Lookback:  Fan Favorites
DESCRIPTION:Leading up to their “Art in the Barn” exhibition Volume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades\, opening this September\, browngrotta arts continues their online surveys with Catalog Lookback: Fan Favorites – a grouping of works by contemporary artists Mary Merkel-Hess\, Kay Sekimachi\, Hisako Sekijima and Gyöngy Laky\, inspired by a retrospective of a selection of exhibition catalogs\, published between 1992-2001. \nThrough 50 catalogs\, showcasing the works of 172 artists\, browngrotta arts has been dedicated to researching\, documenting and raising awareness of fiber art and Modern Craft through exhibitions and catalogs for over 30 years. Merkel-Hess\, Sekimachi\, Sekijima and Laky each have been the subjects of more than one catalog –  solo or two-person or special groupings  – and each has been featured in several themed survey publications. These artists explore different materials or forms\, creating objects and works for the wall.  That willingness to innovate and reinvent has made them continuously collectible for those who acquire works in breadth and for those who pursue the work of individual artists in depth as well. \nExhibition Highlights\nMary Merkel-Hess is known for her “landscape reports” – sculptural basket-like forms inspired by the natural surroundings of her hometown in Iowa. She was the subject of one of browngrotta arts’ first exhibition catalogs in # 21\, 1992. While the works in this first solo show were vessels of brilliant green\, indigo\, cornflower\, red and bronze\, the gallery’s catalog technology at the time allowed only black-and-white printing. Despite the lack of color in the small catalog\, the lyrical works of paper cord and reed sold out. Her work was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art that year\, as one of the first contemporary baskets to enter the museum’s collection. The success of that exhibition spurred a second show of works by Merkel-Hess alongside Leon Niehues in catalog #152\, 1996. Ironically\, Merkel-Hess eschewed her hallmark vividly colored works and produced a show of translucent white papers made of gampi\, kobo\, abaca\, flax\, with some tinged with gold.  These works turned out to be as popular as those in color. Since then\, her works have become larger and more sculptural and her recognition has grown while her popularity with collectors has remained a constant.  Her work will be part of Volume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades\, catalog #503 in September of this year. \nIn catalog #34\, 1992\, still in black and white\, Kay Sekimachi’s wall weavings and intricate vessels were coupled with wood bowls turned by her husband\, Bob Stocksdale. Sekimachi has reinvented her practice several times in her lengthy career. She studied weaving with Trude Guermonprez in San Francisco and Jack Lenor Larsen at Haystack in Maine in the 1950s. By the 1960s she was working with complicated 12-harness looms to create ethereal hanging sculptures of monofilament\, then a new material\, one of which was featured in MoMA’s Wall Hangings exhibition in 1963. Sekimachi also participated in Deliberate Entanglements at UCLA in 1971 and the Lausanne Biennial in 1975 and 1983. She was part of the contemporary\, nonfunctional basket movement with other California artists in the 1960s and 1970s.  This body of work included small woven baskets and woven folded boxes made of antique Japanese papers. For the browngrotta arts exhibition in 1992\, she created gossamer flax bowls and patched pots of linen warp ends and rice paper. For the 1999 exhibition\, catalog #245\, she created woven boxes and books as well as bowls in typical Japanese ceramic shapes that she formed using Stocksdale’s turned bowls as molds. Still the subject of museum recognition and collector acclaim\, Sekimachi continues to work at 94\, weaving intimate\, abstract weavings reminiscent of drawings in pen and ink. \nIn 1993\, browngrotta arts produced their first catalog featuring Gyöngy Laky’s work\, catalog #56\, with that of Leon Niehues. The exhibition included 13 vessel shapes and one wall work. In 1996\, browngrotta arts visited Laky’s complex construction again in an exhibition and catalog #167. “I think of myself as a builder of sketches in three dimensions\,” she said of her textile architecture. The exhibition featured Laky’s three-dimensional words\, an important aspect of her oeuvre. The two versions of the word “No” or “On” illustrated the myriad ways in which such themes are deftly articulated by Laky. Affirmative No. 1 was made of brightly colored\, coated telephone wire\, piled and sewn. Affirmative No. 2  was much larger — the “O” made of branches still covered with bark\, the “N” made of pieces of stripped\, unfinished wood. \nThe catalog also contained an image of That Word.  