Textility
Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Summit
Co-curated with Mary Birmingham
Originally publilshed January 19, 2012
Panoramic view of Textility from the museum's main entrance
Several hundred people turned out for the opening of Textility at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey in Summit last Friday night. This is the exhibition I co-curated with Mary Birmingham, who is the curator at the institution. Sharing an interest in the ways contemporary artists are referencing textiles, we put together a survey that approaches the topic from two directions: artists who use conventional artmaking materials to create the image or suggestion of textiles, and those who use thread and cloth to create painting, sculpture and work on paper. We installed 40 works by 28 artists in three galleries and various other spaces throughout the institution.
You can read the particulars about the work in my catalog essay, posted last week on my archived blog: Diverse Practices, Common Threads (or better still, in the online catalog, which includes Birmingham's essay as well). In this post I simply want to show you what the exhibition— installed throughout the museum in three galleries—looks like. We start here in the main gallery, working our way clockwise.
From foreground: Lael Marshall, Elana Herzog, Susanna Starr, Leslie Wayne, Nava Lubelski, Mary Carlson, Peter Weber; Susan Still Scott sculpture on floor
Lael Marshall
Drama Queen. 2010, oil and acrylic on various materials, 92 x 75 inches
Elana Herzog
Untitled, 2011; wood, metal staples, textile, 33 x 34 x 3 inches
Susanna Starr
Dresser Doily, 2005, hand-cut mahogany wood veneer, 70 x 47 inches
Leslie Wayne
One Big love #46, 2010, oil on wood, 14 x 11 inches
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Detail below showing gathered layers of paint film
Nava Lubelski
Chance of Flurries, 2011, thread on stained canvas, 46 x 36 inches
Mary Carlson
Ghost Flag, 2007, sewn sheer fabric, 123 x 70 inches
Peter Weber, Arlene Shechet on plinth on floor
Barbara Ellmann
Wherewithall, 2011, encaustic on panel; 12 panels, each 24 x 24 inches, 102 x 76 inches overall
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Ellmann detail below
Peter Weber
Vernetzung BL6 (9), 2009, folded felt, 20.5 x 20.5 inches
Arlene Shechet
Coil, 2004-07, cast and pigmented crystal, 25 x 8.5 x 7 inches
Continuing around the gallery from left: Weber, Shechet, Ellmann, Sharon Butler; foreground: Susan Still Scott
(When we move to the Eisenberg Gallery it will be through the doorway you see here)
Sharon Butler; full view of Melander sculpture, Lalani Nan in distance; foreground: Susan Still Scott
Susan Still Scott
Slider, 2010; acrylic, flashe and enamel on canvas, cotton duck, wood with staples, wire, polyfill fiber, 57 x 16 x 31 inches
Sharon Butler
UniQlo, 2011; spray paint, urethane, pencil and sewing on unstretched gessoed canvas and unprimed linen, 65 x 50 inches
Derick Melander
The Painful Spectacle of Finding Oneself, 2010; second-hand clothing, wood, steel, 12 x 12 x 72 inches
Lalani Nan
Gray, 2006, oil on linen, 52 x 46 inches
Lalani Nan, with wall text is just to the left of the entrance
View from the opposite end of the gallery
With Melander, Jennifer Cecere, Marshall, Herzog, Starr, Scott
Jennifer Cecere
Mother, 2011, ripstop nylon, 96 inches diameter
Now we move to the Eisenberg Gallery next door. The room is not quite octagonal, but it has a number of walls that are not at 90-degree angles. The result is a space that extends a kind of embrace to the work. Here we showed work on paper, all achromatic except for one spot of red, which you'll see in the panorama below.
Peeking into the Eisenberg Gallery
This panorama distorts the angles of thgallery, but you can see that it's not a white cube. Many who viewed the work in this room described the space as "meditative", which is appropriate give the low-key presence of the work. Artists are identified in the subsequent photos, as we work clockwise through the space
Carly Glovinski
Untitled (dishrag), ink and correction fluid on paper, 16 x 9 x 6.5 inches
Sam Moyer
Close Screen, 2011, india ink on paper, 22 x 30 inches
Caroline Burton
Untitled (tape 1), 2006; tape, thread, wire, metal, 12.5 x 10 x 2.5 inches
Aric Obrosey
Untitled, 2006, charcoal on paper, 30 x 22.5 inches
Gelah Penn
Big Blackfil #1, 2010; monofilament, mosquito netting, plastic mesh, acrylic and graphite on Yupo, 60 x 38 x 6 inches
Detail below
Marietta Hoferer
B, 2011, pencil and black-lined transparent tape on paper, 21 x 21 inches
Sam Messenger
Veil from Alpheus, 2011; pen and ink, ink wash, starch past and river water on paper, 64 x 59 inches
For the third section of Textility we head up the stairs to Studio X, pausing to view the installation on the landing.
Debra Ramsay
Site-specific installation, Two, Twice With Green and Yellow, 2011, thread, fabric, paint and pins
Below: corner left detail
Peeking into Studio X
Stephen Maine
Mesh painting #11-011, 2011; acrylic, paper, plastic mesh, thermal installation, T-pins, 36 x 36 x 6 inches
Detail below , with shadow as part of the work
Touring the gallery clockwise: Stephen Maine is just to the left out of view. Here, Elisa D'Arrigo, Pip Culbert; foreground, Joell Baxter
Elisa D'Arrigo
Byzantine Homage 1, 2005, cloth, acrylic paint, thread; 35 x 35 x 3 inches
Detail below
Pip Culbert
Patchwork, Blue and Pale Blue, 2011, cotton and pins, 41 x 27 inches
Detail below
Culbert, Grace DeGennaro, Baxter
Grace DeGennaro
Weaving, 2007, oil on linen, 26 x 16 inches
Panoramic view as we circle past the entrance and continue around the gallery: DeGennaro, Ken Weathersby
Weathersby, Baxter
Ken Weathersby
179 (twn), 2010; acrylic paint film with removed areas over wood scaffold over linen; two panels, each 24 x 19 inches
Detail below
Joell Baxter
Endless Day (For G.M.B), 2011, screenprinted paper and glue; 46 x 46 x 5 inches
Detail below
The exhibition catalog is online here. You can read essays by both curators and see additional images of the artists' work
In Surface Design Journal
By Reviewer: Patricia Malarcher, Fall 2012 issue
(Expand your window to see the text legibly)