Fiber Arts Now Exhibition Catalog

7/28/2019 Fiber Arts Now Exhibition Catalog

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fiber-arts-now-exhibition-catalog 1/49

Pacifc University

CommonKnowledge

Books and Monographs Pacic University Libraries

1-1-2012

Fiber Arts Now: Exhibition Catalog Rebecca Twist Pacifc University , [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: hp://commons.pacicu.edu/mono

Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons

is Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Pacic University Libraries at CommonKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in

Books and Monographs by an authorized administrator of CommonKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Recommended CitationTwist, Rebecca. (2012). Fiber Arts Now. Forest Grove: Pacic University Library.

http://commons.pacificu.edu/?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

http://commons.pacificu.edu/mono?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

http://commons.pacificu.edu/pul?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages


http://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/438?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/438?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages


http://commons.pacificu.edu/pul?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages


http://commons.pacificu.edu/?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages



Fiber Arts Now: Exhibition Catalog

Description

Fiber Arts Now , a celebration of the rst ber class at Pacic University, features the work of ber arts faculty

members from Oregon College of Art and Cra: Jiseon Lee Isbara, Shelley Socolofsky, Judilee Fitzhugh andHelen Hiebert. is exhibition demonstrates the aesthetic and conceptual qualities of using various bermedia in making art. e artwork made by these four women show that any material can be used in ways tomake art that is extremely thoughtful and lled with the excitement of making unique ber artworks.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Publisher

Pacic University Library

ISBN

978-0-9884827-0-8

is book is available at CommonKnowledge:hp://commons.pacicu.edu/mono/7

http://commons.pacificu.edu/mono/7?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

http://commons.pacificu.edu/mono/7?utm_source=commons.pacificu.edu%2Fmono%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages



FIBER ARTS

NOW

EXHIBITION CATALOG

Rebecca Twist



FIBER ARTS

NOW

PACIFIC UNIVERSITY | FOREST GROVE, OR

Rebecca Twist



Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Patricia Cheyne, Isaac Gilman, Marita Kunkel, PacicUniversity Library, the artists o the Fiber Arts Now exhibition—Helen

Hiebert, Jiseon Lee Isbara, Judilee Fitzhugh, and Shelley Socolosky—andthe Kathrin Cawein Gallery Director, Junko Iijima.



Kathrin Cawein Gallery 7

Introduction: Fiber Arts: Crat or Fine Art?Patricia Cheyne

9

Fiber Art: Ten and Now 11

Fiber Arts Now: Te Exhibition

Helen Hiebert

Artist Prole 21

Featured Work 23

Jiseon Lee Isbara

Artist Prole 26

Featured Work 28

Judilee Fitzhugh

Artist Prole 31

Featured Work 32

Shelley Socolosky

Artist Prole 36

Featured Work 38

Contents



7

Kathrin Cawein Gallery

Te Kathrin Cawein Gallery serves as a key cultural venue on the Pacic

University Campus. Te Gallery oers a wide variety o monthly exhibi-tions, presenting the work o established and emerging Northwest artists,artists rom outside the region, and Pacic University aculty, sta andstudents.

In its oerings, the gallery strives to advance the goals o Pacic University as a orward-thinking institution which provides a comprehensive liberalarts and proessional education or the students it serves. Te exhibition

schedule is intended to challenge and stimulate Pacic’s students, bothartists and non-artists alike. In that spirit, a wide variety o media arepresented, including painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, metals,glass, installation and new media. In addition, exhibiting artists presentlectures and workshops to enhance the understanding o their work andcreative processes, and to expose students to the realities o the proessionalartist’s lie. Te Gallery’s educational purposes are perhaps most signi-cantly illustrated by the yearly senior exhibition presented in the spring.

In this exhibition, graduating art students are oered the opportunity todisplay their work in the proessional space o the gallery.

In addition to its ocus on the Pacic community, the Cawein Gallery os-ters connections with Forest Grove and regions beyond. Exhibitions arepresented ree to the public, and are intended to be compelling beyond theUniversity campus. Te Gallery hopes to serve not only Pacic University,but as a central locust or art in our region, to also serve our broader com-

munity as well.



9

Introduction

Fiber Arts: Crat or Fine Art? When I began to think about curating this exhibit, I realized that as a printmaker and ber artist most o my artwork has always walked the neline between the historic categories o “art” and “crat.” Since the ItalianRenaissance, there has been a tension between the relative value o art asopposed to crat. For example, to please the patrons a Renaissance artist

was required to produce works revealing knowledge o classical antiquity,

while communicating ideas about the contemporary world. Cratsmen,however, were expected to make objects that were useul and aestheti-cally appealing in traditional ways. In addition, certain types o media

were attached to these two modes o production: the arts were comprisedo painting and sculpture whereas crats were ceramics, weaving, smallmetals, and glasswork. Gender was, o course, implicated in this division

where women could certainly produce crats—and indeed were expectedto in the mundane sphere o “woman’s work”—but rarely art.

By the eighteenth century, this dichotomy became institutionalized in theacademies o art. Te “ne arts” were considered beautiul, sublime, con-ceptual and oten transcendent, and were almost always produced by men.On the other side were the “crats,” seen as useul objects with the primary purpose to meet the needs o everyday lie, regardless o however artully designed and produced they might be.

In the twentieth-century, however, artists started to break away rom tra-ditional expectations and categories, violating the purity and patriarchy o the old boundaries. Artists started to explore new orms o artistic expres-sion, introducing innovative works and media such as perormance art,installation art, video art, and body art. Importantly, emale artists suchas Eva Hesse, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schap-iro, and Louise Bourgeois began using bers—among the most mundaneo media—in their ne art pieces. Soon these ber artworks were being

shown in galleries and written about by critics and art historians. Sincethen artists have ollowed in their path, nding new ways to create berart that crosses the boundaries between crat and ne art. Although the



10

criteria or acceptable media in the ne arts may have changed radically,the discussion about the denition o art versus crat continues to be a thorny subject.

Tereore, it was my goal in curating this show, “Fiber Arts Now,” to

choose exemplary artists that use the traditional medium o ber in non-traditional ways to make strong personal statements. Tese ber artists areaddressing a variety o contemporary ideas and issues, such as multitask-ing, expressing a single moment in time, cloth making as social activism,and artwork as a metaphor or conception, growth, and birth. I have cometo believe that no specic media should be used to dene an art object aseither crat or art. However, I do hold that there is a dierence betweenthe two in that crat is the making o beautiul yet utilitarian objects while

art is creating works that talk about ideas and invite the viewer to think about those notions with the artist. Although art and crat are dierent, itis also my strong eeling that there is no need (nor advantage) to rank thesetwo dierent orms o human expression in the twenty rst century. Withall that is changing in the present day world, it is especially important to

recognize and embrace all expressions o human creativity.

