An exhibition focused on textiles opens Thursday, Jan. 19 at The Art Museum of West Virginia University with a program featuring three of the seven featured artists.
The program begins at 6 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Museum Education Center with a reception to follow. Co-curators Kristy Deetz, professor in art discipline at University of Wisconsin – Green Bay and Reni Gower, professor in the painting and printmaking department at Virginia Commonwealth University, will be joined by Virginia Derryberry, retired from the art department at the University of North Carolina Asheville to discuss historical precedents, contemporary examples, inspirations, shared themes and individual motivations behind the exhibition.
Deetz, Gower and Derryberry are featured in the exhibit alongside artists Erin Castellan, Rachel Hayes, Susan Iverson and Natalie Smith.
“The exhibition was inspired by a rich array of historical textiles from drapery to quilt. As such, the complex, multi-part works contrast our culture’s rampant media consumption with the redemptive nuance of slow work wrought by hand,” Gower said. “Individual works range from delicate illusions to layered constructions to architectural interventions. Using a variety of materials that range from oil and acrylic paint, yarn, vintage clothing, aluminum screens, wool, silk, plastic, thread, vinyl, burlap, rug-hold, glass, recycled objects, and found fabrics, the artists interweave sensory pleasure with repetitive process to invoke introspection and reflection.”
Funding for “FABRICation” was made possible in part by Virginia Commonwealth University, VCUarts and the Painting and Printmaking Department.
Support for the exhibition at WVU has been provided by Friends of the Art Museum, a membership group for people who enjoy the arts, and social, educational and cultural activities centered on art. Program underwriting has been made possible by the Judith Gold Stitzel Museum Education Fund.
The Art Museum and Museum Education Center are located near the corner of Patteson Drive and Morrill Way at the Evansdale Campus North Entrance.
For more information about the exhibit or the opening event on Jan. 19, visit the Museum’s Website