Tag Archives | Mixed Media

There’s a VERY intriguing exhibit at my local textile museum right now. The word basket really sells these pieces short! Some are utilitarian and beautiful in their simplicity. But others are large and sculptural and amazingly creative.

The details to these pieces are extraordinary, so I’m going to show you only one piece.

Here it is. An installation by Ann Coddington, called Mother/Memory.

As you can see, the lighting cast strong shadows and really added to the piece.

Just check out these details.

I didn’t notice the thread around the finger above, at first. Certainly that ties into the memory aspect of the title.

Coddington listed her materials as mixed fibers and found objects. And her techniques as twining, knotless netting, lashing, random weaving, knitting, wrapping, and felting.

I couldn’t quite identify all the materials, but I sure love the combination, as well as the composition.

What do you think? Did that whet your appetite for the rest of the exhibit? Me too! I had only a few minutes when I was there and I saw only about one third of the pieces. I’m anxious to go again and see the rest of it. But, I’ll need to hurry as the last day of the exhibit is December 14th. I hope you can catch it, too, at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Art in Melbourne, FL.

Ellen Lindner

If you’re near Melbourne, FL you’ll definitely want to stop in at Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, where “Gabriele DiTota: Fabrications” is currently on display.  Gabriele is a friend and a wonderful fiber artist.  She creates intriguing art quilts and amazing art dolls.

Here she is at the opening, looking poised and welcoming.

I think you can see that she use often uses black paint in her work.

Her work was very popular at the opening, but I managed to get a few photos.

The piece on the left, below, was the Best in Show in last year’s “100% Pure Florida” exhibit.  In addition to a monetary prize, she won the right to have this one month solo show.  Isn’t that a great prize?

Gabriele did a very good job staging her dolls with her quilts. And aren’t they intriguing?

(Yes, she dyed the fabric above, shown under the chair.  She’s got skills!)

One of her most interesting dolls is one that riffs off Little Red Riding Hood.

This is the tag explaining it.

Isn’t she creative?

However, my favorite of Gabriele’s dolls is “Mosely Miner,” who just happens to be in front of my favorite quilt, “Locked in Love.”

Aren’t they wonderful?  Gabriele is especially good at telling a story with her work.

Here’s a close up of Mosely.  That nose!

I hope you’ll get to see this exhibit, which is on display through July 1st.

Ellen Lindner – who runs with some talented ladies!

In the last post I showed you only the artwork displayed in the lobby and the first part of the Ruth Funk gallery.  Now, for the installations.

I’m sorry I don’t recall the title of this first one.  It had to do with blood as the gift of life.  The “bags of blood” had words on them like Strength, Faith, etc.

The pods were made from wire wrapped in thread.  As you can see, the threads from the bags above land nicely in little circles on the paper underlay.

The center “seeds” of each pod were made with digital images printed onto silk and then applied.

The second installation was called Sunken Dreams.  It is the artist’s reaction to the South Korean ferry accident which killed around 140 people in May of 2014.

The artist is from South Korea so this had quite an impact on her.  (She now lives in Orlando, FL.)

She lined the wall with little woven pouches.  These contained little puffy pillows she had made, with Korean text on each one.  Once again, the pieces had been mounted well away from the wall, playing up the shadows.

We almost missed these last two pieces, which were completely different.

We decided that they’re embroidery utilizing a couching technique (where a skinny thread wraps a fatter one, holding it in position.)

What do you think?  Am I right?

I like the way the couching thread contrasts with the image in many places.

This exhibit is now closed, but I hope you’ll get out to a museum or gallery in your area.

Ellen Lindner

I really enjoyed Hye Shin’s recent exhibit at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, in Melbourne, FL.  It was called Light and Shadow, and it was very interesting.  Hye does a lot of weaving, but also makes very sculptural pieces and unique installations.  Her lobby installation was entitled Dandelion Wishes was  and it was my favorite of all the pieces there.

It was hung well over head height.

Aren’t they cool?  They were hung almost invisibly and they gently swayed and twisted in the breeze from the air conditioner.

As the exhibit title suggested, there was plenty of light and shadow to appreciate.  Most pieces were mounted well away from the wall and well-lit.  This produced interesting shadows, which the artist considers to be part of the work.

The pieces above and below are primarily weavings.  They’ve also been painted and have things like thread caught in between the layers.  Can you see how some areas are fairly sheer and others are mostly opaque?

The piece below was hand stitched on paper.  Cool, huh?

These are only some of the delights from this exhibit.  In the next post I’ll show you the rest.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts always has interesting and unique exhibits.  You may enjoy some of these related posts:
Southern Accents, art quilts from the southeastern members of Studio Art Quilt Associates.
Florida in Fabric II:  Wish You Were Here, art quilts made by Florida artists.
ReDress:  Nancy Judd Upcycled Style, clothing made from discarded items:  everything from glass shards to parachutes and plastic fruit.