Fiber Art International 2022
Fiber Art International 2022
Museum of Art Fort Collins
201 S. College Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80524
August 18-October 15
Admission: Adults: $10; Seniors: $8.00 (Age 60 and Up); Under 18, Members, Students, Miliary, and Veterans: Free
Review by Danielle Cunningham
Cotton, linen, yarn, and wool—these are just a few of the materials featured currently in the Fort Collins Museum of Art’s international exhibition showcasing 45 artworks. Once considered craft rather than a fine art, fiber art has a rich history with particular significance to women’s history. Because women weren’t accepted into arts institutions until the 19th century, many female artists gravitated toward mediums influenced by the domestic sphere, becoming skilled in traditional techniques and eventually moving into experimentation.
A view of the exhibition Fiber Arts International 2022 at the Museum of Art Fort Collins. Image by DARIA.
The exhibition, created by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, Inc, Pennsylvania, recognizes this history, while examining how the art form has changed within the contemporary sphere and emphasizing the breadth of techniques used by the artists. Many works in the exhibition are massive—spanning across walls, stretching from floor to ceiling, and featuring styles from abstraction to naturalism and conceptual as well as literal narratives.
Ann B. Coddington, 95 Forms, 2021, mixed media fiber, 120 x 300 inches (dimensions variable based on the wall space). Image by DARIA.
Ann B. Coddington, 95 Forms (detail), 2021, mixed media fiber, 120 x 300 inches (dimensions variable based on the wall space). Image by DARIA.
Ann B. Coddington’s 95 Forms is a mixed media work with 95 fiber objects mounted in a rough grid. Resembling organs and ambiguous vessels, the objects are removed from any obvious reference point, inspiring inquiry and whimsy. With its neutral browns, tans, beiges, and creams, the work hearkens back to a folksy past in which quotidian objects are abundant and handmade—an idea the artist describes as her resistance to the increasingly digitized world. [1]
Jacobo Alonso, Intercorporeity, 2020, 2,300 laser cut modules of recovered radiographs, 118 x 79 inches. Image by DARIA.
In contrast, Jacobo Alonso embraces modern technology, re-imagining it through the lens of traditional techniques. His Intercorporeity is a giant wall hanging made from hexagonal laser cutouts of radiographs. Fastened together to resemble a quilted design, the work generates a new context for this material in which it is transformed from directly connecting to the human body to become a body of work. As Alonso notes, the x-ray “reconfigures the body without the flesh” while his artwork effectively creates new flesh that contains the past and present lives of fiber artistry. [2]
Anne Harwell, Ignoring Reality, 2021, fiber, 48 x 61 inches. Image by DARIA.
Some works are unabashedly playful, illustrating the joy of creation. Anne Harwell’s Ignoring Reality is exactly that and stages a battle between a dinosaur and a dragon, both holding human weapons. The work is quilted but began as a drawing, demonstrating the fine arts roots of fiber art as a whole. [3] This is underpinned by Harwell’s Cubist-like structure, as she pieces together contrasting fabric patterns to create the central figures and the background featuring an erupting volcano, blue sky, and lush greenery. She also stitches twirling patterns along the top of the work, adding energy and dimensionality and compounding the element of play.
A view of the exhibition Fiber Arts International 2022 at the Museum of Art Fort Collins. In the left foreground: Adrienne Sloane, At the End of My Rope, 2019, knit cotton and rope, 57 x 14.5 inches. Image by DARIA.
Adrienne Sloane’s At the End of My Rope highlights the capacity for fiber art to tackle serious subjects like a nation’s moral and political conflicts. The work is composed of red and white strips of fabric, rolled and stacked into an arched composition. The topmost strip is a blue and white starred pattern, alluding to the American flag. The pieces are held together by a rope that seems to be a noose hung on a wall. The work is quiet but thoughtful; if you were in a hurry, you’d likely pass it by, but it is a slow burn. By choosing a downturned arch for the body of this work, the artist conveys a sense of sadness in that the rolled fabric hangs heavily from the rope, unable to escape.
Sophia Ruppert, Plastic Prayers, 2019, plaster, Lycra, tacks, and thread, 68 x 80 x 4 inches. Image by DARIA.
Another subtle work is Sophia Ruppert’s Plastic Prayers. Made from plaster, Lycra, tacks, and thread, this large work presents white, sack-like objects, mostly rectangular, similarly sized, and arranged into an oval. The work is minimalistic and encourages a certain poetics with its repeated forms and sense of purity, facilitating calm and introspection. It even feels like a portal or a window to another world. Looking at the work is like standing in a marble temple, ethereal and holy.
Alicja Kozłowska, Coca Cola Box, 2020, textiles, 8.5 x 10.5 x 7.9 inches. Image by DARIA.
Many small works span the galleries including basketry, needlepoint, felting, and embroidery. Alicja Kozłowska’s Coca Cola Box is a three-dimensional, realistic, embroidered felt sculpture of life-sized Coca-Cola bottles.
Suzan Ann Morgan, Pandemic Necessities, 2019, embroidery, 16.5 x 20 inches. Image by DARIA.
Suzan Ann Morgan’s Pandemic Necessities is an embroidery reminding viewers of life in America—guns and empty grocery shelves.
Catherine Hicks, The Golden Calf, Portrait of a Con, 2020, embroidery on mirror, 14 x 20 inches. Image courtesy of the Museum of Art Fort Collins.
Similarly, Catherine Hicks’ cartoonish The Golden Calf, Portrait of a Con explores the real and the simulacrum with its depiction of a mannequin reflected in a mirror. [4]
An installation view of Jacobo Alonso’s Intercorporeity, 2020, 2,300 laser cut modules of recovered radiographs, 118 x 79 inches. Image by DARIA.
This Fiber Art International exhibition praises the handmade and the materiality of objects, revealing that many artists still enjoy interacting physically with their work. Although AI-generated artwork isn’t likely to disappear, it seems that neither is fiber art. The strong relationship between artists and objects is profoundly felt and impacts their selection of materials and concepts, ranging from the macro to the micro, demonstrating that art can be made from anything.
Danielle Cunningham (she/her) is an artist, scholar, and independent curator. She writes about science fiction, gender, sexuality, and disability, with an emphasis on mental illness. The co-founder of chant cooperative, an artist co-op, she holds a master’s degree in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Denver.
[1] From Ann B. Coddington’s artist statement.
[2] From Jacobo Alonso’s artist statement.
[3] From Anne Harwell’s artist statement.
[4] The other artists in the exhibition are David Andree, Cassie Arnold, Arda Asena, Sandy Ballinger, Linda Beiden, Thom Brow, Kerstin Bruchauser, Patricia Downs, Liz Alpert Fay, Jennifer Flores, Shelly Goldsmith, Milady Hartmann, Faith Humphrey Hill, Joyce Watkins King, Kiyomi Kudo, Bernie Leahy, Michelle Montjoy, Sarah Nance, Camilla Brent Pierce, Lia Porto, Nirma Raja, Claire Renault, Elizabeth Runyon, Gea van Eck, Ji Seon Yoon, and Stephanie Zito.