Now in the collection of the federal court in San Francisco\, the work spells “ART” in 7-foot tall\, 3-D letters made of orchard prunings. Laky has continued to create word sculptures that combine natural and manmade materials\, as disparate as bleached cottonwood branches\, plastic army men and construction bullets of metal. In 2008\, The New York Times Magazine commissioned her to create titles for its environmental survey\, “The Green Issue.” The works that resulted were awarded a Type Directors Club Award. Laky will have two works in Volume 50: a large vessel-shaped sculpture and a type-related\, free-standing arrow. \nThe first catalog\, #88\, of Hisako Sekijima’s work included works in a wide variety of materials including cherry bark\, kudzu vine\, cedar\, willow\, hackberry\, bamboo. The New York Times Magazine featured a work of kudzu vine in an article on the uses of the invasive plant species. A second show in 1998\, paired her pieces made of zelikova\, apricot\, hinoki\, walnut and palm hemp bark\,  with jacquard weavings by Glen Kaufman that featured photographic images of Kyoto. In the third exhibition in 2001\, Japan: Under the Influence\, Innovative basketmakers deconstruct Japanese tradition\, catalog #309\,  Sekijima was featured with four of her students from Japan — Norie Hatekeyama\, Kazue Honma\, Noriko Takamiya and Tsuroko Tanikawa— each of whom had\, like their teacher\, given Japanese basketmaking tradition a twist. Sekijima wrote in Japan Under the Influence\, that Kay Sekimachi (also featured in the catalog) was one of the American artists whose “new notions of basketmaking” and “new forms” had a decisive impact on her as she studied basketmaking in the late 70s. “Since then\,” she wrote\, “Sekimachi has always been one of my teachers at a distance. Her work has always reminded me of a Japanese respectful expression orime tadashii\, which literally means\, ‘one’s kimono preserves neat lines of folding which connotes integrity of behavior.’” Sekijima’s work\, A Line Willow IV is part of our September exhibition. Like the works these artists have produced over nearly three decades\, A Line Willow IV\, represents a line that is knotless\, homogeneous and flexible.  \n\nBibliography\n1 Mary Merkel-Hess\, vol 2\, 1992  \n2 Mary Merkel-Hess and Leon Niehues\, vol 15\, 1996 \n3 Volume 50: Chronicling Fiber Art for Three Decades\, vol 50\, 2020 (available September 2020) \n4 Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi\, vol 3\, 1992 \n5 Bob Stocksdale and Kay Sekimachi: books\, boxes and bowls\, vol 24\, 1999 \n6 Leon Niehues and Gyöngy Laky\, vol 5\, 1992 \n7 Gyöngy Laky and Rebecca Medel\, vol 16\, 1997 \n8 Hisako Sekijima\, vol 8\, 1994 \n9 Japan Under The Influence: Innovative basketmakers deconstruct Japanese tradition\, vol 30\, 2001 \n10 Glen Kaufman and Hisako Sekijima\, vol 19\, 1997
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/browngrotta-arts-presents-catalog-lookback-fan-favorites/
LOCATION:browngrotta arts\, 276 Ridgefield Road\, Wilton\, CT\, 06897\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Virtual Events + Viewing Rooms
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200608
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200701
DTSTAMP:20260503T045149
CREATED:20200529T204632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200529T204632Z
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SUMMARY:browngrotta arts presents Cross Currents: Water/Art/Influence
DESCRIPTION:browngrotta arts is pleased to announce Cross Currents: Water/Art/Influence\, an online exhibition featuring works of Modern Craft on Artsy from June 8-30 – www.artsy.net/browngrotta-arts/shows. \nWater has long been a potent influence for the artists exhibited by browngrotta arts\, who explore its mystery and majesty in widely divergent ways. Works reside at the intersection of the maker’s fascination with a variety of nautical and natural themes and the artmaking process. The multifaceted exhibition combines sculptures\, tapestries\, installation works\, paintings and ceramics. \nCross Currents is the second online exhibition in a new series featuring artists and works of fiber art supported by a retrospective of catalogs published by browngrotta arts. They have been recording the narrative of fiber and Modern Craft through print catalogs for over 30 years\, contributing in no small feat to preserving the continuity of the field. \nThe exhibition highlights artists from three catalogs we have published\, Of Two Minds: Artists Who Do More Than One of a Kind (Vol. 38\, 2014); Plunge: explorations from above and below (Vol. 43\, 2017) and Blue/Green: color/code/context (Vol. 44\, 2018). \nIn all\, the work of 20 artists will be included in Cross Currents. Some are moved by water as a natural force\, for others there is a more spiritual connection\, still\, others are interested in how Man is impacting our oceans and rivers. \nParticipating artists include: Dona Anderson\, Jane Balsgaard\, Dorothy Gill