Interlaced: The Fabric of Art

INTERLACED: The Fabric of Art

INTERLACED: The Fabric of Art

What makes one object a work of art and one object a work of craftsmanship? The answer is steeped in decades of discourse that touches on issues of economic, gender, and racial inequity.

Interlaced: The Fabric of Art is an exhibition of fiber artists connected through a shared commitment to the rigor of craftsmanship and high quality artistic and aesthetic achievement. Objects thought of as functional become aesthetic and the aesthetics then beget further functionality. What is a tea towel you don’t wipe the corners of your mouth with? A quilt that doesn’t live on your bed? A pair of swimming trunks you cannot wear to the beach?

The materials at play in fiber arts inevitably evoke questions of materiality, domesticity, social class, and accessibility, and textile exhibitions often find themselves laden under this framework. Examining the contextual realities surrounding fiber works is, of course, not only incredibly important but also integral to the history of the artform. Interlaced acknowledges this truth, but also strives to further ask its audience to consider the aesthetics on display. The exhibition elevates the work of textile artists beyond the trappings of the often singular function of social commentary and into an overdue position of holistic artistic expression. The materials are not separate from the work. The artist's hands are present. The alchemy of this reality is the object in front of you. In Interlaced, artistry is just as paramount to the experience as the who and the why – the artistic value inseparable from the historical context.

Though fiber shows are not new to Boston, Interlaced marks the first exhibition of its kind at Childs, one solely highlighting textile arts. The show does, however, follow the gallery’s longstanding practice of featuring traditional artistic media both by historic and contemporary artists. Paintings, sculpture, photography, prints, and various other works on paper have been on view throughout the gallery’s eighty-six years in operation; Childs is pleased to now add fiber arts to our storied inventory.

Included art quilts by Rodger Blum, lace work by Pierre Fouché, weavings by Christine Jablonski, needlepoint by Natalie Hays Hammond, an appliqué by Samuel Ojo Omonaiye, and additional works by Patrick Carroll, Alexander Davis, Fidencio Fifield-Perez, Andrew Sedgwick Guth, Joan Hall, and Alison Saar.

FRONT COVER: Joan Hall, American. Catch a Miracle, 2007. Jacquard tapestry, 58 x 71 in.

BACK COVER: Andrew Sedgwick Guth, American. To bring you flowers, to remind you of your magic (self portrait between the sun and the moon), 2023. Acrylic, graphite, color pencil, yarn, embroidery floss, metallic thread, 22k gold leaf on arches cold press huile 140lb paper, 63 ½ x 51 in.

See page 22 for additional information on Hall and Guth.

LIST OF TECHNIQUES Appliqué

Ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. Commonly used as decoration, the technique is accomplished either by hand stitching or machine. Although appliqué is commonly practiced with textiles, the term can be applied to similar techniques used on different materials.

Bobbin Lace

A lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow. Bobbin lace is also known as pillow lace, because it was worked on a pillow, and bone lace, because early bobbins were made of bone or ivory.

Embroidery

A technique for decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn.

Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. Andrew Sedgwick Guth draws upon the Pennsylvania Dutch Embroidery tradition, which is characterized by brightly colored symmetrical designs inspired by nature.

Felting

The process of exposing wool fibers alone or in combination with other fibers to mechanical and chemical action, pressure, moisture, and heat so that they tangle, shrink, and mat to form a compact material.

Jacquard

A system of weaving that utilizes a highly versatile pattern mechanism to permit the production of large, intricate designs. The weave pattern is achieved by a series of punched cards. Each card perforation controls the action of one warp thread for the passage of one pick. The machine may carry a large number of cards, depending upon the design, because there is a separate card for each pick in the pattern. Jacquard weaving is used for tapestry, brocade, damask, brocatelle, figured necktie and dress fabrics, and some floor coverings. A similar device is used for the production of figured patterns on some knit goods.

Knitting

A method of constructing fabric by interlocking series of loops of one or more yarns. The yarn in knitted fabrics follows a meandering path (a course), forming symmetric loops (also called bights) symmetrically above and below the mean path of the yarn. These meandering loops can be easily stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more elasticity than woven fabrics.

Machine Knitting

A method of creating knitted fabrics in a semi or fully automated fashion. Machine knitting can produce various types of knitted fabrics, usually either flat or tubular, and of varying degrees of complexity.

Quilting

The process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialized longarm quilting system. An array of stitches is passed through all layers of the fabric to create a three-dimensional padded surface. The three layers are typically referred to as the top fabric or quilt top, batting or insulating material, and the backing.