Patricia Cheyne, MFA, MLA Proessor o Art

Art Department, Pacic University

Show Curator



11

Fiber Art: Then and Now

Artworks have been produced rom ber or centuries, such as Coptictapestries in the 4th century to the medieval Bayeux apestry to evenRaphael’s Te Acts o the Apostles during the height o the Renaissancein collaboration with a workshop in Brussels.1 In more recent history,especially in the 1960s and 1970s, the use o ber experienced an artisticrevival that has been given various labels including woven orms, new tapestry, wall hangings, Art Fabric, ber art, ber constructions, textilesculpture, and ber sculpture.2 Te term “ber art,” however, became

the most prevalent term employed in the art world, and is thereoreused or this exhibition and catalog.

Te goal o the show “Fiber Arts Now” and the corresponding exhi-bition catalog is to bring the exciting developments in ber art to thestudents at Pacic University and to the public. By bringing attentionto contemporary, practicing ber artists, we can demonstrate that it isa realm o cutting-edge creative exploration. Te rst section o this

catalog provides a general background on ber art in terms o its widescope o media and ormats, as well as the more recent historical de-

velopments in the artistic movement. Te second section o this cata-log provides an essay on each artist in the exhibition and their artisticdialogue based on personal interviews. Tis section o the catalog alsoincludes one eatured ber artwork rom each artist, which is discussedin detail so that the viewer can better understand the intention o theartist, the artistic process, and the signicance o the work. In addition,

the remaining non-eatured artworks rom the exhibition are also il-lustrated in this section. We will see that ber is not just a medium, butthat it is imbued with multiple associations and meanings. It speaks tohistorical practices and techniques and cultural traditions, but also ad-dresses issues related to aesthetics, non-traditional materials, concepts,and expressions o contemporary lie. Tus, it weaves various threadstogether into a web o meaning to communicate with the viewer—in asense, becoming the abric o contemporary lie.



12

Fiber Art

Te label “ber art” is meant to reerence the type o medium used inthe production o the work o art. Te array o ber art is expansiveand, as such, it is impossible to address the ull scope o the ber art

world in this essay. In general, the artworks, either two-dimensional orthree-dimensional, incorporate some orm o ber or brous material.Tere are woven orms that encompass woven wall hangings or tapes-tries, which serve as a pictorial wall hanging—sometimes called display art. Tere are objects that are sewn, stitched, embroidered, crocheted,or beaded. Quilting is another orm and media in ber art. Sometimesartists trained in painting move to abric to create what are called ArtQuilts that can be pictorial or abstract. Other techniques in ber works

can include braiding, coiling, knotting, netting, twining, or wrapping.Fabric is also a ber material, sometimes hand-dyed and then manipu-lated into an artwork. Tis can include the category oen known as “Artto Wear” or “Wearable Art,” where the artist uses ber textiles as theirmedium or a garment or accessory that becomes their artistic expres-sion. Melissa Leventon describes it as the artist treating “the garmentlike a canvas, having the work to unction both on the body and as a wallhanging, and distancing the work rom ashion.”3 Tus, ber artworks

can involve cloth, thread, yarn, string, rope, elt, leather, and much more.

Another media to consider is basketry, a traditional practice that createdutilitarian or ceremonial pieces with aesthetic qualities. Creative workso art are now produced as ber art using basket-making techniques andmedia, such as bark, leaves, plant stems, and grasses. Tis use o brousmaterials is also utilized in hand papermaking, which also alls withinthe realm o ber art. Tese artists use organic material like plants as aber, beginning with a watery pulp that is beaten and then pressed intosheets o paper to produce an artistic creation. As mentioned above,the artworks can be two-dimensional but also three-dimensional, creat-ing sculptures rom ber material. Some pieces even become elaborateinstallation pieces. Overall, the surace design oen plays an importantelement in the artistic practice in addition to the process or technique.Much o ber art production involves the manipulation o the materialsto create a tangible and tactile quality in an artistic piece, a characteristicinherent in the medium itsel. Tus, the potential or ber media andthe creativity in the ormat appears endless, illustrating that ber art is adiverse subject or artistic and scholarly inquiry.



13

Te History of Fiber Art

In the 1950s and 1960s some artists were already using ber as a me-dium, ultimately beginning the transormation rom “cra artisan” to“designer/crasperson” to “artist.”4 Te revolution in ber art is typi-

cally assigned to the late 1960s and the 1970s. Due to the creative andenergetic exploration o numerous artists, textiles began to break reerom the hierarchy o cra versus art, becoming works o art rather thanmerely a cra, which is a utilitarian or unctional piece.5 Te chang-es and developments in the art world were abundant during this timeperiod. Other artistic movements were exploring abstraction and thedenition or boundaries o art. Tey moved rom pure painting andsculpture into perormance art, installation art, process art, conceptual

art, minimal art, and site-specic art. As such, artists were incorporat-ing non-traditional materials into high art. For example, commercialproducts were integrated into pop and assemblage art, and industrialmaterials like Plexiglas were used in minimalist art. Like Duchamp’searlier Fountain, these artists were basically anti-establishment, mean-ing they wanted to demonstrate that art can have an everyday quality ornon-artistic materiality; it can be a handmade original or a product o mass production depending upon the intent o the artist.6

It is no surprise that ber was also seen as an alternative medium ornon-traditional material to incorporate into high art. With this new medium, the artist could explore the same basic principles and quali-ties. Besides exploring the material in terms o structure and texture,according to Jan Janeiro, author o “Northern Caliornia extile Artists:1939-1965,” early ber artists explored historical connections and tech-niques using an eclectic style or expression.7 Artists borrowed someinspirations rom the other innovative artistic movements just as someo these stylistic movements borrowed rom ber. It was a time o cross-pollination and creativity. For example, in 1969 Eva Hesse used berin her process artwork Contingent , consisting o cheesecloth, latex andberglass. Robert Morris known as a minimalist and process artist usedindustrial elt in some o his works such as Untitled 1976 . In addition,Christo and Jean-Claude created site-specic land art using abrics.Tey, along with many other artists, were exploring the anti-art quality o the ber medium.

