Emerging Fiber Artists and How You Can Get Exposure

The November/December 2007 issue of FiberArts magazine features their annual showcase of student work in fiber, which is based on refinement, consistency, and presentation. This show represents what is being created in American and Canandian colleges and universities today. FiberArts advocacy of emerging artists is important to share with the world, because (despite my last blog) means that the art community is taking especial notice to new artists and their new perspectives. By taking notice, the art world is essentially taking a deep breath and allowing for freshness. Check out the full listings of the student work at http://www.fiberarts.com/back_issues/11_07/student_showcase.asp or in the current edition of FiberArts magazine. Here are some ways to get involved in sharing your fiber art with the community:

THE SQUARE INCH GALLERY. Call for artists. No deadline. Small works gallery to sell artwork tailor-made for apartments, located on the upper west side of Manhattan. All art is to be 36" or smaller in any dimension (not including frame). Monthly dues $42 for those artists able to drop off art on designated day, and $50 for those artists who are shipping their art to the gallery. Up to 10 works per artist may be exhibited each month. Each artist will have their work on view every month. The artist has sole discretion as to what work they exhibit. Each artist handles sales directly (through Paypal). There is no commission taken by the gallery. While every precaution will be taken to keep the art protected, artists must understand that they exhibit at their own risk. For information, Liz Afif, Square Inch Gallery, 215 W. 101st St. #3J, New York, NY 10025. (914) 434-1250 (cell); liz@squareinchgallery.com; squareinchgallery.com.

PENLAND SCHOOL OF CRAFTS 2008 PRINT AND LETTERPRESS RESIDENCIES. Call for applications. Deadline October 30. Residencies designed for 4–8 artists (depending on the length of stay) who would like to work with a master printmaker or letterpress printer for either two weeks or one month. One month residencies run January 1 through 31; two-week residencies run either January 1 through 14 or January 17 through 31. This residency will provide artists with little or no printing experience a chance to work in Penland’s new facilities with master printers to create editions of broadsides, prints, or small publications. Through the program, Penland hopes to foster new connections and cross-pollination between different media and processes, to provide professional opportunities for individual or collaborating artists, and to promote awareness in the fields of letterpress and printmaking. Penland will provide studio and housing expenses; artists supply their own materials and food and cover travel expenses. Applications can be downloaded at http://www.penland.org/.

PROVIDENCE ART WINDOWS PROJECT. Call for proposals. Juried. Deadline October 18 (postmark). Art will be installed by selected artists in windows downtown Providence, RI. Work may be pre-existing or site specific; 2-D or 3-D. Two rounds of installations will be included; the first opening will be November 15 and the second will be March 20, 2008. Small stipend available. To enter, send ten JPEGs on disk, proposal, resume, and SASE to: 205 Kenyon Ave., E. Greenwich, RI, 02818. No e-mail entries. Information: Liz Keithline, (401) 578-4313; keithlineri@cox.net.

QUILT VISIONS 2008. Call for entries. Cash awards. Catalog. Entry fee. Juried exhibit. Deadline January 12, 2008. Artists are invited to enter up to three quilts (a set of coordinated pieces may be considered one work or entry). An entry must be composed of three layers, two layers of cloth filled with “batting material” and held together by “stitched” design. Quilts may be embellished with materials other than cloth. Each quilt must have a sleeve securely attached to the back of the quilt. Entries must have been completed on or after January 1, 2006. A maximum of one quilt per artist will be selected for exhibit. All submissions must include digital images in JPEG format on a CD, which will not be returned. Jurors will select the quilts from images of work for consideration. Preliminary selection will be finalized when the quilts are received for photography. To submit entries, QV 2008 Jurying Committee, 2825 Dewey Rd. Ste. 100, San Diego, CA 92106. For more information, (619) 546-4872; visions@quiltvisions.org ; quiltvisions.org/visions/index.html.

FIBER CELEBRATION 2008. Call for entries. Deadline January 31, 2008.International juried exhibit of fiber arts. Held at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, CO, May 16–June 24, 2008. For information, contact Margie Holley (970) 593-0929; theholleys@holleys.net; www.fortnet.org/NCWG.