Reactive Dye

A dye that can react with a fiber to form a permanent attachment such that it cannot be removed by repeated treatment with boiling water under neutral conditions. Consequently, the dyes become parts of the fiber, leading to outstanding color fastness.

Screen Print

A printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed. One color is printed at a time, so several screens can be used to produce a multi-coloured image or design.

Tapestry

A piece of thick textile fabric with pictures or designs formed by weaving colored weft threads or by embroidering on canvas, used as a wall hanging or furniture covering.

Weaving

A method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced, usually on a loom, to form a fabric. The loom holds the warp (longitudinal threads) in place while the weft (lateral threads) is woven through them.

Samuel Ojo Omonaiye Nigerian (c. 1974-1977) Applique, c.1970 Wall hanging; applique on cloth, 68 x 55 ½ in.

Samuel Ojo Omonaiye formed part of the Oshogbo School of artists that emerged in Southern Nigeria in the postcolonial period between 1962 and 1966. The works created by the group were characterized as trans-genre, tending to combine traditional subject matter and stories with Western artistic media and techniques. Omonaiye was encouraged by Goergina Beier, an English born artist living in Nigeria who was active in the Oshogbo workshops, to pursue art, and he began painting on glass and then stitching together appliquéd tapestries. In his appliquéd tapestries, Omonaiye composed his images by juxtaposing brightly colored and patterned pieces of cotton in a patchwork assemblage. He affixed these pieces, totem-fashion, on a vertical strip of handwoven cloth with embroidery of the sort used on national dress. The large triangular shapes of his early glass paintings were transformed when he began to create whimsical creatures for his wall hangings. Jagged forms, outlined by tiny triangles, vibrate and animate these later compositions. A precedent for his wall hangings exists in Nigerian leather work and the appliquéd heraldry in the Republic of Benin, but his designs are completely different. Omonaiye had a seemingly limitless store of half-animal, half-spirit creatures. Some winged, some with claw feet, his was an African menagerie of gargoyle-like beasts and dragons, bright and lively rather than fearsome. His large pieces have been exhibited extensively, and his large appliqué Beast Tamer Dancers hangs in the office of the British Broadcasting Corporation. While in his early twenties, Omonaiye contracted tuberculosis and later died, but his spirited imagery still represents a significant aspect of the Oshogbo School.

Rodger Blum, American Sticks and Stones No. 2, 2022 Pima cotton broadcloth with reactive dyes, silk batting, cotton backing, 65 ½ x 39 ½ in.

Raised in the American South, Rodger Blum received a BFA at North Carolina University of the Arts and an MFA in Choreography at UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts, CA. Active in performance, choreography, and design from a young age, Blum’s passion for movement, color, and composition inform his textile work. That work ranges from improvisational piecing to painted textiles, heavily worked with reactive dyes, and installations merging hand-printed silks and dance video. The boundaries between disciplines of art-making continue to blur: ideas of composition - whether on the human body, in a two-dimensional artwork, or an installation that combines many ways of making, have coalesced to form a unified vision of choreography: a complex sequencing of ideas and gestures in color, time, and space. Blum’s current wall constructions consider layering and gesture as a lens for accumulating ideas seen, heard, and felt. They exist not to create answers but to develop connections through a sussing out of ideas and emotions. The emphasis on painterly movement (as opposed to traditional fabric piecing) offers a landing for curiosity, discovery, and, sometimes, discomfort. Rodger’s work was recently juried into the 23rd Quilt National Biennial and will also be featured in the Fall 2023 edition of Fiber Arts Now. Upcoming, his work will be shown at the Canton Museum of Art and as part of Color Improvisations 3 at the Museum Tuch + Technik | Textilmuseum in Neumünster, Germany.

Alison Saar, American Wrath of Topsy, 2021 Screen print on found seed sacks with sewn edging and grommets.

Varied edition of 30. Courtesy Tandem Press, Madison, WI. Alison Saar is a Los Angeles, California based sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist. Her artwork focuses on the African diaspora and black female identity and is influenced by African, Caribbean, and Latin American folk art and spirituality. Saar is well known for transforming found objects to reflect themes of cultural and social identity, history, and religion. The artist credits her mother, acclaimed collagist and assemblage artist Betye Saar, with exposing her to metaphysical and spiritual traditions. Assisting her father, Richard Saar, a painter and art conservator, in his restoration shop also inspired her learning and curiosity about other cultures.