In the 1970s, the revolution in ber art also had direct connections to



14

eminist art. According to Elissa Auther, author o String, Felt, Tread ,the eminist artist’s approach to ber was to “openly embrace the me-dium’s relationship to cra or both aesthetic and social oppositionalends.”8 Female artists were not getting equal treatment in the art worlddespite their mainstream mode o painting and sculpture, so ber pro-

vided the impetus to move to a non-traditional medium as anothermode o revolution—it was the logical step. In incorporating ber astheir medium, eminist artists were not only challenging the dividebetween woman’s decorative cra and high art, but could also addressthe same questions about the boundaries o art and materials. MiriamSchapiro’s work Anatomy o a Kimono made rom abric & acrylic oncanvas in 1976, which alls into her Pattern and Decoration movement,is a prime example o ber, pattern and eminist motivations. In addi-

tion, it is no surprise that a ew o the eminist artists were some o therst to also include issues o gender and race in ber art, such as FaithRinggold and Judy Chicago to name only a ew. Tus, eminist artistsadopted the medium with the goal to dispel previous connotations o ber and its techniques that were seen as low art, as well as to rid themedium o issues like “emininity, domesticity, and amateurism.”9

Tere were various important exhibitions during the 1970s to show-

case the developments in ber art; some were even accompanied by asymposium or publication. ogether they were instrumental in launch-ing and disseminating the ber art movement.10 o just name a ew,there were: the Wall Hangings show at MoMA in 1969; Forms in Fiber in 1970 held at the Art Institute o Chicago; Deliberate Entanglement in1971 which begun at UCLA and traveled; Sculpture in Fiber in 1973 atthe Museum o Contemporary Cra; Fiberworks in 1977 at the Cleve-land Museum; and Diverse Directions: Te Fiber Arts, Museum o Art,Washington State University in 1978. Tus, ber art made its way slowly into the realm o high art, although still marginalized. Te art worldcontinued to associate ber with decorative cra or women’s work ortraditional cra techniques rather than seeing its new value or artisticexpression.11

Despite its apparent invisibility in the art world, the ber art move-ment continued to grow in the 1980s and 1990s with artists shiingtheir interests and approaches. According to Leslie Voiers, curator orFiber Arts-New Directions or the Nineties held in 1992 at the Manches-ter Institute o Arts and Sciences, technique and design were no longer



15

primary—now it was structure and narrative.12 New methods and phi-losophies were introduced during this time period that aected otherartistic movements but also ber art. Appropriation was one importantartistic device used by artists such as Richard Prince, Je Koons, MikeKelley, and Sylvie Fleury. Essentially, appropriation is the strategy o

borrowing visual culture rom one context and placing it in another inorder to give it a new interpretation or meaning. Historical connec-tions to the techniques and processes o ber art are elements inherentin the medium, and so it is no surprise that early artists appropriatedthings such as cultural heritage, tradition and memory. However, Mark Johnson and Inez Brooks-Meyers say that in the 1970s these reerenceswere awkward and clearly borrowed elements.13 However, during the1980s and 1990s, they claim that the appropriation o techniques, orms,

aesthetics, and cultural imagery were incorporated better into the art-works with a new esteem and sensitivity. Many o the appropriated orborrowed elements reerenced in ber art are non-western, especially Asian and Native American. Tereore, one role or ber art becamemulticultural in terms o its practice and artistic orms.

During this same time period, semiotics became very popular withartists. Te theory o semiotics holds that meaning is determined in a

system o signs as a orm o communication. For example, there is thesignier (the orm that the sign takes) and the signied (the concept ormeaning that the orm represents). Auther points out that ber has asemiotic ability to create meaning around the world and in every day lie.14 For example, she says ber can be used as a sign o wealth orstatus, or as a means to convey political authority, or to mark passagesin lie. Moreover, Arthur Danto says in his article, “Refections on Fab-ric and Meaning: Te apestry and the Loincloth,” that, “Works o artare embodiments o meaning.”15 Hence, new images in ber art wereimbued with meaning oen presented through semiotics. Artists and

viewers were asked to consider whether the sign and its reerent did ordid not communicate meaning in terms o how it is seen or not seen.Tus, the material allowed artists to explore the power o ber arts tocommunicate various meanings.

In its progress and ties to semiotics, ber art today cannot be separatedrom other orms o contemporary art. Like contemporary art itsel, -ber art has become conceptual and theory-driven, and as such, oper-ates completely within the mainstream art world.16 “Te contemporary



16

ber artist works in the realm o ideas not just materials.”17 Tere-ore, the ber artist can use any material or technique to express an ideawhile also integrating aesthetic qualities. Fiber artists are creating new dialogues by incorporating new mediums into their ber works thatare now viewed as the ringe elements, such as plastic, paper, ready-

mades, video, and human hair.18 Various issues that are addressed notonly in contemporary art, but also in ber art include the ollowing:identity, gender, race, hybridity, memory, social conditions, politics, en-

vironmental issues, globalization, post-colonialism, consumerism, themarket, and can even take on a subversive or activist role. Tereore,the ber artist can use what was once seen as a traditional technique,process, or material as a vehicle toward unraveling contemporary prob-lems —they are capable o constructing a multitude o meanings and

expressions.

Contemporary art is impossible to dene or categorize and seemingly has no rules—this can also be said o ber art today. It has come into itsown as a legitimate medium in the art world. Fiber art has expanded the

vocabulary o art, bringing new attention to the movement and generat-ing resh interest, and as a result it is receiving a better reception in gal-leries, in art history texts, and the art world as a whole. Contemporary

artists will hopeully continue to explore the expressive materials o theber arts, helping to open new realms o interpretation and research orboth the artist and the art historian.

Notes

1Arthur C. Danto, “Refections on Fabric and Meaning: Te apestry and the

Loincloth,” New Material as New Media: Te Fabric Workshop and Museum,ed. Marion Boulton Stroud (Massachusetts: Te MI Press, 2002), 84.

2Elissa Auther, String, Felt, Tread: Te Hierarchy o Art and Craf in American Art (Minneapolis: University o Minnesota Press, 2010), 7.

3Melissa Leventon, “Art to Wear,” Te Fabric o Lie: 150 years o NorthernCaliornia Fiber Art History (San Francisco: San Francisco State University ArtDepartment Gallery, Exhibition catalog, Sept. 21-Oct. 18, 1997), 29.

4Bruce Guenther, “Introduction,” Diverse Directions: Te Fiber Arts. Washing-ton: Museum o Art, Washington State University, Exhibition catalog, Oct.13-Nov. 17, 1978), 4.



