YEISER ART CENTER PRESENTS:
2017 //APRIL 22 - JUNE 17
//ABOUT YAC Yeiser Art Center (YAC), a non-profit corporation with 501c3 status, was established in 1957 as the Paducah Art Guild for the purpose of promoting the appreciation of the visual arts and for their creation. It started as a small volunteer organization, but today YAC has a permanent exhibition space that hosts seven shows annually and a permanent collection of over 300 works. The center offers visual art based programming including educational classes for both children and adults, public gallery talks and artist lectures. The mission of the Yeiser Art Center The mission of the Yeiser Art Center is to further the development and appreciation of the visual arts within our own local community and throughout the region by providing diverse and inclusive educational opportunities and activities that help to nurture and reflect the creative spirit in all of us.
//FANTASTIC FIBERS Fantastic Fibers began in 1987 as a wearable art show but has evolved over the years to include a compelling mix of traditional and non-traditional pieces. This internationally recognized juried fiber art exhibition features an exciting variety of works created using natural or synthetic fibers in an array of processes including quilting, weaving, embroidery, basketry and more. One of Yeiser Art Center’s most engaging and innovative annual exhibitions, Fantastic Fibers is an inspirational “must see” for artists and art enthusiasts alike. The Fantastic Fibers 2017 exhibition is an American Quilter’s Society (AQS) sanctioned event and selected works will be seen by thousands of viewers. Paducah becomes the destination for quilters and quilt enthusiasts each April as more than 30,000 visitors from across the globe attend AQS QuiltWeek. The exhibition will also be on display during the Lower Town Arts & Music Festival, a regional event attracting over 17,000 visitors to Paducah.
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//JOHN HOPPER
Juror of Fantastic Fibers 2017
John Hopper is editor and chief of Inspirational, the international contemporary art publication. He is committed to the promotion of emerging contemporary artists. More at djohnhopper.blogspot.co.uk.
//JUROR’S STATEMENT Jurying artwork and artwork events is not a responsibility that you take on lightly. It is not a matter of you always choosing the best, certainly not choosing pieces that you personally like. You are choosing a cross section of talent, skill, conceptual ideas, and artist individuality. You need to be inclusive, rather than exclusive, you try to bring in as much variety, as many strands of creative experience as you can. You want each art event to express the diversity of the art community. It is a celebration of present and future talent. In this group of work, there was a lot of variety, a lot of work coming from different creative places, even disciplines, and a very high conceptual quality. I am very impressed with the entries for Fantastic Fibers 2017.
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//SARAH WEISS Floating Images silk organza 8”x 11” / 2016 Saint Paul, MN
sarahweissart.com
My artwork explores the nostalgic failures of family, childhood memory and imagination. Ignited by this interest in family, home and relocation, as an artist, I make photographs of domestic interiors, exterior spaces, and portraits while visiting family members in my search for a new understanding of home.
// GEORGE-ANN BOWERS Mallow Pod Cluster gabowers.com
My work celebrates the infinite intricacies of the natural world. I am intrigued by the detail and structure of trees, seed pods or rock formations, see weaving patterns in canyon walls, and thrill to the fine lacework of lichens on rock or bark. I translate vignettes drawn from nature into textile form, reflecting fleeting moments in a continuous cycle of creation, growth, destruction and change.
//MAKIKO WAKISAKA embrace -the skyleaf veins, nylon thread 6”x 8” / 2016 Setagaya, Tokyo
I wanted to express the endless sky which is covering this planet so softly and quietly. There is everlasting strife in the world because of our egotism. I wonder when the eternal peace will come to this world.
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//JIM ARENDT
Cat: Free Will Ain’t Cheap denim applique, embroidery 84”x 56” / 2016 Conway, SC
jimarendt.com
My art is about labor. I remember my father sitting at the sewing machine patching his Wranglers in the evening. He was making do: A concept of thrift and pragmatism that dictates you work with the materials at hand. That memory mixed with the stories of other working people led me to denim. It is a universal fabric born in the dust of the cotton field, made supple by the sweat of garment workers, and embedded with the fading of second shift evenings.
//MARIANNE WILLIAMSON Below the Surface fiber art 40”x 61” / 2016 Miami, FL
movinthreads.com
This new work is a study on transparency, looking down through water at the bottom of a stream. Water makes the pebbles fade in and out and the light makes the colors glow.