Saar’s style encompasses a multitude of personal, artistic, and cultural references that reflect the plurality of her own experiences. Her sculptures, installations, and prints incorporate found objects including rough-hewn wood, old tin ceiling panels, nails, shards of pottery, glass, and urban detritus. The resulting figures and objects become powerful totems exploring issues of gender, race, heritage, and history. Saar’s art is included in museums and private collections across the U.S.

Pierre Fouché, South African IMAGE RIGHT: Sampler[]3×4 or The Burden of Excess, 2020 Egyptian cotton bobbin lace, mounted as an insertion on a poly-cotton lace pillow cloth, worn and faded from years of lacemaking, 29‐1⁄2 × 20 in.

IMAGE LEFT: 06.642 or Temporal Consciousness Access, 2020 6mm Polyester corded rope; bobbin lace 196‐3⁄4×58‐1⁄4 Fouché is exhibiting with Childs Gallery courtesy of WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

Pierre Fouché introduces himself as a lacemaker. This designation highlights his interest in the techniques, materials, histories, and social relevance of textiles. His respect for the craft has earned Fouché his place within the craft establishment as an internationally respected practitioner and teacher of contemporary bobbin lace. His penchant for arcane media and aesthetics has led his practice to include macramé, drawn thread embroidery, encaustic painting, and pinhole photography, as well as ttraditional painting, drawing, and printmaking. Thematically, his work focuses on portraiture and the gaze, photography and representation, appropriation, and webmedia cultures, as well as some forays into overt queer politics. Often informed by world art history, his desire to understand the machinery of contemporary visual cultures tends toward the Romantic. His consistent marriage of iconography with craftsmanship also contributes to this reading.

Fouché achieved his MA in Fine Arts from the University of Stellenbosch in 2006. Since then he has had 10 solo exhibitions. In 2021 he represented South Africa at the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial in Perth. In 2018 he was the featured artist of the Andorran city of Escaldes- Engordany’s 12th Textile and Glass Symposium. Notable group exhibitions include Lace/not lace at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey; Crafted: Objects in flux at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (2018), Women’s work at the Iziko South African National Gallery (2016), as well as the touring exhibition, Queer Threads: Crafting Identity and Community, first exhibited at the Leslie + Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York (2015). His work is represented in the public collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery, The Norval Foundation, the A4 Art Foundation and the Artphilein Foundation, Switzerland.

Rodger Blum, American Event Horizon No. 1, 2022 Pieced and quilted pima cotton broadcloth with reactive dyes, silk batting, hand-dyed cotton backing, 81 x 93 ¼ in.

Rodger Blum, American Uncertain Grid, 2021 Pieced and quilted pima cotton broadcloth with reactive dyes, silk batting, linen backing, 65 ½ x 39 ½ in.

Alexander Davis, American [Swim Trunks], 2023 Hand knitting, undyed fibers, with vintage photo, 20 ¾ x 29 ¾ in (framed) From the series ‘Federation of Athletic Gentleman Hall of Fame” Alexander Davis’ ‘Federation of Athletic Gentleman Hall of Fame’ is a reimagining of LGBTQIA+ history and an offering of a new 20th century queer mythology. “Blue Laws” of the early 20th century limited the expression of gay eroticism in images through the US mail and in print publication. As a result, gay erotic imagery was often hidden behind the guise of physique photography and athletic appreciation. This set the trend for the still existing and problematic standard for male beauty contemporary LGBTQIA+ people are stuck navigating today; often exaggerated by contemporary gay artists, and social media.

Using vintage beefcake photography from artists such as Jim Davis and Bob Mizer as inspiration, this is a series of imagined artifacts from the fictitious sports league made up of these often scantily clad gentlemen. By bringing forward the juxtaposition of originally designed and handcrafted fiber works, against the black and white erotic photographs, I hope to point out the absurdity and campiness of the initial hidden intent of these images, building on the playful sexual tension, and perhaps adding some more insight to the open secret hidden within these cheeky photographs.

Alexander Davis, American [Jock Strap], 2023 Hand knitting, undyed fibers, 13 ¾ x 17 ¾ in (framed)

Alexander Davis, American [Posing Strap], 2023 Hand knitting, undyed fibers 14 ¾ x 15 ¾ in (framed)

Alexander Davis, American [Kneepad], 2023 Hand knitting, undyed fibers 16 ¾ x 18 ¾ in (framed)

Patrick Carroll, American Here is the Mind, 2022 Machine knitting, 50 x 32 in.

Caroll is exhibiting with Childs Gallery courtesy of Giovanni’s Room, Los Angeles, CA.