A TEAR IN THE FABRIC: THE CONCEPTUALLY DRIVEN QUILT. Call for entries. Deadline February 1, 2008. Open to artists who are residents of U.S. Artist can submit up to three works for consideration. Quilts must be no larger than 90" x 90". Work must be original. Please include a brief explanation of each quilt with image. This show California Polytechnic State University aims to reveal the layered nature of quiltmaking. Many times there is a social and political message that underlies the beauty of the piece and operates as a covert resistance or challenge to the social constructs of the time. Alternately, a quilt might contain a playful double entendre or ambiguity that lends itself to more than one interpretation that causes one to pause and adjust one’s thinking patterns. Through the display of these quilts, the exhibition hopes to inspire viewers to pause a little longer, dig a little deeper, and look for meaning that may lie beneath the surface of public discourse, first glances, and initial judgments. Send your digital or slide images to: Carolyn Mazloomi (independent curator), 5481 Oldgate Dr., West Chester, OH 45069. (513) 755-3414; CLM@carolynlmazloomi.com.

There are always ways to share your art and perspective...check around your community for flyers, internet shows, and galleries/museums/and school galleries in your area. If you want your work out there, you can always find a way!

PHOTOS:

1. Jung Yeon Choi, Uninvited (with detail), 2007; organza, wire, paper; dyed, sewn; 15' x 20'. MFA Fibers, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Photo by Tim Thayer.

2. Cheryl Lommatsch, Twinned Creature I, 2006; chicken wire, shell, hardware remnants, paper pulp, beeswax, linen thread. 6" x 3" x 2". MFA, Fibers, California State University, Long Beach, California.

3. Kari Scott, You, Too, Can Be Fat Like Me, 2007; mercerized cotton; machine and hand-knit, painted, dyed. BFA Craft/Material Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

Artists...Not Just Found in Galleries or Cardboard Boxes

Yes, I know what you are thinking…being displayed in a gallery is the artist’s ultimate goal. Well, for some artists yes. However, earning a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) or even an MFA (Master of Fine Arts—the most prestigious of degrees) does not guarantee that you will make it big in the gallery or museum scene. As many professors stress, there are numerous jobs out there for artists with a degree—you just have to know how to search for them. For instance, in my Non-Loom Fiber 3-D Structure class, an artist, who graduated with a degree in Crafts, now works as a fabric designer for a clothing company and she loves it! In the Fiber world today, there is an extreme increase in the amount of technology being utilized by companies. Artists, people with good aesthetic judgment, need to be hired to design, create, and operate this art based technology. If you are considering entering the art field for school but really don’t know if you can make it as an “artist”, don’t be discouraged! Talk to your professors, they have been out in the world (meaning Grad school and BEYOND) they can set up talks with various artists who have not pursued the life of a “gallery artist” and have been successful in other areas of art. Plus, your professors can probably set up internships for you that will get you headed in the right direction to obtaining a job that you enjoy. These websites may help in your search to finding that perfect job and avoiding a life in a cardboard box: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/CareerServices/Default.aspx (The Art Institute--also check out their Alumni Success Stories); http://www.artsopportunities.org/?gclid=COn6iueKlJACFQMsFQodeUX2-Q (Arts Opportunities); and http://www.skidmore.edu/administration/career/arts.htm (Skidmore College’s Art Job Listings)…Happy Hunting!

Functionality...a Necessity?