17

5For a discussion o this argument, see catalog introduction “Fiber Art: Craor Fine Art?”

6See Auther, xxi-xxii.

7Jan Janeiro, “Northern Caliornia extile Artists: 1939-1965,” Te Fabric o

Lie: 150 years o Northern Caliornia Fiber Art History (San Francisco: SanFrancisco State University Art Department Gallery, Exhibition catalog, Sept.21- Oct. 18, 1997), 22-23.

8See Auther xxii and 93.

9Auther, 14.

10For a list o additional exhibits, see Te Fabric o Lie: 150 years o North-ern Caliornia Fiber Art History , 35-36; Ann Pollard Rowe and Rebecca A..

Stevens, eds., Ed Rossbach: 40 Years o Exploration and Innovation in Fiber Art .North Carolina: Lark Books, 1990, 142; Auther, xxv; and Guenther, 4-5.

11For urther discussion, see Auther, xii; Louise Barco Allrich, “History o Contemporary Art extiles in Northern Caliornia in 1970s,” Te Fabric o Lie: 150 years o Northern Caliornia Fiber Art History (San Francisco: SanFrancisco State University Art Department Gallery, Exhibition catalog, Sept.21- Oct. 18, 1997), 34.

12Fiber Arts: New Directions or the Nineties (New Hampshire: ManchesterInstitute o Arts and Sciences, Exhibition catalog, March 28-May 9, 1992),Introduction.

13Barco Allrich, Te Fabric o Lie: 150 years o Northern Caliornia Fiber Art History , 33-34 and 39.

14Auther, 171.

15Danto, 88.

16Guenther, 5.17Carol K. Russell, Fiber Art oday (Pennsylvania: Schier Publishing Ltd.,2011), Forward.

18Guenther, 5; and Nadine Monem, ed., Contemporary extiles: Te Fabric o

Fine Art . (London, UK: Black Dog Publishing, 2008), 10.



18

Bibliography

Auther, Elissa. String, Felt, hread: Te Hierarchy o Art and Craf in Amercan Art. Minneapolis: University o Minnesota Press, 2010.

Danto, Arthur C. “Refections on Fabric and Meaning: Te apestry and theLoincloth.” New Material as New Media: Te Fabric Workshop and Museum,edited by Marion Boulton Stroud, 82-89. Massachusetts: Te MI Press,2002.

Fiber Arts: New Directions or the Nineties. New Hampshire: Manchester Insttute o Arts and Sciences, March 28-May 9, 1992. Exhibition catalog.

Guenther, Bruce, ed. Diverse Directions: Te Fiber Arts. Washington: Museumo Art, Washington State University, Oct. 13-Nov. 17, 1978. Exhibition

catalog.

Monem, Nadine, ed. Contemporary extiles: Te Fabric o Fine Art . London,UK: Black Dog Publishing, 2008.

Pollard Rowe, Ann and Rebecca A.. Stevens, eds. Ed Rossbach: 40 Years o Exploration and Innovation in Fiber Art . North Carolina: Lark Books, 1990.

Russell, Carol K. Fiber Art oday . Pennsylvania: Schier Publishing Ltd., 2011.

Te Fabric o Lie: 150 years o Northern Caliornia Fiber Art History . San Fracisco: San Francisco State University Art Department Gallery, Sept. 21- Oct.18, 1997. Exhibition catalog.



FIBER ARTS

NOW



21

Helen Hiebert As a ber artist, Helen Hiebert works primarily with handmade paper andthreads. When she was young, she did a lot o embroidering, cross stitch-

ing, and sewing, and was later introduced to hand papermaking and pop-up books while abroad in Germany. On another trip overseas, this timeto Japan, Hiebert was urther inspired by the predominance o handmadepaper in the culture, ranging rom the beautiul papered shoji screens tothe intricate packaging in department stores. Shortly ater visiting Japan,she learned to make paper at the Dieu Donné Papermill in New York City,and has been a contributing artist in the eld ever since.

Hiebert was drawn to the ber arts and papermaking in her artistic prac-tice or various reasons. She is attracted to the organic quality o the me-dium and the way it correlates to the cycles o lie: a plant grows, she cre-ates something rom that plant, and eventually the work can be recycledback to the earth because, ater all, it is just paper. Moreover, her processis organic in that she allows external orces such as time, gravity, and themolecular structure o the paper to have their own aect on the orm, o-ten resulting in bent and wrinkled shapes. Her handmade paper is usually

translucent, which allows light to lter through it and hence the createdart orm itsel. Hiebert says that, “Light is part o everything,” and this is

why it is so important to her works. Light illuminates and brings thingsto lie, including the plant bers that are her medium. Furthermore, lightcreates a warm eeling that she wants to share with the viewer. Te act thatlight changes at dierent locations, times o the day and seasons makes theexperience o her artwork a continual discovery or in constant ux.

In addition to light, there are other themes that are integral to Hiebert’s work. She also presents a strong statement on community using the no-tion o connection between people, revealing that we are all the same inthe end. She explores this theme using threads and wires that are knottedor trapped between or connected to her translucent sheets o handmadepaper. o Hiebert, the stitching or threads relate “microscopically to theinvisible world o cells and macroscopically to the tangible world.” In oth-er artworks, Hiebert has examined this concept through the occurrence o hydrogen bonds, which are the bonds that weave the invisible individualplant bers into single sheets o paper in her papermaking process. Shenotes that these bonds and the threads, “remind me o the intricate net-



22

work o our lives: rom our intimate connections to our mothers in the womb to a casual wave to a stranger; rom our inter-personal connectionsto the thread that bind us to all o humanity.”

It is no surprise then that another central theme evident in her ber cre-

ations reers to motherhood. An exemplar o her work that brings togetherthese various themes is one o her installation pieces called Mother ree ,initially created or the Portland Building’s Installation Space. Mother ree is a lie-size handmade paper dress with single strands o crocheted threadrepresenting mother’s milk that spill onto the oor. In Hiebert’s interpreta-tion, the cascading threads are “. . . roots that are symbolic o the motheras a provider and nurturer throughout human development.” Beyond thismetaphor, the work also speaks to community because over 300 people

have crocheted these roots to contribute to the piece. Tis wonderul cre-ation has traveled nationally, and she is currently working toward its in-ternational travel.

