The Seditious Stitch

Feb 15 – Apr 9, 2008

An exhibition of sculpture and flat works by contemporary artists whose work in fiber challenges our traditional assumptions about the medium and its use. Sheila Hicks, Stephen Sollins and Hildur Bjarnadóttir use yarn or thread to create their art. Working from the notion that fiber has long been associated with the decorative, the domestic, and the feminine, these artists consciously use the medium to challenge those associations while also questioning the assumptions of late modernist painting and sculpture. The fiber pieces made by Sheila Hicks are more linked to architecture and sculpture than to weaving. Using a small, portable, framed loom, she experiments with materials, ideas, colors and form. Thirty-six of Hicks's miniatures, created over a span of some fifty years, are presented in the exhibition. These works speak as much to the history of modernist painting and design as they do to any other tradition.

Hildur Bjarnadóttir learned to knit, sew and crochet as a young girl in Iceland. Comfortable with a variety of stitchery techniques, Bjarnadóttir uses her tremendous skill to turn traditional needlework on its head—the doily and tablecloth become experiments in modernism when she colors the white doily black with graphite and carefully embroiders a stain onto a white field, mimicking Jackson Pollock's splatters or Helen Frankenthaler's poured paint.

Stephen Sollins dismantles and then reforms found pieces of embroidery, addressing ideas of nostalgia as well as distinctions between high and low art, representation and abstraction and women's work and men's. Sollins takes out each cross-stitch from discarded pieces of needlework, carefully counting the number of stitches in each thread color. He then matches the color and re-stitches squares of color into the middle area of the fabric. Images of flowers and curlicue patterns and nostalgic sayings about the home become ghosts in the fabric as Sollins moves the dialogue from decorative to mathematics, from traditional to contemporary, from domestic to fine art.

In the Project Room, Ketchum

Also on view at The Center is an installation by Hailey artist Stefanie Dash Marvel, whose career in textiles has spanned thirty years. Her weavings, installations and drawings have been exhibited across the United States and are included in collections from Sun Valley to Paris. For further information on this artist, visit her website.

Opening Celebration

Fri, Feb 15, 5:30–8 pm

Join us for wine and hors d'oeuvres

Walk-through with artists Sheila Hicks and Stephen Sollins at 6pm.

Open for Gallery Walk until 8pm

Exhibition Tours led by our docents

Every Tue at 2pm

Special Evening Exhibition Tour

Thu, Feb 28, 5:30pm

Classes

Weaving Workshop with Stefanie Marvel

Feb 21–22

Fiber Series of 3 Classes

with Becka Rahn

Apr 3–5

Teen Workshop Japanamania

Apr 4

Just Weave It  Family Day

Apr 6