(Minneapolis, MN – July 13, 2018) –Two accomplished artists are featured at Textile Center this fall, with exhibitions contrasting divergent approaches to artistic practice. Similarly, both bring their ideas to fruition through the history, processes, and materials of textiles.

Portland-based Lee Isbara’s approach addresses the development of a visual vocabulary over time. With this, she communicates concept and emotion in mirroring her own life as a displaced person conversant in the language and culture of two countries, but not considered a full-fledged member of either one.

San Jose-based Taylor’s approach references the realm of math as an intellectual point of departure, using an intuitive sense of geometry. Her process focuses on developing complex woven structures on the loom that create imagery through controlled and layered intersecting surfaces of color and texture.


Reception for the Artists, Thursday, September 6, 2018 5:30 – 7pm

• Textile Center, 3000 University Ave SE, Minneapolis 55414 | Free and open to the public
• Artists Susie Taylor and Jiseon Lee Isbara will be present
• Susie Taylor remarks at 6:30
• Displaced, lecture, ACC Salon Series: On the Road, by Jiseon Lee Isbara immediately following the reception at 7PM, Textile Center Auditorium.

Jiseon Lee Isbara, Displaced, Joan Mondale Gallery
Exhibition dates: Thursday, August 30 – Saturday, October 20

“My identity as a first generation immigrant who is a woman and person of color is unpleasantly reminded everyday.” The complexity of current cultural discourse is addressed in Jiseon Lee Isbara’s work through fluid use of everyday textile materials and essential techniques. Illegible texts and physical forms convey messages or questions about the displacement she feels, while mundane and repetitive action conveys anxiety and obsession. Slow and time-consuming processes, such as mending, oppose emotion over subject, where dualities are referenced repeatedly in the work- logic and chaos, ambiguity and clarity, displacement and settlement.

Lee Isbara is currently Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs at Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon.

Susie Taylor, Poetic Geometry, Community and Studio Galleries

Exhibition dates: Thursday, August 30 – Saturday, October 27

In an exploration of geometric abstraction that tends toward minimalism, Susie Taylor uses the grid, inherent to the weaving process, as both a jumping off point and problem solving tool. “My work is a highly scripted improvisation,” says Taylor, requiring her to break down complexity and impose a new visual order on materials. The nature of the horizontal/vertical relationship of threads on a loom provides a structure for creative practice that engages technical expertise and poses a visual puzzle to be solved as she composes each piece.


Susie Taylor, Weaving as Painting Workshop
Friday-Sunday, September 7-9, 9 am-4 pm

Early bird pricing $365, expires August 6, 2018
After August 6, 2018: Textile Center members $382.50 / Non-members $425

Think about weaving as a process for exploring ideas about painting and drawing, and discover its potential as a creative tool. Using basic weaving techniques on low-tech, portable tabletop looms, students will learn how to wind a warp and warp a rigid heddle or cricket loom. Then, they will expand on the fundamentals of weave structure while experimenting in a painterly way with texture and color using stripes, plaids, tapestry-style color blocks, and wrapped elements. Building on the basics, additional manipulation techniques, such as inlay and slit weaving will be taught. This experiential workshop will focus on exploring how a simple loom can open up the translation of designs and ideas in new, exciting ways.

Taylor currently teaches workshops in complex weave structures, and is a freelance designer for the commercial market. She maintains a studio practice in San Jose, California.





TEXTILE CENTER – A NATIONAL CENTER FOR FIBER ART
Textile Center is unique as America's national center for fiber art, with a mission to honor textile traditions, promote excellence and innovation, and inspire widespread participation in fiber arts. The Center’s resources include exceptional fiber art exhibitions, an artisan shop, a professional-grade dye lab, a natural dye plant garden, and one of the nation's largest circulating textile libraries open to the public. Textile Center produces more than 200 classes a year for all ages and skill levels and the Youth Fiber Art Guild. A dynamic hub of fiber activity for 24 years, 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 Communications & Annual Giving

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