Beyond the artistic practice and conceptual underpinnings, Hiebert wantsher audience to recognize that paper is indeed an art orm; one that shehopes will soon come into its own. Since her paper is handmade, eachartistic creation is a unique piece – something that cannot be mass pro-

duced. She continues to develop new technologies in terms o her processand loves to experiment with materials. Although she eels she is continu-ing an important tradition o hand papermaking by passing it on to stu-dents and interns, she is also growing hersel as a ber artist.

Hiebert teaches and lectures about her papermaking nationally and inter-nationally, as well as locally at the Oregon College o Art and Crat. Shehas published several books that are undamental to the ber art genreincluding Papermaking with Plants , Te Papermaker’s Companion, Paper Illuminated , and the orthcoming book Playing with Paper .



23

Hiebert chose this medium because she was intrigued by the properties o abaca, a ber which comes rom a banana plant. First she beat the ber

to a pulp or 8 hours in a Hollander beater. Te longer it is beaten, themore translucent it becomes and the more it shrinks – two qualities whichascinate her and inorm her artistic practice. Te nished material was

Featured Work

Holding (handmade abaca paper, approximately 18”x24”x18”)



24

a natural white color which she then made into rectangular sheets andpressed. While they were still wet, Hiebert attached the two pieces to a laundry line, pinching the paper so that it stuck to itsel.

Although the artist had a concept she was working toward beorehand,

as the sheets began to dry, she let the two pieces o paper take their ownorm and shape, reminiscent o the Process Art movement and the work o Eva Hesse. Te intended results were the orms o two bodices. Once theabaca paper orms were dry, she used linen thread to stitch the bodices andconnect the two pieces in a delightul web. Te holes on the larger bodicepiece mimic the shape o the smaller piece, creating a visual harmony.

Holding oers an opportunity or the viewer to see a mother and child.

Te piece starts with the mother and then the threads lead one visually tothe baby, while the threads also loop back to the mother. Te piece embod-ies Hiebert’s notions o motherhood and connection, like a child being attached to its mother by the umbilical cord. Hence, it also representsmother as provider and nurturer. Moreover, the web o thread connecting the two represents their ongoing interaction, as well as everything else thatexists between a mother and child throughout their lives. Hiebert’s artisticdialogue includes reerences to the cycle o lie and that which is embed-

ded in the organic material itsel.

Te artist is not drawn to bright colors, but preers the natural colors thatcome rom her main natural ingredient, paper pulp. In Holding , the nat-ural white color enhances the intended result, recalling age-old ideas o purity and virtue embodied by mothers and children in art. Moreover,the paper is translucent, allowing light to add another central element tothe interpretation, giving the piece a sense o warmth, lie, and love. Tediaphanous quality also allows or a play o light and shadow on variousparts o the piece. In addition, it casts a wonderul shadow on the wallbehind the artwork, one o contrast between the heavier organic ormsand the play o the thin lines. Overall, the piece recalls inuence romminimalism in terms o simplicity and repeated shapes; however, it doesnot have a sterile or cold eeling. Rather, it is intimate and organic as a means o reecting humanity and community, providing connections orus all to embrace.



Treads (l.) (handmade abaca paper, linen thread, 14” x 10”)

Alpha Beta (r.) (handmade papers, balsa wood, 6”H x dimensions variable)

Laundry (lm still rom Water Paper ime , draped sheets o abaca on a laundry line)



26

Jiseon Lee IsbaraIn her practice as a ber artist, Jiseon Lee Isbara works primarily withtextiles or abric material. Growing up in Korea she was exposed to Bojagi,

the Korean olk art o making wrapping cloths, and she has ound thatit strongly inuences her art. She earned her MFA rom Ewha Women’sUniversity in Korea and a second MFA rom Colorado State University.Her creative and introspective artworks reect her dedication to the berarts and her love o abrics.

Lee Isbara is attracted to abric as her medium or a variety o reasons. Sheloves the aspect o handling the materials and the play o how it eels in

her hands—it is a very tactile experience. Fabric is pliable and does notrequire a lot o orce in the techniques and processes that the artist uses tocreate her works o art. As such, Lee Isbara explores what the material willdo naturally on its own, but also experiments with ways in which she canenhance its potential, such as its surace quality or its light construction.She states that, “She enjoys the challenge o getting the material to do whatshe wants. Te abric is sot, yet it can keep its orm.” Most oten she usescommercial abrics, but there are times when she has to dye her own pieces

to create a specic color. Hence, the possibilities o the medium appear tobe endless.

Te artist also nds beauty in the aesthetics o the abric. She oten usestranslucent material, such as thin silk, that allows light to shine throughit, much like the Bojagi. Lee Isbara notes that, “It gives the works a surrealeeling yet at the same time it can be amiliar.” Moreover, she can layer theabrics where some can be seen through others. Trough her sculpting and

manipulation o the abric, a two-dimensional medium becomes a three-dimensional work o art, similar to the works o Eva Hesse and Lenoreawney.

Besides using the sewing machine and hand-stitching on the textiles, theartist sometimes weaves or prints as well. Lee Isbara engages with the de-liberate process o stitching because it slows her down, becoming medita-tive. It has to be an unhurried artistic practice that she sees as habitual and

repetitive. Lie has a very ast pace and this is a method that deceleratesit, allowing her to observe things in a dierent or new way. In her artisticconversation, this mundane activity is imbued with ritual signicance.



27

Another integral element in Lee Isbara’s ber artworks addresses the con-cept o communication. Although communication can always be a dif-cult activity or people, as an immigrant this complex process is amplied.Tis is especially evident in the artist’s proessional lie as a teacher wheremost o her communication, speaking and writing, is in her second lan-

guage. Tis idea or Lee Isbara branches out into notions o organizationand categorization o communicated inormation as well. Not only are webombarded with inormation daily, but in our ast-paced society, we otenmake notes to organize our lives or serve as reminders. She suggests that, ina sense, writing these notes (or post-it notes) so that we can multi-task hasbecome a daily ritual in our lives. Tus, it is not a surprise that language aspart o the various levels o communication plays a visual role in her art.She creates scribbles in a pseudo-English language in her ber art pieces.

Although it may look like English, it is not a real language and can notbe deciphered, hence, emphasizing the difculties o communication andorganization.

Overall, Lee Isbara’s current oeuvre conveys her personal observation andartistic interpretation o her lie. Tis includes her identity as an artist,teacher, wie, mother and immigrant in our ast-paced society. She hopesthat her viewers will be inspired to reect on their own lives, and perhaps

have that ah-hah moment o “I do that too.” We can ask, “How do wecollect and process the overwhelming quantity o inormation in our daily lives?” In addition, maybe viewers will consider which o their activitiesmight involve the repetition o motion and/or writing that is similar to herlanguage or stitching and nd that they have taken on a ritual signicance.