Patrick Carroll’s works undertake an ongoing exploration of the material language of knitted textile. Carroll makes textiles by hand on a domestic knitting machine, using fine yarn from a collection he’s amassed over years, before stretching the fabrics on stretcher bar frames to form artworks that inhabit the space bounded by painting, sculpture, and textile arts. The works are informed by, and aim to participate in, both art history and the history of literature, especially American lyric poetry. At question is how language, when given form, perverts the dichotomy of figuration and abstraction.

Patrick Carroll was born in Menlo Park, CA and currently resides in Los Angeles, where he works as an artist and writer. He received his MFA in Fiction Writing at the University of Riverside in 2021. Selected exhibition include Reading (2023), Giovanni’s Room, Any distance between us, curated by Stephen Truax and Dominic Molon, RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island (2021), Installation at the JW Anderson Men’s SS23 & Women’s Resort 23 Show, Milan, Italy (2022), Memoriam, Fuji Textile Week, Fujiyoshida, Japan (2022), Lilac, Moonbeam, and Heavenly Blue, organized by Dove Drury Hornbuckle, Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (2023).

ABOVE: Patrick Carroll, American Fairy Archive, 2023 Machine knitting; silk, wood, staples, 19 x 22 in.

LEFT: Patrick Carroll, American And Guess What, 2023 Machine knitting; linen, silk, mohair, wood, staples, 18 x 14 in.

Christine Jablonski, American Table for Three II, 2023 Cotton Slub weaving yarn, 38 x 22 in.

Christine Jablonski is an award-winning fiber artist whose work is held in private collections across the country. She is a frequent contributor to various Long Thread Media publications and is the Director of Content and Customer Experience at Gist Yarn. She lives in New England with her husband and two spunky rescue mutts.

Of her work Jablonski says: William Morris is credited with saying “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Yet there exists a distinct conflict between utility and beauty when it comes to handmade items. Beautiful, handwoven utilitarian linens such as kitchen towels, place mats and napkins are often put away “for special” out of fear they will be ruined by use. They are designed to be used, but instead are protected, as one would seek to protect fine art from harm. Handmade linens are stored out of sight, safe in a cabinet or drawer, not framed, hung on a wall and lit. Why? We proudly display paintings, prints and sculptures in our homes, so then why don’t we display our handwoven linens? Is it because one category is meant to only be viewed and appreciated for its beauty or message, and the other is designed to be used? If a kitchen towel is framed under glass, it loses its functional utility, but wouldn’t that make it more like “art” – to be displayed and appreciated?

By framing these placemats, napkins and towels without glass or a barrier to touch, this series challenges the viewer to question assumptions around the boundaries between the useful and beautiful in utilitarian cloth.

Christine Jablonski, American Cocktails for Four, 2022 Cotton linen blend weaving yarn, 24 x 24 in.

Christine Jablonski, American Late for Dinner, Cotton, 21 x 14 in.

Natalie Hays Hammond American (1904-1985) Nergel, Idol of the Cuthites Was Represented In the Form of a Cock, 1972, Needlepoint, 9 ½ x 9 ½ in.

Natalie Hays Hammond American (1904-1985) Part of a Bronze Luristan Horse-Bit, c. 500 B.C. (From "Archaeological Magazine) Needlepoint, 8 x 8 ¼ in.

Born in 1904, Natalie Hays Hammond spent most of her early years living in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of John Hays Hammond, a financially successful engineer who made his fortune working for Cecil Rhodes as his chief mining engineer. She grew up leading the wealthy and privileged life of a socialite and her childhood residence was the mansion which now houses the French Embassy.

During her lifetime, Hammond’s miniatures, drawings, book illustrations, and sculptures were widely exhibited in the United States and in Europe. In the 1930s, she worked with Martha Graham as the designer for the sets for a series of highly acclaimed medieval morality plays. She was a constant worker in painting, watercolor, craft, and design. In 1949, Hammond wrote “Anthology of Pattern” to illustrate her interest in design as symbol before the science of semiotics had explored the way that design conveys meaning. Ancient, Christian, Buddhist, Tibetan, Medieval and other designs were adopted for her own work in paintings and needlework.

Hammond founded the Hammond Museum in North Salem, New York, in 1957, which includes exhibition spaces and a Japanese garden, which she designed. After 1957, she stopped painting, but constantly worked at the needlework designs which were derived from her research in iconography and her book “Anthology of Pattern”.

Henry Botkin, a first cousin of George and Ira Gershwin, derived much of his subject matter from the entertainment world of New York and Hollywood.