Barnes\, Micheline Beauchemin\, Marian Bijlenga\, Birgit Birkjaaer\, Annette Bellamy\, Ferne Jacobs\, Christine Joy\, Lawrence LaBianca\, Ase Ljones\, Norma Minkowitz\, John McQueen\, Judy Mulford\, Keiji Nio\, Ed Rossbach\, Debra Sachs\, Karyl Sisson\, Ulla-Maija Vikman\, and Grethe Wittrock. \nExhibition Highlights:\nInspired by her years of commercial fishing in Alaska\, Anette Bellamy’s (b 1951) Long Lines\, 2010\, features 132 handmade kiln ceramic hooks\, twisted and turned while others remain in their original circle shape. \nIn Aging By The Sea\, 2004 and A Day At The Beach\, 1997\, Judy Mulford (b 1838) creates narrative sculpture and baskets of gourds inspired by her home at the beach in California. \nInspired by the pristine beauty and fragility of the Arctic ecosystem\, Danish artist Grethe Wittrock’s (b 1964) Arctica\, 2015\, is made from a repurposed weather-beaten sails from the Danish Navy. \nDebra Sachs’ (b 1953) Water Studies\, 2009\, evoke movement by distorting a static grid using the color blue\, akin to the movement of rivers and oceans. \nLawrence LaBianca’s (b 1963) Skiff\, 2010\, is an antique telephone receiver that links viewers to sounds of a rushing river. For What Lies Beneath/Moby Dick Book\, 2016\, he photographs an encased copy of Moby Dick into water. \nAll photos by Tom Grotta\, courtesy of browngrotta arts.
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/browngrotta-arts-presents-cross-currents-water-art-influence/
LOCATION:browngrotta arts\, 276 Ridgefield Road\, Wilton\, CT\, 06897\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Virtual Events + Viewing Rooms
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200511
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200601
DTSTAMP:20260503T045149
CREATED:20200515T153520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200515T153555Z
UID:67671-1589155200-1590969599@artinamericaguide.com
SUMMARY:California Dreamin'
DESCRIPTION:browngrotta arts is pleased to announce California Dreamin’ – an exclusive online exhibition highlighting the seminal role of the West Coast in the contemporary fiber art movement\, and the significant role of California artists in browngrotta arts’ exhibition history\, on view from May 11 – 31 on Artsy. \nA forerunner in the field\, browngrotta arts has been dedicated to researching\, documenting and raising awareness of Modern Craft through exhibitions and collectively recording the narrative of the movement through print catalogs for over 30 years\, contributing in no small feat to preserving the continuity of the field. \nCalifornia Dreamin’ highlights seven artists — Ed Rossbach\, Katherine Westphal\, Marion Hildebrandt\, Judy Mulford\, Deborah Valoma\, Adela Akers and Sylvia Seventy — who were the subject of three published catalogs: Ed Rossbach and Katherine Westphal (Vol 6\, 1993); Three California Basketmakers: Marion Hildebrandt Judy Mulford Deborah Valoma (Vol 20\, 1998); Adela Akers and Sylvia Seventy (Vol 26\, 2000)\, illustrated below. These artists continue to gain importance with the renewed recognition and reappraisal of Modern Craft. \nWhen browngrotta arts founders\, Tom Grotta and Rhonda Brown began promoting artists in the late 1980s they discovered two important facts about the field. First\, at that time\, before digital printing\, galleries and museums rarely had the budget to document their exhibitions in a catalog or book. Second\, on the rare occasions when catalogs of fiber art were prepared\, the works were photographed like paintings: two lights at 45-degree angles\, dimension and detail obscured. \nGrotta set out with the intention to resolve this disparity and began an annual cataloging program recording exhibitions\, artists\, and works through photography that specifically captured the tactile and haptic characteristics of fiber and craft art. While the first catalogs were modest\, black-and-white pamphlets\, Grotta photographed the work with reference to scale and shape from the outset\, and in the case of fiber art\, a sensitivity to conveying the work’s organic and haptic qualities and unique materials. This approach allowed for an immersive experience of the works\, one that extended beyond the temporal and geographic limitations of the exhibitions. \nExhibition Highlights\nEd Rossbach (1914 – 2002) and his wife Katherine Westphal (1919-2018)\, who were featured in a dual show and accompanying catalog\, Ed Rossbach and Katherine Westphal\, both challenged traditional forms and media of textile making. The catalog prepared by browngrotta arts — Vol. 6 — presented two covers\, intentionally giving the artists equal attention that Westphal deserved\, but didn’t always receive. \nRossbach became fascinated by indigenous textile processes and the use of found materials. Noted for creating three-dimensional\, structural forms from unexpected\, humble materials including plastic\, reeds\, newspaper\, stapled