Greetings All,
Here's a slideshow from the artists talk and reception from Forms & Fabrics. Enjoy, we sure did and the exhibit looks fabulous.
Also I have included an essay written by Linda Obermeyer about the exhibit.
“Forms and
Fabrics”
exhibition
Mary K. O’Shaughnessy and
Trish Williams
March 19-April 17, 2013
Presidents Gallery: Chicago
State University
Craft’s
relationship to fine art is a complicated affair. Much of the discourse revolves around whether
craft is or should be art, but this line of argument leads us nowhere. What is
far more interesting is how art’s opposition to craft has created a space to
create works which examine and question the very cultural constructs of race,
gender and class that are tied to craft’s subordination.
Craft
is a material process. Objects are
formed from the interaction between the material and one’s use of it. These materials and processes have their own
cultural read, which are far from neutral.
For example, in the United States tie dyed fabric may conjure memories
of summer camp and hippie fashion, but the process has also been practiced in
Africa for centuries, and therefore has a different
connection for Africans.Our association with crafts is not autonomous. In an era in which sight dominates and
relationships are electronically built and nurtured, craft reminds us that
touch is an implicit need. To see the
object is not enough, one feels the need to rub it, feel the texture, and weigh
its heft to fully appreciate it.
The
artists Mary O’Shaughnessy and Trish Williams have delved into this world of
craft, working with processes and materials considered feminine in the United
States. They exploit the familiarity and
seductiveness of these materials to investigate the construct of the feminine
and its implication for the individual.
O’Shaughnessy’s
work embodies memory, both in the object and the materials used. While her work echoes classical sculpture,
she is not obsessed with the notion of ideal proportions. In fact, she is focused on the opposite, the
reality that the female form is unique and in flux. One woman may have large breasts and small
hips while another is the reverse. Using
a dress form made for a particular individual, her sculptures retain traces of
that person while incorporating layers of paper, fabric, etc. to form the sculptural
shell. With a wry sense of humor, she
offers the viewer a portal to consider his or her own internal dialogue about femininity
and the female ideal.
Williams
brings together the rhythm of hand dyed and commercially made fabrics with the
syncopated lines of her quilting to tell stories about jazz and the African
Diaspora. While her textiles are steeped in the tradition of the story quilt,
cloth-based narratives constructed frequently from scraps of clothing and other
familiar fabrics to record history at a particular time and place, they are
intended to be viewed on the wall rather than to dress a bed. Her tales are for all to see and know, rather
than for just an intimate few.
The
artists of this exhibition challenge the status quo, refusing to accept the
stereotypes forced upon them by society.
Instead, they question the very nature of these stereotypes using
familiar forms and processes to hold the viewer’s attention. Their layered and diverse approaches
contribute to the history of craft while goading the canons of contemporary
art.
Lindsay Obermeyer, MFA, MAT
Adjunct Instructor, Fibers and Art
Education
March 2013
