top of page

Fibers of Design

As a large user of social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, I am fascinated with the emerging renaissance in crafts that materialize daily in my news feeds.  Many of the artists I follow utilize powerful yet unassuming design to communicate effectively in an over stimulated market place. Fibers of Design, curated primarily to facilitate a conversation with students, consists of creators who simultaneously function as designers, crafters, and fine artists. The works within the show focus on each artist’s varying, sometimes contradictory, practices with fibrous material while exploring the basic elements of design - line, shape, form, color, and texture. The exhibition combines large scale weavings, paper sculptures and works on paper, each exploring a complex relationship to fiber while engaging in the aesthetic ideas of minimalism.

 

Staying true to my design background, I focused on the power of odds.  The exhibition is composed of three female artists in different stages of their careers, coming from various educational backgrounds. San Antonio based artist Amada Miller strives to elevate underrepresented patterns.  Houston resident Delaney Smith elicits a deeper look into the art of bookmaking and language. And Oakland, California Artist Meghan Shimek offers a therapeutic and process-oriented approach to craft. As reflections of their experiences, each artist provides a distinct perspective on Fibers in Design.

 

Within the exhibition a soft pallet of colors and textures emerge: whimsical landscapes of color field fabrics extend over the remnants of trees (Amada Miller), juxtaposed by bound shapes of roving, unspun cotton, suspended from lofty elevations inviting the casual bump from passers-by (Meghan Shimek). The image is then bound, as would a book, by pages upon pages of signatures and repurposed paper pulp of deceased fibers (Delaney Smith).

Northwest Vista College 4.24.2016  |  Capsule Gallery 6.20.2016

bottom of page