cardboard\, twigs\, Rossbach inspired a renaissance in basketry and vessel forms. \nWestphal was well known for her surface treatments on fabrics and spurred experiments of her own. In the late 60s she used photocopy machines to make images for her art. In the 1970s\, in addition to drawings and making baskets\, she began creating wearable art. According to Glenn Adamson\, former director of the Museum of Arts and Design\, it was a genre Westphal essentially invented. Few were worn\, most were hung on the wall like paintings. Her work displayed wide-ranging\, autobiographical themes\, arising from her travels — Native American art from trips through the Southwest\, cracked Greek pots viewed on a trip to the Met\, portraits of geishas after visiting Japan. \nIn Adela Akers and Sylvia Seventy (Vol 26\, 2000)\, Adela Akers’  (b. 1933) tapestries reflect her interest in coded messages and record keeping of memories. In this volume\, her tapestries are paired with Sylvia Seventy’s (b. 1947) pottery forms made of paper\, feathers\, beads and other found objects  – embellished works that also reflect the tracings of time. \nInspired by African and South American textiles\, Akers creates woven compositions of simple geometric shapes\, bands\, zigzags and checks. Many of her works incorporate meticulously measured and strips of metal cut from recycled California wine bottles\, creating an image that changes when directly or indirectly lit. She frequently employs horsehair into her weavings\, adding texture and dimensionality. Akers’ work has changed over time in scale\, material and construction. Some themes\, however\, continually reappear\, notably the use of line\, in conjunction with light\, to create works that transform as the viewer changes perspective. \nIn the 70s\, Seventy was undertaking experiments in paper making\, inspired in part by her studies of the art of the Pomo Indians. Her vessels feature an accretion of items\, compositions of beads\, feathers\, fish hooks\, googly eyes\, hand prints\, and buttons. \nIn Three California Basketmakers: Marion Hildebrandt Judy Mulford Deborah Valoma (Vol 20\, 1998)\, browngrotta arts focused on three California artists who took very different approaches to their art. Marion Hildebrandt (1925 – 2011) gathered native flora and fauna for her baskets\, Judy Mulford (b. 1938) surrounds gourds with knotless netting and integrates photographic images\, drawings\, words\, polymer figures and found objects. Deborah Valoma (b. 1955) creates vessels of woven copper and of waxed linen and wire. \nHildebrandt lived in Napa Valley where she gathered most of the plant material used in her baskets. “My basketmaking reflects a longtime interest and study of native California flora and fauna. It is still possible to find plants here that were used by basketmakers 4000 years ago.” Hildebrandt employed the same materials that Native Americans used when they inhabited the area\, and although she did not attempt to replicate their baskets\, she shared their similar appreciation for the natural materials that surround us. \nFarther down the California coast\, Mulford creates narrative sculpture and baskets of gourds. She studied the fiber arts of Micronesia and in the 70s was one of a group of women to work on Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. Each of her works\, she says\, “becomes a container of conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings\, a nest\, a womb\, a secret\, surprise or a giggle. And always\, a feeling of being in touch with my female ancestral beginnings.” Her sculptures integrate photo images\, drawings\, script\, buttons and small figures. The gourds are surrounded by knotless netting — an ancient looping technique — symbolic because it is also a buttonhole stitch historically rooted in the home.” \nA creator of both textiles and sculpture\, Valoma\, credits numerous influences for her work. “I first learned to knit in Jerusalem from a Polish refugee of the Holocaust. I learned to stitch lace from my grandmother\, descendant of Armenian survivors of the Turkish massacres. I learned to twine basketry from one of the few living masters of Native American basketweaving in California. These dedicated women tenaciously pass the threads of survival forward.” Using hand-construction techniques and cutting-edge digital weaving technology\, her work hugs the edges of traditional practice. She upholds traditional customs and at the same time\, unravels long-held stereotypes. Valoma believes that students must locate themselves within historical lineages in order to understand the historical terrain they walk (and sometimes trip) through daily. \nCalifornia Dreamin’ will be on view online on Artsy through May 31\, 2020 – www.artsy.net/show/browngrotta-arts-california-dreamin \nAll photos by Tom Grotta\, courtesy of browngrotta arts. Not to be published without prior permission. High res. images available upon request.