Te artist believes her artworks might resonate especially with women be-cause textiles do have a eminine quality. Historically, women were theones doing the daily practice o sewing and stitching, and as such, maybethey can envision and reect on domestic lie through the abrics and ma-terials. Her sot sculptures are not just or women though. Although thetextiles have a delicate beauty, the three-dimensional orms that they takeand their underlying meanings give a special status to the materials, idea,and imagery—they are not mundane. In this aspect, Lee Isbara believesher works relate to Pop Art because a once mundane or everyday objectcan be given special status through art and the intent o content.

Lee Isbara is currently the Fibers Department Head at the Oregon Collegeo Art and Crat. Her upcoming exhibitions include “High Fiber Diet” at



28

Bellevue Art Museum in Seattle and “Innovators and Legends: Genera-tions in extiles and Fibers” at Muskegon Museum o Art in Michigan.She is also eatured internationally in a group exhibition at the KoreanBojagi Forum 2012, “Bogaji and Beyond” where she will also be lecturing and teaching a workshop.

Featured Work

Opposite: Embodiment (stitched and drawn, ramie and cotton, 5”x47”x4”)

Lee Isbara began this sot sculpture with a specic idea in mind. First

the artist played with hanging strips o paper until the concept o the orm was envisioned. From this point, she played with the ma-terial to arrive at a similar idea. She hung the abric up and ma-nipulated it around until she arrived at its nal orm. It was a very hands-on tactile process much like sculpting the textiles. Te two-dimensional abric was hung in loops and layers so that it became a three-dimensional orm. Moreover, Lee Isbara used some diaphanous ab-ric to instill the quality o transparency and play o light on and within the

artwork. Once she created the overall large orm that contains the biggeridea, she then worked on the inside layers.

As part o the layering process, Lee Isbara incorporated the archival as-pect o imagery by sewing on tab-like orms that are labeled with pseudo-

writing. It alludes to what many people do in books, using tabs to mark specic sections in an attempt to organize or categorize an overwhelm-ing amount o inormation. Te bookmarks are hand-stitched with black

thread. In addition, some o the long pieces o abric have similar scribbles written with markers, also reerring to language and communication. Onthe surace, Embodiment appears to be a collection o signicant inorma-tion. According to Lee Isbara, the underlying interpretation is that all o this mundane inormation has been archived and kept, but the irony isthat it probably will never be ound or used again.

Te process o sewing becomes an organization o abric, like a metaphor

or the regulation o her lie and identity. Te writing with thread is timeconsuming and repetitive, becoming the artist’s mediation and ritual. Telayers encourage the use o imagination, making the viewer wonder what



Embodiment detail



is inside each section. Most viewers are tempted to peek inside. In addi-tion, one could say that the layers prevent the viewer rom gathering all o the inormation rom one viewpoint. In this sense, the viewer is deeated

just as i one would be in trying to decipher the pseudo-English language. As a result, we are orced to use visual and imaginary layering just like

the sculpture itsel. Although the overall meaning o Embodiment reersto archival inormation associated with language and communication, itinspires the viewer to engage in imagination as well. It is a reection thatgives a special status to the ber arts and abrics through a serene beauty inthe idea and imagery, removing the mundane label rom textiles.

Illuscript (l.) (silk and cotton; stitched and inkjet printed, 9” x 80” x 4”)

Repeated (r.) (cotton: woven, screenprinted and stitched, 9” x 45’)



31

Judilee Fitzhugh Judilee Fitzhugh is a ber artist who works in the media realm o textiles,especially utilizing the sewing machine and loom. Using abric and dye,

pattern and texture, she creates unique sculpture or the body. As an artist,she started with the sewing machine and loom and has never elt the desireor need to explore other mediums. Interestingly, when she was in the U.S.Navy, she even took her sewing machine and loom with her on the ship.Her time in the armed services allowed her to travel to places where shecould investigate other techniques, designs and textiles. She has been espe-cially inspired by Japanese, Hawaiian, Indian, and Australian textiles andaesthetics, as well as the Arts and Crat Movement where everyday things

are made visually pleasing.

As a textile artist, the structure o weaving is one o the key aspects thatinterests Fitzhugh. It has a meticulous aspect where the artist uses indi-vidual threads to create something and as the work progresses the artistcan see the development and interplay o the threads as a whole. AlthoughFitzhugh may begin the artwork with a design in mind, it is a plan that sheis willing to deviate rom as the work takes orm during construction. She

states that, “Te end result or artistic creation pays a tribute to the entireprocess.”

Another quality o textile art that draws Fitzhugh to the ber arts is thetexture itsel. On one level, the textile has a real tactile experience – itprovides an experience or the sense o touch. Te surace can range romsmooth to varied and rough. On another level, texture reers to the pat-terns incorporated into the structure o the textile. She eels that what re-

ally makes a pattern or design successul is that you can nd it interesting rom a distance, but that the design becomes more intriguing upon closerinspection.

Fitzhugh is known or her specialization in the natural dye process o hertextiles. She lives on a arm where she grows many o her own dye plantsthat are chosen not only or their colors and patterns, but also because they are plants native to Pacic Northwest. By growing her own material, the

artist sees hersel as having a very low impact on the environment. Hence,sustainability is part o her artistic conversation. In addition, Fitzhugh seesthis natural process in relation to the cycle o lie where she grows the



32

plants, processes the plants or her dyeing, and then they are compostedand returned to the earth. It is no surprise that she grows dierent plantsat dierent times o the year so one could say that her designs and dyes arecreations in sync with the seasons and also part o the cycle o lie. Some-times the artist uses vintage buttons or abrics, conveying a sense o history

and a tangible connection to previous textile workers.

Te artist also combines traditional methods o handwoven and suracedesign techniques with couture construction techniques, meaning hand-sewn embellishments on her wearable garments. Tis relates to Fitzhugh’slove o the process and her personal attention to small details. Tus, each

work is unique and individual. One could say that the preeminent themesin her works are originality and the natural.

Overall, Fitzhugh’s intention is or the viewer to connect with the aesthet-ics o the natural world. She hopes that we can appreciate what beauty andresources are available around us, including the colors and patterns thatour plants in the Pacic Northwest can provide. In this sense, she believesthat the viewer will be “seeing in a new way.”