Born in Boston, Botkin studied at the Massachusets College of Art and later began his career as an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post and Harper’s. In 1935, Botkin accompanied the Gershwins to Folly Island, South Carolina when George Gershwin composed the infamous Porgy and Bess. It was during this time that Botkin produced a series of paintings of the life of African Americans living in the South.

Having also studied in Paris, his early style was European influenced. By the 1950s, Botkin turned to abstraction, and by the end of the decade became fascinated with collage. This media dominated his work fro the 1960s until his death in 1983.

Henry Botkin American (1896-1983) Etude No. 4, 1962 Collage, 7 x 4 in.

Henry Botkin American (1896-1983) Soft Pink, c.1963 Collage, 8 x 6 in.

Rodger Blum, American Veiled Pansy Red No. 1, 2023 Pima cotton broadcloth with reactive dyes, silk batting, cotton backing.

41 ½ x 22 ½ in.

Rodger Blum, American Veiled Pansy Red No. 2, 2023 Pima cotton broadcloth with reactive dyes, silk batting, cotton backing.

41 ½ x 22 ½ in.

TOP: Fidencio Fifield-Perez Salmon Colored Kid, 2019 Intaglio ink on woven paper, 16 X 16 in.

BOTTOM: Fidencio Fifield-Perez Salmon Colored Kid, 2019 Intaglio ink on woven paper, 16 X 16 in.

Fidencio Fifield-Perez was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, but raised in the U.S. after his family migrated. His current work examines borders, edges, and the people who must traverse them. In his work, Fifield-Perez manipulates paper surfaces and maps to refer to the crafts and customs used to celebrate festivals and mourn the dead, which he learned as a child in Oaxaca. For Fifield-Perez, these techniques are a way to reconnect with a time and place no longer present.

Artist Statement: The weavings were made during a residency at Mass MoCA in 2019. They are similar to other series in their embracement of labor. Many of the works touch on 'skilled' or 'unskilled' labors as a way to connect them to the experience of navigating the DACA process or my current immigration process. I am anticipating the end of my immigration application (after four years) so I am mentally preparing to visit Mexico sometime this year. These weavings come from that anticipation of returning to the country that gave birth to me. I'm recalling one of my first beds, woven mats, that I laid on as a child. Woven mats would leave beautiful intricate patterns, like pillow marks, on our skin and the red prints directly recall that moment. This might have been my first introduction to printmaking. Woven mats leavings red marks on one's skin.

Joan Hall Artist Statement The work’s title, Catching a Miracle, was influenced by my response to being a cancer survivor.

The net represented for me both being taken on a journey much like a fish without having any control and on the flip side it was a safety net protecting me. The tapestry was made from a photograph of a handmade paper, printed, hand-cut construction of the same name. I used photoshop to clone circular shapes taken from images of the first cancer cells photographed through a microscope.

At the time this work was done, Don Farnsworth, the founder of Magnolia Editions, was experimenting with making artist tapestries. I expressed an interest in making one to see how my image would translate into a tapestry. I created a digital file and sent it to Magnolia Editions in Oakland, California. The digital file was used to translate my work into a jacquard tapestry, which was woven with no alterations from the weaver.

Catch a Miracle was produced from the original artwork that was done in handmade paper and altered for the digital file that was used by Magnolia Editions to create a Jacquard Tapestry.

Produced at Magnolia Editions.

Andrew Sedgwick Guth Artist Statement Most of my recent work has been influenced by our common era of social media. I’m an observer, standing from outside looking in, my work often attempting to somehow understand my place amongst all this information, especially as both a gay man and a queer artist.

The use of male identifying figures in settings of intimacy is a common visual theme I often depict.

I have recently been exploring the reinterpretation of many of the motifs, symbols, and techniques of my dominant cultural and ethnic background (Pennsylvania German), applying the heteronormative and protestant symbolism to queer existence and relationships. I’m including these queer men (cis, trans, and those who co-identify as non-binary) alongside imagery and customs which had not been constructed to include them. The recent embroidery and sewing into my work reflects a nod to Pennsylvania craft and tradition such as taufscheine frakturs (often birth announcements), and mourning embroideries from the early 19th century. Creating my own personal folklore which ties into my love of constellations, astrology, and Greek mythology, as well as processing and questioning my own navigation of a 21st century world of technological pressures (social expectations, love, body issues, sexual capital, spiritualism, definition of family, etc.) The intent is that of a work saturated in color and the empowerment of vulnerability.

168 NEWBURY STREET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02116 617-266-1108 INFO@CHILDSGALLERY.COM CHILDSGALLERY.COM