PLAY

 

PLAY 

A Fiber Arts Show curated by Joetta Maue

Play- fun or jest...
a game? a toy? a bully? a tease? a hair pull? a game of tag? a snowball fight? a kick and pinch?

Play is an experience we all know one that can bring us laughter and perhaps at times bring us tears.
In the spring exhibit, Play, at the Textile Arts Center, May-June 2011, we want to explore play and all of its multi-faceted sides and experiences. We ask artists whom work in fibers or fiber techniques to submit works that deal with the idea of play. Feel free to interpret this theme widely. All types of work are welcome for submission from performance, video, wall work, sculpture,conceptual work, too interactive. Please note we are looking for contemporary interpretations of fiber and textiles.

VIEW OR PURCHASE THE CATALOGUE

Show Information:

Exhibition dates: May 13-June 24, 2011
Opening Reception: May 13, 7-9PM     RSVP
Artist Talk: June 13, 7PM      RSVP

Exhibiting Artists:

Bren Ahearn, Paula do Prado, Ricki Dwyer, Di Ellis, Julia Elsas, Mallory Feltz, Linda Frost, Mira Gelley, Kathy Halper, Maggy Rozycki Hiltner, Jan Johnson, Eunkyung Lee, Tyler Mackie, Mary March, Amanda McCavour, Sophia Narrett, Robert Reed, Lydia Reinhold, Magali Rizzo, Julie Roch-Cuerrier, Daniaelle Simonsen, Carol Sogard, Kathryn Greenwood Swanson, Mariangela Tan & Justin Alan Volpe, Candice Thompson, Vadis Turner, Katya Usvitsky, Kathy Weaver

Educational Programming:

Cyanotype Workshop: June 5, 1-5PM   REGISTER
Playing With Fiber: Weds,  6:30-9:30PM, June 8 - 29    REGISTER

Day of Fiber Workshops: June 12, 1-5PM     REGISTER

The Day of Fiber Workshops will consist of the following programs. The cost of entrance will be $20 to participate in as many or few workshops as you'd like!

Introduction to Sculptural Crochet -- led by Candice Thompson

Crochet is the process of using a hook to pull loops through other loops to create fabric. Each stitch can be conceived of as a pixel or building block; the variation of size and number of stitches lending a distinct three-dimensional form. Only one stitch is dealt with at a time, making it easy to adjust along the way and experiment without a formal pattern.

In this workshop you will learn to use the basic building blocks of crochet-- chaining, single crochet, and double crochet-- to create various three-dimensional shapes and sculptures of

your choosing. No experience with crochet is necessary and all levels are welcome. Come with a project in mind or simply a desire to play and improvise.

Size Matters: Playing with Knitting Scale -- led by Katya Usvitsky

A workshop that explores both alternative materials and scale in knitting, to get students thinking about knitting as an art process, not just a utilitarian one. While still using traditional techniques, students will be challenged to create with handmade knitting tools. As a starting point, I will supply giant (upwards of 1.5” wide) knitting needles and non-traditional ‘yarn’. The exploration of all the possibilities contained within the basic stitch will be the most exciting part, and the class will not necessarily be focused on creating a final or functional product.

Students will be encouraged to bring materials they are interested in experimenting with, but are not required to bring anything.

Playing with Plastics -- led by Carol Sogard

Workshop participants will learn about: 

The environmental impacts of plastics and the limitations involved with recycling plastics.
Ideas for reuse of plastics and other materials with an environmental impact.
How to heat fuse plastic through the use of an iron and then utilizing this new durable material to create a variety of products: pillows, toys, bags etc...

One-Shot Screen Printing -- led by Mira Gelley

Create a patterned screen printed piece of fabric using one shot screens: Create quick screens using tape and/or freezer paper and print a loose pattern onto a piece of fabric. Build up the pattern by altering your original screen (pulling off tape, adding tape) and printing on top of or next to other forms. This is not meant to be a precise or planned pattern. Rather, forms are created quickly and new forms are made to interact with existing ones.

Needle Felting -- led by Mariangela Tan & Justin Alan Volpe

All the basics of needle felting, showing how you can make characters to play with! 

Telephone, the Exquisite Corpse and Free-Style Embroidery -- led by Jan Johnson

Telephone is a game where a sentence is whispered into one player's ear, and then that player whispers again what was heard into the next player's ear, and so forth the sentence continues around to all the players until the last player receives the message. The last player then states aloud what was heard. The result can be quite different from what was really said and often quite funny and strange. This game and the Surrealist drawing technique of the exquisite corpse are similar and brought together here in a workshop that teaches free-style embroidery stitches and carbon-transfer patterning. Each participant will work on the same "sampler" drawing, each unaware of what the others have drawn in thread except for a line or two that is left visible for the next player to attach the second part to the first part. This process will continue until all the players have finished a drawing made with an embroidery stitch or a combination of stitches. After the last player has completed their part, the "drawing" will then be unmasked to reveal the composite sampler.

Wet and Wild Felting -- led by Ricki Dwyer

Felting workshop with a wide variety of weird materials to felt into and with. Different colored wool, straight off the animal as well as carded roving, wire, yarn, industrial felt, wire mesh, fabric, coins, beads, etc. Participants will be taught how to wet felt as an interactive process, getting their hands and feet wet to agitate the material. Will be conducive to all ages. They will produce a piece of felt by the end of the day, but the emphasis would be on experimenting with different materials, and a variety of forms to felt on top of to shape their piece if they choose to do so.