//JILL AULT
jillault.com
I saw a plant through a pane of corrugated glass and was intrigued by the way the glass divided the leaf shapes. For weeks I puzzled about how to represent this intriguing phenomenon in fabric. In “Arboreal Bones” multiple copies of an image are divided into many small squares -- no two exactly the same. When the squares are sewn together, the design moves piece-by-piece across and down the quilt face.
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//SARA SHARP
Barriers to Freedom quilted collage of painted and printed fabrics 50”x 35” / 2016 Austin, TX
sarasharp.com
Oppression, famine, and poverty cause people to flee their homelands, searching for a better life of opportunity and freedom. Some politicians and countries advocate building fences and walls to keep immigrants out of their countries. This quilt features passenger lists from the early 1900’s showing people, like my family’s ancestors, who were welcomed into the United States. In our time, we must again show kindness to provide bridges to safety for deserving immigrants.
//ELAINA BARNETT and here we are
graphite, fabric, speakers, mp3 player 43”x 72” / 2016 Shelbyville, KY
My work gently weaves a sense of commonality often through a process of interaction that can require vulnerability or energy from a person. My hope is that my work serves as a reminder of the constant interconnectivity between people, even if the specifics of the narrative of the work is unclear, allowing a more responsible way of interacting with the world in which we each live, and reminding us of the importance of empathy and compassion.
//DIANE SAVONA wall
salvaged clothing and blankets 75”x 49” / 2017 Passaic, NJ
dianesavonaart.com
Facts can look like they are carved in stone, until the seams start to fray. At first, this piece seems to be solidly built with engraved blocks: a closer look reveals the old shirts sewn over a variety of lettering. Although not intended as a political statement, the wording on these blocks ( sanity, common sense, reality, FACTS, the truth) read more importantly now than ever before.
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//NICOLE BENNER Plaited Constraint solft silk organza 156”x 36”x 36” / 2016 Marshall, MO
nicolebenner.com
My work examines the numerous layers of the body affected by chronic pain, as it relates to spinal health. This includes the physical, psychological, and emotional impact that chronic pain has on different individuals. I engage with the complexities of the human anatomy through objects that exist, or could exist, on the figure. I encourage the viewer to approach the work and consider what awareness they have when imagining the comfort/discomfort of wearing the garments.
//KIM RICE
kimrice.net
My work explores whiteness as a social construct created through the illusion of ordinariness, symbolism, and institutionalized power structures such as property, education, the judicial system and media. By deconstructing then weaving ordinary materials, particularly magazines, my pieces focus on the often-unseen impact white- ness has on our everyday interactions and the ways we move through the world.
//ANITA COOKE
Strata (Undercurrent) canvas, acylic paint, thread, pva glue 48”x 24” / 2016 New Orleans, LA
jonathanferraragalery.com
The “Strata” and “Core Sample” works are part of a group of works that I have called “Dimensional Patterning.” I use this term to describe the 3-dimensional building up of the surfaces of my work through the making, compiling, composing, and assembling of similar elements that are repeated in a quasiordered, patterned way.
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//CARRIE MILLER
Feeling Real Fucking Old handwoven silk yarn 6.5”x 19” / 2016 Fort Collins, CO
In my current body of work I weave and sew materials that are often associated with bridal wear. I subvert the fantasy of the perfect day by referencing the seeming imperfections that are common in life and in the body. I seek to illuminate the preciousness of these disowned spaces of the self.
//KARIN LUSNAK
KarinLusnak.com
‘Getting THERE From HERE’ is a three dimensional piece composed of letters having an inner structure of sycamore branches covered with layers of fragile, pliable fabric bound together with colorful silk fiber. The letters stand upright to suggest strength and perseverance.
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//WEN REDMOND
Amazements of Tender Reflections digital fiber and mixed media 60�x 24� / 2014 Strafford, NH
wenredmond.com
When I work, I allow and encourage a collaborative process with spirit or that mind-boggling principle of the universe. Creation gives me ideas. My passion is to put them into art.
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//SARA FAHLING Unmendful 1
archival inkjet prints on Belgium Linen, Muslin, Organza 22”x 7.25” / 2017 Bloomington, IN
Unmendful explores the deterioration of memory through the appropriation of intimate family photographs. Motivated by my grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s and its effects on my family and myself, I use images from my personal archives to illustrate the consuming power of forgetfulness. Photographs have become a referent of identity, memory, and history that joins past and present.
