‘From the Inside Out’ exhibit to feature international artwork at the Gallery

Five artists through an international collaboration will display handmade paper, textured felt, rust printed silk hangings and embroidered eco-printed silks at the Art and Design West Gallery this week.

This week, the Art and Design West Gallery features textile works of five artists. It is co-curated by SIUE alumni Elizabeth Adams-Marks and Pat Vivod. Photo courtesy of Vivod.

For the first time, the exhibition’s co-curators, Elizabeth Adams-Marks and Patricia Vivod, are also graduates of the SIUE Art and Design program.

Art and design professor Laura Strand, also Gallery coordinator, said she is looking forward to the exhibit and thinks it is great for the department.

“We as a department have worked very hard to produce artists who have a real excitement and investment in their art-making,” Strand said. “Pat and Elizabeth are examples of alumni who have enlarged their work with determination over all these years since graduation.”

Adams-Marks and Vivod have been preparing for “From the Inside Out” exhibition for 20 months corresponding with artists they have never met to send their work for an SIUE exhibit.

They connected with Irit Dulman of Tel Aviv, Israel, Fabienne Rey of Utrecht, Netherlands and Rio Wrenn of Oregon through Facebook and blogs, talking about and sharing their work online.

“The real pleasure is that even though we’ve never met them personally we feel like we’ve known them. We’ve had conversations with them,” Vivod said. “I’m so happy that they trust us to send their work to the great beyond…that takes a great deal of trust you have to know that whoever you’re dealing with is reputable and going to treat your work with respect.”

Subtitled “Felt, Paper, Textiles: Revelations in Natural Mark Making” the display has been offered support through the Surface Design Association.  This organization publishes a journal representing artists pursuing silk-screen printing, dyeing, embroidery and other methods involving soft media.

The “From the Inside Out” title comes from the process of tying tight bundles of fabric where “the color is inside and is coming outside” according to Vivod.

“We are all working with natural materials in specific ways. Eco printing is a method of printing leaves and flowers onto the surface of paper. Rust deterioration is imprinted on the materials as well,” Vivod said.

Local artist Vivod based her artwork on the theme of “feast” which she said she became familiar with as a farmer’s daughter.

“Right now my concerns are focused on what’s happening to our environment, to our land and to our water through fracking,” Vivod said. “So for me, my chosen theme ‘feast’ is connected to greed. These are underlying themes in my work.”

Local artist Adams-Marks will present paper works based on the “tangent” theme. Her husband is from Cornwall, England, and she collected calcium carbonate, a white powder used in making paper, from decaying mines there.

Adams-Marks said her theme refers to “tangents through time” from the 17th-19th centuries.

Dulman used the theme of “seeds” in her work.

Vivod said “seeds” are related to the fact that Dulman has been “transplanted.”

“She is of Eastern European descent, but her ancestors–her parents– emigrated to Israel,” Vivod said. “The favorite material she uses is eucalyptus which is not native to Israel. It came as a seed and she came as a seed and they are both growing.”

Wren based her artwork on the theme of “core.”

According to Wren’s artist statement, “Core is taking this basic knowledge of science and using visuals such as tree rings, microscopic views of plant parts, cell division, parasitic growths and the metaphorical core of human nature to contemplate how similar we really are. The human manipulation of nature has been going on for centuries as well as manipulation of our own lives and society. How we shape the core and what we find at the core are aspects I contemplate.”

Rey will present the theme “mapping” through embroidery and 12 eco printed panels that each represent a month. They will hang as banners in the Gallery.

According to Vivod, Rey embroiders, stiches and creates a map of thoughts “of not being in control of a loved one’s illness.”

The exhibition will be held August 18-September 21 at the Art and Design West Gallery.

Opening reception is Friday, August 22, from 5-9 p.m.

A gallery talk will take place Friday, August 22, at 7 p.m.

 

 

 

 

Be Sociable, Share!

Filed Under: Art and Design

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments are closed.

Switch to our mobile site