SDA conference – member show
Last post of the series – images from the Surface Design Association member show Merge & Flow, on exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, through June 30.
SDA conference – gallery day, part III
Opening reception at Katherine E. Nash Gallery, June 9, 2011
The Katherine E. Nash Gallery, on the University of Minnesota campus, is a large, beautiful space where several SDA featured exhibitions were installed. Here’s a small sampling.
Apparitions – Tim Harding
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis, Minn.
Through June 30
Works in this exhibition are “concerned with the juxtaposition of body and soul.” Harding was inspired by his “growing recognition of his own mortality, the Shroud of Turin*, and the 9/11 tragedy in New York.”
Reflections on Water: Recent Works by Mary Edna Fraser,
Linda Gass, and Barbara Lee Smith
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis, Minn.
Through June 30
The theme of water – “whether viewed aerially, from a distance or close enough to feel the spray of a wave” – is the common thread of the work of these three artists, whose processes are quite different. Show coordinator Barbara Lee Smith uses industrial-grade polyester combined with paint and stitching to create dreamy, atmospheric landscapes. The works in her exhibition “serve as reminders of the power of nature and the power of humankind to create and destroy.” Linda Gass paints and stitches on silk; her aerial-perspective landscapes are an expression of her environmental activism, encouraging people to consider water-use issues and feel inspired to take action. Mary Edna Fraser is also motivated by environmental concerns, seeking to convey “a sense of place often employing conservation science. Her work is inspired by Japanese “floating world” woodblock prints from the Edo period (1615-1868).
The WindFallMaps – India Flint
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Univ. of Minn., Minneapolis, Minn.
Through June 30
A beautiful solo show of the work of India Flint, an artist known for her work with the ecoprint, an ecologically sustainable plant-based dyeing process. This exhibition includes wall pieces as well as long, flowing garments hung from branches, making for an immersive, forest-like experience. From the artist’s statement:
Some pieces are intended for walls, others to enfold the human body, which in turn marks its own kind of map upon the work as a garment molds to the wearer. Discarded clothes are encoded maps of bodies as well as maps of places the bodies have been. Cut open a well-worn garment and it will reveal clues of wandering, wear and shape; just as the Shroud of Turin* revealed clues about the form it once wrapped.
The maps in this exhibition aren’t intended to function as guides, rather as a series of travel notes in a personal code that remind me of places I’ve been. The processes are slow and mindful, a kind of immersion in intimate knowledge of the land as much as quiet concentrated work on stitching and piecing.
(See more about her process in my posts about her workshop here and here.)
*What are the odds that two of the artists in these concurrent exhibitions would mention the Shroud of Turin?