Following the Thread Catalogue

Following the Thread

Following the Thread A Group Show Exploring Textiles August 3rd – September 2nd, 2017

The distinct divide between the worlds of art and craft has been rapidly shrinking. Artists who work with textiles are being welcomed into the contemporary art world like never before. Following the Thread celebrates a selection of these artists who are experimenting with and being inspired by textiles and the techniques used to work with them in a modern way. Drawn to the aesthetics or the cultural and political connotations of textiles, their work looks to the tenets of painting, applying notions of space, form, and color to their manipulation of fabric and thread.

Emily Barletta

Emily Barletta’s embroidery on paper uses the language of painting and drawing to create abstract works with thread. With references to landscape and biology, she explores color and form on a small scale. The materials allow for vivid evidence of process, lending an intimate sense of Barletta's hand in each piece.

Untitled 28 2012 Thread on paper 24 x 18 in.Â

Untitled 58 2013 Thread on paper 10 x 9 in (paper size: 14 x 12 in)

Untitled 59 2013 Thread on paper 10 x 9 in (paper size: 14 x 12 in)

Untitled 92 2013 Thread on paper 10 x 9 in (paper size: 14 x 12 in)

Untitled 84 2013 Thread on paper 10 x 8 in (paper size 14 x 12 in)

Untitled 18 2017 Thread on paper 10 x 8 in (paper size 16 x 14 in, framed size: 19 x 17 in)

Untitled 19 2017 Thread on paper 10 x 8 in (paper size: 16 x 14 in, framed size: 19 x 17 in)

Untitled 129 2015 Thread on paper 6 x 6 in (paper size: 10 x 10 in)

Untitled 131 2015 Thread on paper 6 x 6 in (paper size: 10 x 10 in)

Untitled 138 2013 Thread on paper 6 x 6 in (paper size: 10 x 10 in)

Eric Blum

Eric Blum’s layered arrangements of ink-washed, waxinfused silk are rooted in modern painting techniques yet activated by the experimental manipulation of his media. Their parts don’t always seem to go together, while the whole wavers at the edge of recognition.

He is drawn to unexpected juxtapositions and awkward harmonies with menacing undercurrents that don’t make a nuisance of themselves.

Untitled No. 731 2015 Ink, silk, and beeswax on panel 68 x 53 in

Untitled No. 764 2016 Ink, silk and beeswax on panel 52 x 50 in.

Sarah Irvin

Sarah Irvin’s Quilt Series deconstructs quilting and builds it up again into something entirely removed from its two-dimensional form. She reworks cotton, thread, and wood into structures that only allude to tradition.

Subverting the notion of quilting being “women’s work” and therefore tidy, delicate, and commercial, her pieces reimagine its materials as building blocks to form strong, architectural sculptures.

Quilling V 2012 Cotton quilting thread, salvaged wood, handmade cotton paper 7.5 x 7.5 x 2 in.

Quilt Series 7 2015 Cotton quilting thread, salvaged wood, handmade cotton paper 7 x 3 x 1.5 in.

Quilt Series 9 2015 Cotton quilting thread, salvaged wood, handmade cotton paper 3 x 4 x 1.5 in.

Quilt Series 8 2015 Cotton quilting thread, salvaged wood, handmade cotton paper 2.5 x 2 x 1.5 in.

Quilt Series 2015 Cotton quilting thread, salvaged wood, handmade cotton paper 12 x 5 x 3 in.Â

Sydney Licht Sydney Licht updates the conventions of still life by shifting the subject matter to signifiers of contemporary consumer culture and studying them with a painter’s eye, skewing perception and abstracting familiar forms. She is drawn to the materials that make up the world around us -- the packaging, bags, and containers that are often overlooked despite being some of our most common sources of visual intrigue. With her series of paintings centered around fabric and sewing supplies, she breaks that focus down even more, elevating the tools used to create so much of what we consume into subjects worthy of study.

Still Life With Fat Quarters 2016 Oil on linen 8 x 8 in

Still Life with Spool 2016 Oil on linen 6 x 9 in

Untitled 2016 Oil on linen 20 x 16 in.

Holly Miller

Holly Miller creates monochromatic abstract works with a restrained vocabulary inspired by lines found in everyday life.

Body language and touch are translated into visual means by making a physical layer of “drawn” lines on the paintings’ surfaces, giving the impression of concealing the painted ground while revealing it simultaneously. These vertical lines are drawn with a needle and thread, and are then saturated with color. The small shadows of the yarn across the surface are incorporated into the work, suggesting a quiet tension between presence and absence, reality and illusion, material and ethereal.

Wish #8 2013 Acrylic and thread on canvas 12 x 12 in.

Bend #8 2014 Acrylic and thread on canvas 20 x 20 in.

Bend #6 2013 Acrylic and thread on canvas 20 x 20 in.

