Arboreal Anatomy: Sculpture by Wendy Wahl March 11, 2008–June 1, 2008 Fuller Craft Museum 455 Oak Street Brockton, MA 02301 May 17 – September 14, 2008 Rhode Island based artist Wendy Wahl will create an installation constructed from deconstructed encyclopedias in Fuller Craft's Lampos Gallery. As Wahl writes, “Arboreal Anatomy is the third iteration in a series of work that questions the changing relationship between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. I am deliberately exposing the symbiotic relationship of our natural and cultural surroundings and hope to generate a dialogue on the subject. Utilizing discarded familiar and respected materials addresses the idea of accessibility and accumulation. Each installation has unique considerations. I am attracted to the challenge of manipulating the space and intent on creating an unexpected experience.” For more information call: 508-588-6000; or visit: http://www.fullercraft.org/home.html

Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street New York, New York 10028-0198 May 2008 Opening May 6, 2008, this installation showcases many of the most significant works in the Metropolitan Museum's modern design collection. The major design movements are represented through works created by some of the most renowned designers of the 20th century. Among the earliest works in the installation are: a recently acquired 1898 jugendstil candlestick byRichard Riemerschmid; examples of the turn-of-the-20th-century Arts and Crafts movement by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Charles Robert Ashbee; French Art Nouveau designs by Georges de Feureand Hector Guimard; and Wiener Werkstätte ("Vienna Workshops") furniture and decorative objects byJosef Hoffmann and Otto Prutscher. Design from the 1920s and 1930s includes French Art Deco by René Jules Lalique and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann; works from the Bauhaus school by Josef Albers, Marianne Brandt, and Marcel Breuer; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's International Style MR armchair; and iconic examples of American modern design by Paul T. Frankel and Eliel Saarinen. Postwar design on view encompasses mass-produced works by Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and Verner Panton; examples of the studio craft movement by Olga de Amaral, Sheila Hicks, and Harvey K. Littleton; and postmodern designs from the 1980s by Mario Bellini, Michael Graves, and Ettore Sottsass. For more information, call: 212-535-7710 or visit: http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp

Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens March 11, 2008–June 1, 2008    Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arts of Korea Gallery, 2nd Floor    1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028    (212)535-7710, http://www.metmuseum.org Painted screens depicting books, scholarly accoutrements, antiquarian collectibles, and auspicious objects first gained popularity in Korea in the late 18th century. They served as pictorial representations of objects suitable for display in a scholar-gentleman's study. This special installation presents four screens dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century, drawn from American collections. Also included is Space of Yin Yang, a six-panel collage on this theme by contemporary Korean artist Shin Young-Ok.

 

BLUE
THE TEXTILE MUSEUM
2320 S Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Phone: (202) 667-0441
http://www.textilemuseum.org/about/visitor.htm

April 4 - September 18, 2008

21hs HEMP & COTTON BANNER.II
Hiroyuki Shindo
handspun and handwoven, indigo dye hemp and cotton
82” x 44”, 1998
$3,000

The human perception of color is a complex sensory phenomenon filtered through the eyes, brain, language and multiple layers of social experience. While shades of red (examined in the 2007 Textile Museum exhibition RED) quicken the pulse and increase blood pressure, blue induces a calming effect and is widely perceived as a “cool,” tranquil color. BLUE explores the creation and meaning of the color blue on textiles produced across time and place, with particular emphasis on contemporary artists’ use of natural indigo dyes.

The exhibition features blue textiles ranging from Greco-Roman and pre-Columbian tunic fragments to installations by internationally renowned artists. Hiroyuki Shindo, a Japanese artist who grows and processes his own indigo to produce innovatively patterned textiles, as well as Maria Eugenia Davila and Eduardo Portillo, who raise silkworms and dye threads with natural dyes in Venezuela, highlight the ways that artists around the world are embracing this ancient dye to create works that speak to their own experience.

	7 Visions: Wood as Fiber March 7 - May 17, 2008 Wood Turning Center 501 Vine Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 215.923.8000 http://www.woodturningcenter.org/whoweare.html
Curly Birch Wood Bowls by Markku Kosonen
The artists featured in 7 Visions: Wood as Fiber treat wood as a fiber – whether it is sewn, woven or given the appearance of fibers. These artists, Dorothy Gill Barnes (US); Michael Brolly (US); Markku Kosonen (Finland); Dona Look (US); Bill Luce (US); Debra Sachs (US); and Jack Slentz (US) tackle many questions about creating art from a whole tree: Is it possible to treat a tree with reverence while sculpting it? Can bark be used as a serious medium? What can sand-blasting reveal about the structure of wood? How can thin slices of wood be stitched together to return the wood to a three-dimensional form? Several of the artists select their materials with a consideration for the environment. Dona Look salvages the bark of large, white birch trees that will soon be felled by loggers, and then manipulates the bark like fiber and fabric. Markku Kosonen looks at the larger picture of wood as a renewable resource and the mankind’s relationship to the lifecycle of materials we use up. Kosonen distills the essence of trees through raw woven twigs and rough bark transformed into vessels. Dorothy Gill Barnes respectfully harvests the materials that inform her work; she weaves, wraps and bends the branches and bark to create unique organic forms. What happens to thinly-sliced wood that is returned to its three-dimensional state? Debra Sachs uses the texture of thin slices of wood and wire to create skins for objects that recall shapes reminiscent of the natural forms around us. Jack Slentz reduces everyday forms into the geometry of the rocks and crystals that accompany the trees that inspire his work.

Cloth and Culture NOW January 29, 2008 - June 1, 2008 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ UK T: 01603 593199 http://www.scva.org.uk /planyourvisit/gettingtous/ Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester Autumn 2008 (additional venues in 2009)

The exhibition Cloth & Culture NOW brings together 35 artists from Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK, including Agneta Hobin, Merja Winquist and Sue Lawty. Textile has played an important role in the cultural identity of these countries and each of the artists is using that textile history to investigate the importance of specific cultural identity and trans-cultural influences in their work. Most of the selected artists have made new work for the exhibition, reflecting the social, political and utilitarian history of textile within the context of shifting experiences of culture and tradition. These works include the contemporary use of traditional techniques and materials: knit, tapestry, embroidery, felt making, plus explorations of new materials and technology, large architectural installations, performance work, video, narrative based textiles, decorative textiles.g experiences of culture and tradition. These works include the contemporary use of traditional techniques and materials: knit, tapestry, embroidery, felt making, plus explorations of new materials and technology, large architectural installations, performance work, video, narrative-based textiles, decorative textiles. A 180-page book, Cloth and Culture NOW, has been published to accompany the exhibit. Order at http://www.clothandculturenow.com/book.html.