In my high school design class, my art teacher posed the question, “would you guys be happier if I created more lessons around art that is functional?”. There was a general appeasement working around the room signified in smiles and nods. I asked her and my classmates the simple question of “why?”. Why do people feel that art must have a function (art designed for the purpose of being used)? Does art have a purpose without a function? The traditionalist craftsman’s answer would be: no. A tradtional fine artist would say: yes, it is based around the work’s aesthetics, which is defined as: pertaining to a sense of the beautiful. However, being a non-traditional crafts artisan, I feel that art, in general, can fulfill many purposes without being labeled as functional or that it only appeals to my visual pleasure (and please give me a break…that is the lamest excuse for any artist to create a piece of work just because it’s “pretty”—SNORE!). Purposes for an artwork can be more abstract such as: expanding your view, changing your perspective on a subject, being of personal value emotionally, or sharing an idea (communication). Crafts has its earliest roots in functionality, which cannot be denied—we have records that ancient peoples used techniques such as knotless net (a durable and quick way to create a net) to carry large supplies back and forth to different sites. However, today we have the “luxury” of going to Wal-Mart to purchase a net for only a few dollars, we do not have to create such things ourselves. Therefore, crafts must take on a different role in our contemporary society. Many contemporary crafts artists strive to find new FUNCTIONS for their artwork, like, opening the viewer’s mind and communicating new perspectives and emotions through the traditional mediums of craft. Freshly emerging contemporary crafts artist who are really breaking beyond conventional thought and functionality are: Derek Weisberg (a ceramicist and wood-worker, picture #1—please check out his artist statement!!!!) http://www.derekweisberg.com/; Adam Smith (an eclectic craft sculpture artist) http://www.adamsmith-art.com/index.html; and Lisa Schreiner (a ceramicist—also please view her artist statement!) at http://www.redreduction.com/

Non-Traditional Traditionalists

From the comments that I received on my last post...basically every one stated that they didn't really know what "crafts" were before I stated the specific traditional fields in crafts: glassblowing, fine metals, ceramics, fibers, and wood and the ideals behind crafts being: an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill. Contemporarily, these mediums are being used in non-traditional ways. For instance, it is a fast growing trend in fibers to use materials that are not conventional. Because fibers is my area of expertise, I can elaborate on how these materials are being stretched beyond basic conventions. If you were to search around your house, I am positive that you could find hundreds of materials that you could "recycle" to create a new form using a traditional fiber technique or multiple techniques. For instance, I created a knotted (knotting is a technique in which a material is cut into strips or strings and is essentially knotted together) 3-D sculpture out of strips of trashbags! The knotting of the trashbags completely transformed the material to look rich and exciting! Yarn and fabric are not the only substances that can be used to create "fiber" art. Essentially what I am trying to convey is that crafts is reaching an apex where any found materials can be incorporated into a piece of art when using traditional methods and craftsmanship! Please look at these crafts artists that are using non-traditional materials: Craft in America: http://www.craftinamerica.org/education/story_142.php?PHPSESSID=2c5d70c89b056567280affa0d08127b7 this is an excellent reference to get a better idea of what is going on in the contemporary craftworld! Also, check out emerging artist Jennifer Maestre at http://www.jennifermaestre.com/ who creates fibers sculptures out nails (#1 "Eggs") and pencil tips (#2 "Spine").

Crafts: Speaking in Generalities

Think for a moment…what impression do you get when you hear the word crafts? Images of summer camp arts and crafts, strewn with popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue, probably come to mind. I want to dispel the misnomers that surround the mysterious and long-breathed area of art—crafts, through the entries of this blog. When I began as a young, naïve art student, a very similar image came to mind; however, it took more of the combined form of crafty-crap and a yarn embroidered rabbit that I created in fifth grade—essentially not a very positive view! Through my studies and track to becoming an art educator, slotted for a concentration in fine arts, particularly painting, I discovered a non-loom 3-D fibers structures course—it changed my perspective completely. I found that crafts, traditionally entailing the mediums of clay, wood, glass, fine metals, and fiber, could actually take the form of provocative imagery and concepts that are equivalent to the status of fine arts that is held in such high esteem. Ultimately I hold art educators responsible for the condescension toward the field of crafts. I say this because (think back long ago to your required art classes in grade school) most craft-oriented projects and the lack of contemporary artists that are presented in required art classes do not hold meaning, do not have progressive ideas, or simply took a functional purpose. Taking my fine arts perspective and translating it into a fibers medium I have been able to create fine art crafts. As paradoxical as it may seem, there is a large trend in the crafts world trying to progress the idea of fine crafts. The magazine, “FiberARTS”, and its website: www.fiberarts.com will provide visuals and introduce you to contemporary artists that are succeeding in fine crafts.