Seeing the Weave

Textile based abstraction from the Piedmont

Sept 7- October 5, 2018 / Smith Gallery at Appalachian State University

In the last twenty years there has been a global upsurge in contemporary art making based in textile materials, designs, and histories. This exhibition provides a small survey of some of the ways that North Carolina based artists have contributed to expanding this field in new directions. It focuses on work from the Piedmont region, which is both a dense center of artistic production in the state and an area rich with craft and industrial textile history. The artists represented in the exhibition integrate textiles into a wide variety of forms and make frequent use of techniques associated with textile construction–   piecing, sewing, weaving, and knotting their works together. They experiment boldly with color, pattern and the tactile qualities of fabric, and they interrogate both the cultural meanings associated with their materials and the legacy of textile based abstraction, which has its roots in the early twentieth century.

Featuring work by

Maria Britton  (Chapel Hill, NC); Barbara Campbell Thomas (Greensboro, NC); Martha Clippinger (Durham, NC) ; X-Chang Textiles (Oaxaca, Mexico + Durham, NC): Collaboration between Clippinger and weavers Licha Gonzales Ruiz + Agustin Contreras Lopez ; Joy Drury Cox (Durham, NC); Julia Gartrell (Durham, NC); Kayla Anderson (Chicago, IL; work made during Elsewhere Residency, Greensboro, NC); Jennifer Schmidt (Brooklyn, NY; work made during Elsewhere Residency, Greensboro, NC)

Programming

Roundtable Discussion: Maria Britton + Joy Drury Cox

Thursday, September 20, 6-7:30pm \  Belk Rm 421 at the Library

Maria Britton and Joy Drury Cox join Art Dept Fiber Art’s professor Jeana Klein for a discussion of their unique approaches to art production, and the role that textiles have played in that.

Meet and Greet Breakfast with Maria Britton and Joy Drury Cox

Friday, September 21, 9:30-11am \ Smith Gallery

Drop in session at the Smith to meet the artists of Seeing the Weave and to learn more about how they’ve built their art practices and careers.

Artist Talk by Barbara Campbell ThomasThursday, September 27, 6-7:30pm \ TCVA Lecture Hall

UNCG Painting Professor and 2018 NC Artist Council Fellow, Barbara Campbell Thomas presents a lively artist talk that centers around her exuberant collage work and colorfully quilted paintings.