Textile Center announces innovative fiber art exhibition

Observe • Record • Relate

Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grant Program showcases the work of four emerging artists

Additional fiber art exhibitions opening: A Family Affair: Paper and Textile Work by Julie Sirek; and Meet Your Maker: Artwork of Target’s Product Design and Development Team

September 8 – October 22, 2016

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6 – 8 pm

(Minneapolis, MN – August 23, 2016) – Textile Center is pleased to announce three fiber art exhibitions opening on September 8 and running through October 22. Observe • Record• Relate features the work of Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grant Program awardees Marcia Haffmans, Sarah Nassif, Alex Newby, and Maggie Thompson. The exhibition is the culmination of the fellows’ projects that were undertaken over 9 months, utilizing $5,000 grants from the Jerome Foundation.

Talk: Tuesday, October 18, 12-1 pm
Join the artists for an informal discussion about the program and their work.

ARTIST STATEMENTS

Marcia Haffmans

Script under Suppression incorporates handwritten historic script created under suppression relating oppression during World War II. The mixed media art gives another dimension to the graphics of those handwritings and encourages interpretation in a present-day context. Through selected materials and techniques the work probes in a search for answers.

Sarah Nassif

What We Grow is a public fiber art project happening in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis in 2016. Textile artist and Prospect Park resident Sarah Nassif explores gardens, gardener stories and what it means to be a part of a rapidly growing community in the city. Using over 100 drawings collected at garden gatherings, canvas drop cloths become picnic cloths covered in participants’ designs of neighborhood garden plants. The gallery installation will invite the viewer to explore the idea of community connections and grab a seat at the table to join the conversation.

Alex Newby

My work plays with a push and pull of useful and useless, manufactured and hand-made objects, in order to explore the tensions of being a designer and craftsperson in an age of mass consumption. My creative practice covers a variety of fiber art and textile related techniques, including weaving, off-loom construction, and screen printing surface designs. I construct objects that communicate ideas about dualities that are fundamental to modern living and my love-hate relationship with modern materiality.

Maggie Thompson

I created a collection of garments inspired by Ojibwe and Plains Indian style bead working. The garments explore the qualities and traditions of native art and history, but will be presented in a contemporary form, exploring the concept of cultural appropriation.

Textile Center partners with Jerome Foundation in selecting emerging fiber artists based in Minnesota for individually designed project grants that have informed and advanced their development as artists and their creation of new works. Together, Jerome Foundation and Textile Center supports and celebrates the creative spirit of emerging fiber artists.

Textile Center also announces the opening of an exhibition in the Library and Community Galleries, A Family Affair: Paper and Textile Work of Julie Sirek, an exhibition promoting awareness of the devastating impact of domestic violence. Sirek has exhibited throughout the United States and in Canada, England and South Korea. Awards include a Jerome Fiber Artist Project Grant in 2014 and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant in 2015. Her work has also been featured on the cover of American Craft Magazine.

Julie Sirek Artist Statement

As a child, I repeatedly witnessed my father’s violence towards my mother. The mental and physical effects of domestic violence permeated our daily lives, which caused terror and misery for our entire family. Growing up in this environment has had a deep and lasting impact. As a result, for the past six years, I have dedicated my practice to raising awareness about domestic violence.

I work predominantly within the realm of paper, using the process of Joomchi. By adapting this age-old-technique, I transform paper into a unique textile-like material. I equate paper to the human body. It is fragile and has implications for violence. It can be ripped, torn and crumbled. However, it can also be mended and sewn back together.

I believe art is an effective medium to instigate social change, especially in environments where taboo topics are usually swept under the carpet. Because art is often displayed in ‘safe venues,’ it can tackle difficult issues. This encourages conversation, increases understanding and leads to serious debate. -Julie Sirek

Meet Your Maker is an exhibition in the Studio Gallery featuring the art of Target Product Designer and Developers in a new collaboration with Textile Center. Target attracts excellent fiber artists from across the nation to work in their Minneapolis headquarters. By day, these artists work on product, such as clothing, shoes, and bedding that you’ll find in Target stores. By night, they are weaving, stitching, crocheting, and creating all kinds of art! This exhibition is a chance to “Meet Your Maker,” and see their varied artistic passions on display!

LOCAL ARTISTS FEATURED

Kristin France

Jen Gin

Michelle Greenhouse

Charlotte Halve

Olivia Miller

Natalie Northrup

Melinda Wareham

Shoshana Zakem

and others

TEXTILE CENTER – A NATIONAL CENTER FOR FIBER ART

Textile Center is unique as America's national center for fiber art—which encompasses weaving, quilting, knitting, sewing, dyeing, felting, needlework, lace making, basketry, beading, soft sculpture and multi-media pieces. A nonprofit arts center, Textile Center’s mission is to honor textile traditions, promote excellence and innovation, and inspire widespread participation in fiber arts.

The Center’s facility includes exceptional fiber art exhibitions in four galleries, an artisan shop, a professional-grade dye lab, a natural dye plant garden, and the nation's largest circulating textile library open to the public. It is home to the Youth Fiber Art Guild, and presides over the Jerome Fiber Art Project Grants. A dynamic hub of fiber activity, Textile Center brings people together in community to learn, create, share, and be inspired by fiber art.

For more information, visit: http://textilecentermn.org.

PRESS CONTACT: Jenny Jones, Director of Marketing & Community Engagement

jjones@textilecentermn.org • Phone: 612-436-0464