Fitzhugh currently teaches in the Fibers Department at the Oregon Col-

lege o Art and Crat. She has published several articles in the Handwoven Magazine , including the special “Wearables Issue.” Her works are eaturedin the OCAC Homan Gallery, the Museum o Crat and Folk Art in SanFrancisco, and the Local 14 Show. She is also eatured internationally in a group exhibition at the Korean Bojagi Forum 2012. Moreover, her line o

wearable garments and accessories are sold through the Retail Crat Gal-lery at OCAC.

Featured Work

Opposite: Autumn Mist (natural-dyed Mandarin jacket, silk twill contact print, size 12)

Tis jacket with a Mandarin collar and trim and vintage buttons is a won-derul example o Fitzhugh’s natural dye process. First she laid out the silk

twill abric on a table. Next, she scattered all leaves on the surace o theabric, choosing all ones especially because they have a lot o color pig-ment and energy. Te dierent types o trees represented by their leaves



33



34

on this particular abric come rom her home or college campus and in-clude Maple, Pacic Madrone, Cherry, and Smokebush. Inspired by theimprints on sidewalks by leaves that have allen, some leaves were placedront side up while others were back side up, so that each let a distinctivebut related imprint. Her artistic practice is to create a design that is very

natural, like one would nd on a orest oor as i a variety o leaves haveallen over time. Te pattern is not too crowded so that one can pick outthe particular leaves—individuality is also integral to her artworks.

She then olded the abric so the lines appear in the end result and thenrolled it up around a long, old, rusty nail she ound on her arm. Te abric

was then boiled or an hour and the rust rom the nail added interesting spots across the abric, some lighter and some darker.

When the abric was removed and unrolled, the leaves were drained o their color as it had been transerred to the abric, and then they wereplaced in a compost pile to return to the earth. Fitzhugh let the abric sitor a day and then washed it beore beginning the next process o construc-tion. As an aside, the trim on the jacket was also made with a natural dyeprocess where oak leaves were boiled or an hour to create a liquid dye. Telast stage o the process was or Fitzhugh to create the jacket rom the dyed

abric such as cutting out a pattern and sewing it by machine, and adding the hand-sewn couture construction techniques.

Te end result o her process is a beautiul, natural-dyed jacket that is a one-o-a-kind with a title Autumn Mist . Fitzhugh characterizes hersel asa practical person because she creates something that can be unctionally

worn and that is sold, and thereore, could be considered a commodity. Yet, she believes that it is important to remember that art is subjective asar as the viewer is concerned. Aesthetically speaking, Autumn Mist has a linear quality that assumes control, perhaps with a geometric oundation.But the patterns and design end in asymmetry and a natural beauty muchlike Japanese art. It is very possible that someone could purchase this

jacket because o the artistic process behind it as well as the underlying dialogue o sustainability, nature, and individuality. Tat person is wearing an original work o art rather than hanging it up on a private wall, thushelping more people to “see in a new way.”



35 Pojagi Evening (above) (jacket, short, sheer, organza with

pieced blocks)

Cleredendron (r.) ( long tunic, 6 small shoe buttons onthe ront)

Summer Plum (tunic style, button down ront, shirt collar)



36

Shelley SocolofskyShelley Socolosky works with textiles as a ber artist, especially weaving tapestries. While studying music in college, she saw the amazing Medi-

eval tapestries in the Cluny Museum in Paris, France, and was inspired totransition to textiles in ber art. She has since studied Jacquard Weaving in Florence, Italy, and Gobelins apestry in France, has a B.F.A. in Fibersthrough the University o Poitiers in France in cooperation with the Uni-versity o Oregon, and has a M.F.A. in textiles rom Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio in Forence, Italy in cooperation with the University o Oregon.

As such, her background in weaving includes both high tech or computer-ized methods and low tech practices where the design and weaving are all

completely by hand.

Socolosky was drawn, in part, to weaving because o the experience in theprocess. It is a meticulous practice o construction that requires humanagency. She eels the artistic process involves slow and repetitive hand laborthat has a linear quality, which she connects to playing or making music.Te artist is creating something rom the bottom to the top, completely absorbed in the positive and negative space in the design o the tapestry.

Te pattern becomes a repetition o hand movement which is similar tomending, and thereore, the artist sees the technique as a meditation orhealing process. In addition, it is key to her artistic conversation that thehuman experience o weaving engages an interlacing o opposing systems,oten with one o those systems under tension. ogether, the practice oersher an awareness o crating that include making, guring, and a tactilesense o touch. Tereore, the artist eels that the tangible, physical quality o the surace provides an intimate relationship with it as the artist creates

it and or the viewer in the end result.

She was also originally drawn to tapestries due to the identities o the art-ists who rst created textiles—women. For example, the Medieval tapes-tries in Cluny are amous works o art, yet the women who created them

were marginalized and unknown. Consequently, Socolosky uses her berart as a platorm or social activism. She states that she seeks, “Personal andcultural narratives connected to struggles o labor, ideological dislocation,

and disenranchisement.” Te artist thereore intentionally embeds vari-ous issues in her ber artworks, such as equality, elitism, reedom, and rac-ism. Trough her artistic practice in the action o weaving itsel and the re-



37

sulting work o art, Socolosky notes that she seeks to “neutralize divisionsand inequities inherent in relationships and systems. In doing so, I striveto give voice to the voiceless.” What better way to allude to these struggles

within society than through the tension o weaving together physically opposing systems.

In the beginning o her artistic career, Socolosky did not oten deviaterom her original designs in the construction process. More recently, how-ever, she has moved into a more experimental phase where chance plays a big role in her artistic practice. She believes this actually allows the artist’shand to have a stronger presence in the artwork rather than it being a machine-like perormance o trying to control the course o its develop-ment. It reers back to and emphasizes her notion o human agency and

experience. Te artist eels it is a way to challenge her because the ullpiece is not realized now until the end. Tis new reedom has encouragedSocolosky’s artistic dialogue to explore new media, which she also weavesinto her tapestries. Tis especially includes hair and plastics; two elementsthat do not mix well in weaving because they are not at or easy to control—another way to challenge hersel.

Similar to the Medieval tapestries, the notion o narrative is also an inte-

gral aspect o Socolosky’s artworks. elling a story is a means o giving themarginalized people a voice. Tus, the artist has also begun to incorporateother media into her works where they become collages or assemblagesthat are installation based, similar to Rauchenberg’s combines with a hinto Abstract Expressionism. Te narratives are inspired by and created withhistorical and archival images and ootage. Not only then does she crossboundaries in her narratives, but also in her medium.