//BOB MOSIER
In My Father’s House Age 5 thread painting, fabric, 10 values of thread, 3 sewing machines 29”x 24” / 2015 Conroe, TX
Two of the many possible uses of a stationary sewing machine are explored in this piece, the straight stich, and the thread painting technique. The contrasts between the two methods are intended to reflect the conflict between order/chaos, containment/relief, the calm and the tumultuous life events I experienced.
//JUDITH PLOTNER Urban Ambiguity fiber 58.5”x 46” / 2014 Gloversville, NY
The distilled essence of my experience in New York City is combined with typography, and fragments of written messages. Drawing upon the peeling, rust infused walls of the city for color, texture and inspiration, my recent work is a cacophony of the vibrations, music, noise and ethnic diversity of the city.
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//PATRICIA KENNEDY-ZAFRED Tagged
art quilt 45”x 60” / 2015 Murrysville, PA
pattykz.com
Less than three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, forcing into internment camps (euphemistically referred to as War Relocation Centers) nearly 120,000 people of Japanese heritage living on the Pacific Coast, of which an estimated two-thirds were U.S. citizens. This piece is dedicated to the almost 30,000 camp internees who were children. (Original images courtesy Library of Congress and Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, with permission.)
//SUE HALE
Dendrite /Connections traditional wet felting with resists and shibori 36”x 22”x 4” / 2016 South Haven, MI
I am inspired by the versatility and resilience of felt. It lends itself to the decorative and functional alike and I am continually excited by the endless possibilities that this medium presents.
//PAT OWOC
patowoc.com
It is winter. I can identify with the koi in the lake at the botanical garden where I walk each week. The koi and I both react to chilly weather. Koi are cold blooded. As the lake cools and sometimes freezes the koi’s metabolism slows. They swim to the warmest part of the lake, the bottom, and tread water there until spring. While they continue moving, they usually don’t return to the surface. But sometimes, I see just a hint of movement or the glint of sunlight off scales.
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//JANE HARTFIELD
Breaking Down Barriers fiber 42”x 42” / 2017 Fort Smith, AR
Nature continually builds up and breaks down barriers. Only people build permanent barriers. I would like for those who view my work to consider if they have barriers to remove from their lives.
//KATHY NIDA
Work in Progress hand-dyed and commercial cottons 60”x 36” / 2014 El Cajon, CA
kathynida.com
This concept of gender equality, there are some days when it seems like a dream, like something I woke up with in my head, foggy-edged, but possible. If I keep the dream in the front of my mind and refer to it as I interact, as I do, as I live, as I love, then perhaps I will get closer to what feels like equality... teamwork... standing together to get where we need to go.
//TIFFANY LANGE Squad
canvas and thread 10”x 8”x 5” / 2016 Menomonie, WI
As a female and Midwest native, family traditions and constructed gender roles influenced me to question the idea of traditional painting. With the accumulation of thread and labor intensive practices, I translate the idea of craft traditions into a contemporary painting context, while also referencing ideas of women’s work and the female body.
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//SUSAN HOTCHKIS Crackle
mixed media 36”x 24”x 5” / 2016 Guernsey Channel Islands
suehotchkis.com
The core theme of my work is texture and surface, strongly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi. I’m interested in the relationship between the natural elements and the man-made, such as that resulting from erosion and human use. Nature has its own way of taking back, reclaiming the artificial. It’s this meeting of the two I find interesting.
//CINDY HOUSTON
Matronwear: Tea Party fiber 36”x 36” / 2017 Bowling Green, KY
cindyhouston.com
This piece, “Matronwear: Tea Party” is ceremonial regalia worn by women of a certain age to tea parties attended by other women of a certain age. The structure of the garment hides the ravages of time experienced by every matron; the collar symbolizes the wealth of the wearer in the number of tea spoons displayed.
//STEWART KELLY Face to Face 2
ink and machine embroidery on paper 23.5”x 23.5” / 2015 Didsbury, Manchester, UK
stewartkellyartist.com
I make observational drawings in response to the figure. I work intuitively to create expressive drawings which aim to capture the subtleties found in both gesture and movement. I record my responses spontaneously, focusing almost entirely on the subject, unaware of the image evolving on the paper. The diversity of drawn and stitched marks create unique textures and quality of lines throughout the work.
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//ANNA KRISTINA GORANSSON A Well Balanced Life? felted and dyed wool 10’x 14”x 12” / 2016 Arlington, MA
annakristinadesigns.com
I question my ability as a human to stay in a semblance of balance. With wars going on and sixty-five million displaced people in the world, along with my personal struggles to be an artist, a teacher, a mother, a wife, a friend, and my own advocate, it sometimes seems to be an impossible feat. The piece “A Well Balanced Life?” is my attempt at a meditation of sorts about this life and world we live in.