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/california-dreamin/
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Virtual Events + Viewing Rooms
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200301
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200401
DTSTAMP:20260503T045149
CREATED:20200324T204719Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200331T174704Z
UID:66798-1583020800-1585699199@artinamericaguide.com
SUMMARY:Viewing Room | browngrotta arts presents Transforming Tradition: Japanese and Korean Contemporary Craft
DESCRIPTION:In honor of Asia Art Week 2020 this March\, browngrotta arts has collated contemporary works by 12 artists born in Japan and Korea for an online exhibition\, Transforming Tradition: Japanese and Korean Contemporary Craft. The works include ceramics\, weavings\, baskets and sculptures made of paper and silk. \nNotable in the exhibition are paper sculptures by Naomi Kobayashi and an elegant silk thread assemblage by her late husband\, Masakazu Kobayashi. The couple often collaborated\, working on installations that combined elements created by each of them. “These works express a shared vision and such common themes as the tranquility of nature\, the infinity of the universe and the Japanese spirit\,” Masakuzu once explained. “Naomi and I work in fiber because natural materials have integrity\, are gentle and flexible. In my own work\, I search for an equilibrium between my capacity as a creator and the energy of the world around me.” \nKeiji Nio’s interlaced wall work is inspired by a haiku\, Rough Sea of Sado\, from Japanese haiku master Matsuo Basho’s haiku series. In it\, Basho describes the deep blue waves of the Sea of Japan as they are reflected in the night sky and the light blue waves hitting the beach. The work incorporates ribbons on which Nio has screened images from the sea and tiny pebbles from the shore. Nio is a faculty member at the Kyoto University of Art & Design\, who combines industrial and natural materials in his works to make statements about nature and man’s relationship to the world. \nSeveral ceramics by Yasuhisa Kohyama\, are included in Transforming Tradition. Kohyama is a renowned Shigaraki potter who uses ancient techniques to explore new forms. He gained widespread attention in Japan in the 60s when he built one of the first anagama kilns since medieval times. Collectors and museums have been quick to acquire his works\, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, the Cleveland Museum of Art\, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam\, the Gardiner Museum of Art in Toronto\, the Philadelphia Museum of Art\, the Museum of Art and Craft in Hamburg and the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shiga\, Japan. Kohyama’s work graces the cover of Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century by collectors Alice and Halsey North and curator Joe Earle. \nBamboo sculptures by Jiro Yonzawa are also part of browngrotta arts’ exhibition. Yonezawa has been recognized with the Cotsen Prize\, a commission from Loewe to work in leather and inclusion in the prestigious Japan Nitten National Fine Arts Exhibit. Yonezawa has explained his work: “Bamboo basketry for me is an expression of detailed precision. These baskets represent a search for the beauty and precision in nature and a way to balance the chaos evident in these times.” \nKorean artist Chang Yeonsoon\, who creates ethereal works of starched indigo\, was Artist of the Year at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul in 2008. For 35 years\, Jin-Sook So\, also of Korea\, has been creating dimensional works — sculptural vessels and wall pieces  — from stainless steel mesh to international acclaim. \nYou can view Transforming Tradition: Japanese and Korean Contemporary Contemporary Craft online by visiting browngrotta arts’ YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCV7IJwPD34cF-U88hB5e4aw. \nYou can see each individual work in the exhibition on Artsy: www.artsy.net/browngrotta-arts/shows and learn more about the artists included by visiting arttextstyle arttextstyle.com and browngrotta arts’ website: www.browngrotta.com \n  \nArtists included:\nChiyoko Tanaka (Japan)\, Jiro Yonezawa (Japan)\, Masakazu Kobayashi (Japan)\, Naomi Kobayashi (Japan)\, Kyoko Kumai (Japan)\, Kiyomi Iwata (Japan/US)\, Yasuhisa Kohyama (Japan)\, Keiji Nio (Japan)\, Hisako Sekijima (Japan)\, Toshio Sekiji (Japan)\, Jin-Sook So (Korea)\, Chang Yeonsoon (Korea)  \n  \nAll photos by Tom Grotta\, courtesy of browngrotta arts. Not to be published without prior permission. High res. images available upon request.\n\nFor all media inquiries\, contact State Public Relations at (646) 714 – 2520 or browngrotta@statepr.com.  \n 
URL:https://artinamericaguide.com/event/browngrotta-arts-online-viewing/
LOCATION:browngrotta arts\, 276 Ridgefield Road\, Wilton\, CT\, 06897\, United States
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Virtual Events + Viewing Rooms
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ORGANIZER;CN="browngrotta arts":MAILTO:browngrotta@statepr.com
GEO:41.2036033;-73.4518807
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=browngrotta arts 276 Ridgefield Road Wilton CT 06897 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=276 Ridgefield Road:geo:-73.4518807,41.2036033
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