Socolosky’s goal is or the viewers to see humanity in her work, not justthemselves but more importantly the community. She wants to subtly in-spire us to resist social practices that construct dierences or the other. Itis her hope to erase boundaries as a means o creating a new identity o a unied and cohesive society. Beyond using the method o the narrativeor this purpose, she also eels that her disparate medium can serve thesame unction. For example, she weaves human hair rom dierent racesand cultures into one piece that essentially erases social divisions or racialidentities. Tey are all connected and part o the whole. Moreover, the useo human hair in artworks can be characterized as abject. At a distance the

weaving is beautiul, but upon closer inspection and with the realization



38

that it is human hair, the viewer may see it as “ugly or creepy.” Te artistand the viewer are both quietly conronted by this disembodied hair, in a sense, creating a voyeuristic experience.

As a ber artist, Socolosky strives to inspire a dialogue with the worksand with the viewer. Due to her social activism and intent, her artworkshave multiple layers both literally and symbolically. Like historical textiles,the artist eels her artworks are also associated with healing, warmth, andshelter.

Socolosky currently teaches at the Oregon College o Art and Crat. Shehas had several public commissions including local ones at the Oregon

State Library, the Western Oregon University Library, and Chemeketa Community College. She has exhibited her work in several solo shows in-cluding the Oregon Arts Commission Invitational at the Governor’s ofce.Currently, Socolosky is eatured in the group show Bam Biennial 2012:“High Fiber Diet” in the Bellevue Art Museum in Seattle, Washington.

Featured Work

Opposite: Landscape Unit: Border own (plaid)

(weaving and assemblage o mixed media, 33” wide)

Tis assemblage work has several distinct sections which are to be seenindividually and yet also as an integrated whole. ogether, the collection o these ber art pieces creates a three-dimensional installation piece.

Te larger woven portion hanging on the wall is relatively at comparedto the rest o the pieces in the assemblage, yet it also incorporates mixedmedia. Te weaving technique is a at rug weave using linen, oil thread,and rafa woven in opposition to baling twine and plastic strips cut romHome Depot bags, the latter two being considered marginalized mate-rials. Te colorul pattern shows the artist’s love or human agency andthe meticulous and slow process in the hand labor o weaving—it is hermeditation. With the layering in Socolosky’s work, however, the designo the weave is actually derived rom plat maps, which are maps that show



divisions o a piece o land. As such, this section represents the city orurbanization o the land and its constructed boundaries. It is no surprisethen, that Socolosky sees the twine as being connected to the land, help-ing to underscore its meaning.

In the piece attached at the top o the woven section, the artist uses crochetand stitching with horse hair. Not only is it difcult to control and work

with, but it is also a medium that is marginalized. Te technique o crochethas the connotation o mending or xing something, perhaps recalling a grandmother’s past-time. Te artist eels this notion is contrasted, how-ever, with her choice o horse hair as the medium: she is using something ugly in the act o traditional mending. In addition, this piece is visually



40

interesting in the way that the open orms and spaces help to create a play o shadows on the wall behind it. Socolosky interprets this aspect o thepiece as reerring to an echo or memory—history that is eaced. As such,this part o the installation piece is a representation o pre-urban land. It isnot cultivated into grids o organization by a dominant society, rather it is

open and ree with ertile, rolling hills or maybe rich elds o agriculture.

As part o the installation o Landscape Unit: Border own (plaid), a shel ishung on the wall underneath the woven section. Tis is to support anotherpiece o the assemblage that is laid down on the surace and draped overthe sides like a table cloth to reer to domestic lie. Tis work is createdrom paper, ink, thread, and pages rom a book that are sewn together inthe smocking technique. Te pages are rom a particular book called Te

Border Eagle , which is old, racist propaganda regarding Mexicans. Socolo-sky uses drawing in the piece with ink on paper and mylar on top o a spray-painted piece o cloth.

Te artwork itsel was inspired by a trip to the Grand Canyon and Mexico.Tus, it eatures reerences to the history o a place and landscape assomething to visually see but also something to experience. With extensivethought and research prior to the artistic creation, the artist incorporates

several layers o meaning to raise a multitude o social questions aboutthe ideas o land. Who should be allowed to claim the land or own it ororeclose on it? Land is tied to spirituality or many cultures, so when they are displaced, how do they deal with that devastation? In addition, theimagery o landscape reerences how land is tied to labor and work. Tisaspect, especially, connects to issues o immigration rights, border towns,and boundaries.

In Landscape Unit: Border own (plaid), Socolosky intentionally uses bothmediums and techniques that she eels are on the ringe. Her dialoguesengage in memorializing and social activism to give voice to the marginal-ized or ringe groups in society. By interweaving these various layers, theartist has taken what was once seen as a domestic tradition o art-making and expanded its ideas and roles into the realm o history, myth, politics,and taboo.



41

Frontier (l.) (woven cloth (human hair, thread, silk, linen), book, shel, still image o labor perormance on paper, dimensions variable)

Incantations (r.) (handwoven tapestry – wool and cotton, 5.5’ x 3’)

Fata Morgana (handwoven tapestry – wool and cotton, 6’ x 5’)



KATHRIN CAWEIN GALLERY

2043 College Way Forest Grove, OR 97116

503.352.1585

pacicu.edu/events/cawein/



Fiber Arts Now , a celebration of the rst ber class at Pacic University, features the work of ber arts

faculty members from Oregon College of Art and Craft: Jiseon Lee Isbara, Shelley Socolofsky, Judilee

Fitzhugh and Helen Hiebert. This exhibition demonstrates the aesthetic and conceptual qualities of using

various ber media in making art. The artwork made by these four women show that any material can

be used in ways to make art that is extremely thoughtful and lled with the excitement of making unique

ber artworks.

Oct. 31-Nov. 20, 2012

KATHRIN CAWEIN GALLERY

Rebecca Twist is Assistant Professor of Art History at Pacic University. Rebecca earned her BA inHistory with a minor in Art History at Portland State University. She completed her MA in Art History at

the University of Memphis, and in 2007 she earned her Ph.D. in the History of Art from The Ohio State

University. Before arriving at Pacic, Rebecca taught at Western Oregon University, Portland Community

College and PNCA.

FIBER ARTS NOW

Fiber Arts Now Exhibition Catalog

Documents

Transcript of Fiber Arts Now Exhibition Catalog