Have a Great Summer!

Congratulations & best of luck to all of our graduating seniors and graduate students!!

Fibers and Material Studies Student Work, Spring 2012.

Angela Wang, Woven Structure I

Carolyn Perri, Woven Structure I

Katherine Corcoran, Woven Structure I

Kayla Wallitsch, Woven Structure I

Paige Morris, Woven Structure I

Sasha Parker, Woven Structure I

Tia Bianchini, Woven Structure II

Gina Hoover, Off Loom I

Josh Beaver, Off Loom I

Madison Andrews, Off Loom II

Molly Denisevicz, Off Loom I

Sara Strugger, Body Art and Adornment

Sarah Boland, Body Art and Adornment

Tatyana Grechina, Body Art and Adornment

Sienna Martz, Body Art and Adornment

Weaving Rainbows from Miles of Thread by Carren Jao on May 1, 2012.

LOS ANGELES — Everyone’s done it at some point — crank up the water on the hose on a sunny day just to see that wonderful prism of light. Now, Mexican-born artist Gabriel Dawe does us one better by bringing rainbows to life, one thread at a time.

     Gabriel Dawe, "Plexus 14" (all images © Gianni Candido)

Growing up in macho Mexico City, Dawe says he was forbidden to learn such “feminine” arts as embroidery and sewing. He watched his grandmother teach his sister, while he was shunted out of the whole process. “I remember being frustrated as a child. It was something that really attracted me,” he said in an interview last year.

Repression has a way of resurfacing with a vengeance, and nowhere is this more evident than Dawe’s Plexusseries, large-scale environmental installations that take regular sewing thread and blow it up to an immense architectural scale. In his latest exhibition, The Density of Light, Dawe has used 51 miles of thread and over 54 hours to create “Plexus 13” and “Plexus 14” at Lot 10 gallery in Brussels. The result is a mesmerizing structure that completely dominates the small gallery space.

Like the rest of the Plexus series, numbers 13 and 14 toe the line between material and immaterial. Dawe says reactions to his work cover a wide spectrum: Some people find the installation serene, while others lose their bearings when faced with the massive color spectrum.

Gabriel Dawe's "Plexus 13"

Dawe himself sees more than just an ethereal rainbow in his work of art; he sees hours of tiring work realized. “I jokingly say that the installation process is like an endurance performance piece à la Marina Abramović,” he told me. Dawe creates most of his installations alone. Wooden structures with attached hooks are placed on the walls. The hooks act as anchors for miles and miles of thread, the placement of which Dawe has planned ahead of time. “While I’m installing, I’m literally dealing with thousands of threads, so I need to keep my concentration on where I am within my counting system. The whole process is very Zen, or like active meditation.”

Gabriel Dawe's "Plexus 13"

At Lot 10, Dawe has created one his densest installations to date. “Plexus 13 has about the same amount of thread as Plexus 9, which was about twice the overall size,” says Dawe, alluding to the exhibition title. “Plexus 14,” on the other hand, was placed in an oddly shaped back gallery, which made for some creative maneuvering. It’s difficult to take full photographs of the work in the gallery: one always finds oneself backed up against a wall. Thankfully, the gallery’s large windows frame Dawe’s installation perfectly, giving passers-by an opportunity to stumble upon something transcendent and joyful.

"Plexus 14"

"Plexus 13"

"Plexus 13"

The Density of Light is on view at Lot 10 gallery (15 rue Lanfray, Brussels) through June 9. If you’re nowhere near Belgium, Dawe opens another exhibition, Cascade of Color, at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art (Fifth Floor, Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) on April 28.

Fibers & Material Studies Majors Caleigh Stednitz & Tia Bianchini featured in an article for the Inquirer

As previously blogged about two of our majors, Caleigh Stednitz (pictured above) & Tia Bianchini, won a first prize award in the Langhorne Carpet Company's Design Competition for their entry into the Fauna category. Second prize for the Flora category went to two more of our majors, Kate Corcoran and Ashley Rodriguez Reed. Last week the students were interviewed for an article by Kathleen Nicholson Webber for the Inquirer, an online version of the article can be viewed here: http://articles.philly.com/2012-05-05/news/31573587_1_student-design-competition-local-design-carpet-design 

-image taken from article

Courtney Heavens, Diana Mousetis, & Tia Bianchini's BFA Exhibitions

This week is a busy one here in the Fibers & Material Studies Area. Thursday the 10th is the graduation ceremony for Tyler School of Art as well as the opening reception for four of our senior's BFA Exhbitions. In addition to Kristen Rosser's show Courtney Heavens, Diana Mousetis, and Tia Bianchini will also be presenting their senior thesis work. The opening reception is following the graduation ceremony on the 10th and will take place from 6 to 9pm within the Atrium Gallery Space on the lower level of Tyler School of Art. Please take some time to view the exhibitions after the commencement ceremonies, they are sure to be great. Congratulations Courtney, Diana, and Tia!!

images courtesy of Courtney Heavens & Diana Mousetis

Kristen Lynn Rosser's BFA Exhibition

Senior Fibers & Material Studies major Kristen Lynn Rosser will be having her B.F.A. exhibition next week. The show opens on the 9th and runs through the 12th of this month. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 10th from 6:30pm-8:30pm. The work will be on display in the Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery within Tyler School of Art. Please stop by and check out the show, it is sure to be great. Congratulations Kristen!

Kelly Flegal is featured in Certain Circuits Magazine

Fibers & Material Studies major Kelly Flegal's work is currently being featured in Certain Circuits Magazine.

"Founded by artists, Certain Circuits Magazine publishes poetry, experimental prose, art, and new media. We are especially interested in documenting multimedia collaborative work between artists. Issue 1.1 features work from artists in Australia, Brazil, France, Mexico, India, Japan, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, and the United States."

 All of their multimedia work is archived on their tumblr: http://certaincircuits.tumblr.com

One of the pieces featured in the magazine article will be shown in Philadelphia this month at the flying carpet cafe- http://theflyingcarpetcafe.com

Congratulations Kelly!

The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is this weekend!

The 39th Annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is happening this weekend, May 5th and 6th. The festival is home to a variety of events including a sheep to shawl competition as well as spinning & weaving workshops and fiber vendors selling their wares. The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is one of the largest and most anticipated of the fiber festivals in the mid-Atlantic region and is definitely worth the two and a half hour trip from Philadelphia.
For more information please check out their website: http://www.sheepandwool.org

-images sourced from www.sheepandwool.org