Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design, February 7 - August 12, 2012.

Margaret Boozer

Correlation Drawing / Drawing Correlations: A Five Borough Reconnaissance Soil Survey

Paul Hazelton

Death Duster

Cai Guo-Qiang 

Black Ceremony

Catherine Bertola

Property of Two Gentlemen

Glithero

Burn Burn Burn

Talking Dirty: A Salon Discussion on Dirt in Art and Design 
in conjunction with the Museum of Arts and Design exhibit, 
Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design 
The International Sculpture Center, in collaboration with the Museum of Arts and Design, invite you to join us for a panel discussion exploring the artistic potential of dust, ashes, and dirt. The conversation will include a multi-disciplinary group of specialists ranging from cleaning product designers to soil scientists and artists who utilize the "patina" of urban cities as their medium.
June 9, 2012, 3:00pm-8:00pm
Admission: $15 (museum admission & reception)
Student Admission: $10 (Must show ID at event)
MAD has explored the intersection of traditional or unusual materials and techniques as viewed through the lens of contemporary art and design in a series of exhibitions that include Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting; Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary; Slash: Paper Under the Knife; Dead or Alive: Nature Becomes Art; and Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities.
The next investigation into unusual mediums features an international group of artists whose major materials are dust, ashes, dirt, and sand. Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design will highlight works that deal with issues such as the ephemeral nature of art and life, the quality and content of memory, issues of loss and disintegration, and the detritus of human existence. Sculptures made from ash by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, life-size sculptures of unfired dirt by American artist James Croak, and works created from city smog by American artist Kim Abeles, among others, illustrate the transformative potential of humble, overlooked, and discarded materials.
2 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
212-299-7777
Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Thursday and Friday from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm
closed Mondays and major holidays
http://www.madmuseum.org/

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