//ERIN MILLER Mulch
power loom woven tapestry 60”x 60” / 2015 Ypsilanti, MI
Humans spend a significant amount of time physically interacting with textiles, but contemporarily very little time thinking about them. My consideration of our current experience with cloth has led me to investigate other materials that may now be considered nearly its equal in that respect. By rendering temporary materials with fibers I seek to revalue both materials and offer to extend their lives significantly.
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//ROXANNE LASKY
roxannelasky.com
We carry memories in our bodies, in our minds and hearts, as scars on skin, in our bones and even in our cells. We move with our memories as if adorned with regal garb, or as armor against conflict, protection from the elements, warnings against danger, crimes against self, boundaries that prevent transgressing into growth, joy and wisdom.
//KAREN MUSGRAVE Gathering Stillness mixed media 51”x 12”x 4” / 2016 Naperville, IL
connectionsbykaren.blogspot.com
Gathering Stillness is part of an autobiographical series that combines ceramics and quilts to create a sculpture. It also explores “what if?” What if I dye the clay instead of glazing? What if I hang a quilt from a piece of clay? What if I explore the juxtaposition of hard and soft? What if I try something new and a little scary?
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//CYNTHIA HRON BP - fiber #2
mixed media fiber 42”x 24” / 2016 Winfield, PA
My art is about pain, and the way in which the body is transformed through trauma. Trauma, defined as physical or emotional. This series strives to put form to the marks left on the body. That which heals and that which is left to fester, and makes us who we are. Scars and wounds, rashes, eruptions, bruises and wrinkles real or imagined, seen and un- seen evolve over time to create and recreate the landscape of our
//JANE JENNINGS Movin’ On
digitally printed cotton and silk organza assemblage 12”x 28”x 3” / 2016 Port Orange, FL
janejenningsart.com
Taking photos of shadows has become an obsession. I am fascinated by the mysterious movement and proportion changes throughout the day, lengthening or shortening the subject matter. I love the feel of the photo printed on cotton and the semi-transparent characteristic of printed silk organza. The subject matter and materials lend themselves well to the dream-like quality of my work.
//LORIE McCOWN Lazarus 12
paint, fabric, string, floss, thread 12”x 12”x 3” / 2014 Fredericksburg, VA
loriemccown.com
My work is narrative based, using biblical, historical and folktale sources. I work on multiple pieces at once, referencing ancient history, old masters, and folk art. Layers, both in media and meaning are important to me. Using cast off and recycled material, I use traditional hand work, paint, wrapping and stitching to express themes of family and family roles.
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//YE MA
The Origin hair embroidery silk 23”x 103” / 2016 Lexington, KY
I have been thinking about inheritance and development of human life for a long time. And then, I find out the pregnancy is a perfect interpretation. the pregnancy is a beginning of a new life and an inheritance of previous generation. My overall composition references 40 weeks of pregnancy with 40 individual embroideries and three development stages with three lines of images.
//JEAN SREDL
sredl.com
A great love, mother and son; precious memories of laughter, foolishness, and irrationality - bright jewels of happiness together; all things bright and beautiful; spiraling joy; but also searing loss, dark fears, and embers of hope. I create as I feel.
//NOELLE MASON
Ground Control (Mexicali /Calexico) hand woven wool 10’x 8’ / 2012 Chula Vista, CA
noellemason.com
Ground Control is a series of four wool Gobelin tapestryrugs that reproduce images of points of conflict along the US/Mexico border taken by the Terra satellite’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER.) The remediation from immaterial virtually generated satellite image to tactile hand-woven wool rug critically examines the machine vision representation of the US/Mexico border by historicizing the reproducible digital image into a unique object.
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//JOHN DEAMOND
Plushes from “A Field Guide to the Extinct and Extirpated Birds of North America” plush with CNC embroidery 23.5”x 35”x 23.5” / 2016 Burtonsville, MD
jdeamond.com
My work focuses on the complexities of our interaction with nature. It is easy to say that natural resource exploitation is good or bad, or that political boundaries should or should not be porous, but the real answer is probably somewhere in between. Extinction has its gray areas: in how we should handle it, and even in what is considered extinct.
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Yeiser Art Center 200 Broadway // Paducah, KY // 270-442-2453 // theyeiser.org
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