Crashing #3 2017 Acrylic and thread on canvas 36 x 36 in.

Gina Occhiogrosso

Gina Occhiogrosso’s preoccupation with the materiality of painting has led to expanding her language to include materials and processes outside of painting’s usual conventions. She pierces, slices, or punctures her surfaces and incorporates craftbased materials to lower the material hierarchy of the piece.  Yarn is a natural match for her interest in working with line, and she uses it to alternately enhance or disrupt the line work of her paintings. In other pieces, she uses layered cotton as a foundation to challenge traditional notions of field and space.

How much silence is too much 2017 Acrylic paint, ink, yarn on canvas 22 x 24 in

Trying not to cry 2017 Yarn, acrylic ink and paint on cut and sewn cotton 14 x 12 in

It gets worse 2017 Acrylic ink, markers, and paint on sewn cotton 58 x 46

Marilla Palmer Marilla Palmer’s mixed media works navigate the unexpected overlap of the organic and artifice. Dried flowers and foliage are delicately combined with fabrics, holographic paper, and sequins to embellish renderings of found branches and plants.

While at first glance they may appear to be a celebration of the femininity of nature, closer inspection reveals that she incorporates the decay of her natural materials into her work.

The glamorous synthetics serve as a mask to hide this process and their fading beauty, questioning the power to fully transform through adornment. Â

Peek a Boo Nubs 2015 Branch and fabric 84 x 38 x 24 in

Mandeville Oak 2016 Watercolor, fabric, pressed foliage on Arches paper 22 x 15 in

Velvet Leaning 2016 Watercolor, fabric, pressed foliage on Arches paper 22 x 15 in.

Yolanda Sánchez Yolanda Sánchez’s textile work is inspired by Bojagi, a Korean art form that pieces scraps of fabric together to create textiles that were originally intended to wrap goods as a symbol of fortune. As the tradition evolved to include finer and more delicate fabrics, the stitching and seams were used to create linear elements that were viewed as essential to the design.

Sánchez sees parallels in this to modernist aesthetic, and experiments with sizing, color compositions, and stitching techniques to play up that comparison. “With a Full Heart” is made completely of strips of silk leftover from her previous Bojagi projects arranged in the shape of a wonsam, a Korean ceremonial garment, with its outstretched sleeves symbolizing a readiness to protect, envelop, or fly.

With a Full Heart 2016 Silk and organza fabric remnants, thread, and bamboo 32 x 52 in

Debra Smith

Debra Smith approaches her textiles with the sensibilities of a modern painter and seeks to break the stereotypes associated with piecework. Working with vintage fabrics - primarily men’s silk suit lining and kimono - brings an historical and poetic weight to the work even before she begins to meticulously piece together her materials into abstract forms. The masculinity of the suit fabric and the femininity of the silks strike a harmonious balance that’s then thrown off by skewed geometry.

Memory Trace Revisited, No. 1 2017 Pieced vintage silk 31 x 48 in.Â

Memory Trace Revisited, No. 2 Â 2017 Pieced vintage silk 31 x 48 in.

Memory Trace Revisited, No. 3 2017 Pieced vintage silk 31 x 43 in.

Emily Barletta’s work has been exhibited around the country including at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, The Textile Center, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She has a BFA in Fiber Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and lives and works in New York City.

Eric Blum’s work has been exhibited around the country including at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Knoxville Art Museum, and the Contemporary Art Center of Cincinnati. He studied at UCLA and Central St. Martin’s, and lives and works in New York City.

Sarah Irvin’s work has been exhibited around the country including at the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and the San Angelo Public Arts Commission. She has an MFA in Painting from George Mason University, and lives and works in Richmond, VA. Sydney Licht has shown throughout the country and has been featured in the New Yorker and Elle Décor. She has been a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome twice. She has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and lives and works in New York City.

Holly Miller’s work has been exhibited around the world, including with the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She is represented by Elizabeth Harris Gallery. She has a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and lives and works in New York City.

Gina Occhiogrosso’s work has been exhibited around the country, including at The Painting Center and The Highline.

She studied Painting at the University of Buffalo, and lives and works in Troy, NY.

Marilla Palmer’s work has been exhibited around the country including at the Brooklyn Museum, BAM, and PS1.

She has a VFA from Philadelphia College of Art, and lives and works in New York City.

Yolanda Sánchez’s work has been exhibited around the world including at the Suwon/Hwasung Museum in Seoul, Korea, the Chojun Textile and Quilt Museum in Seoul, and the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. She has an MFA in Painting from Yale, and lives and works in Miami, FL.

Debra Smith’s work has been exhibited around the world including at the Daum Museum and the Rijswijk Museum.

She was named one of the Women to Watch by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 2012. She has a BFA in Fiber Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, and lives and works in Kansas City, MO.