I’m delighted that my work is being carried by Jeff Soderbergh Galleries in Portsmouth, RI and Wellfleet, MA. Peruse the gallery website, or better yet visit the galleries to see Jeff’s beautiful sustainable furniture and work by a select group of artists.
Resurfacing Exhibition Sept 8 - October 15, 2022
in Exhibitions
I’m pleased to show new work with felt artist Wendy Mueller in “Resurfacing” at the Jamestown Arts Center in Rhode Island. We will have an artist talk on Thursday, Sept 29 at 6 - 7:30. “Resurfacing” was curated by Brooke Goldstein who wrote this about the show:
Resurfacing brings you through the exterior and invites the viewer to inquire what lies beneath. On the surface, Kate Barber and Wendy Mueller's work seem opposed to each other; only connected through the medium of fiber. When you dig deeper, they both use layering to bring us into the artist’s thoughts and process. Resurfacing is a love story with materiality told in two different visual languages both bringing us back to color, shape, texture and form in the most unexpected ways.
Artists Kate Barber and Wendy Mueller work intuitively allowing the medium to act as their muse.
Barber’s woven and embroidered pieces seem to dance off the wall. Her use of color, geometry and layering delight the viewer leaving them mesmerized. The bold forms her pieces take create a framework of structure surrounding but not containing her playful and boundless textures.
Mueller’s heavily layered felted works illuminate an emotional connection with nature. Her use of organic shapes and natural colors speak to a deeper world underneath the surface. Her larger than life triptychs inspire the viewer to come in closer and immerse themselves in the atmosphere she creates. Her felted vessels stimulate the eye with her use of hand dyed wool roving to create a colorful nesting feel.
Resurfacing asks the viewer to question not only the what of each piece but also the how, hoping to delight and educate all who experience it. Viewers are invited to visually wander through Resurfacing trekking further and further to find joy, nature and a stronger understanding of fiber as art.
Luminous
At the Dedee Shattuck Gallery in Westport, MA
Click on Gallery link (above) for detailed information about the artists and the exhibition.
At long last, Mo Kelman and I are installing Luminous this week. The show features the two of us as well as three other artists: Barbara Owen, Saberah Malik, and Saman Sajasi. If you click the link (above) to the Dedee Shattuck Gallery you can access our Curators’ Statement, artists’ statements, CVs, bios, and peruse images of most of the works in the show.
If you scroll down past the postcard, you can see a few of my pieces that are in the show.
Tiny Textile Sculpture is Best in Show!
My diminutive textile sculpture, “Shelter”, (measuring 6” x 7”) recently won Best In Show at the Jamestown Arts Center members’ show. I’m a big fan of The Jamestown Arts Center and submit work for their annual members’ show most years. This year the theme of the show was “Quar-ART-ine”, art made during the pandemic in 2020. “Shelter” is made out of both handwoven and purchased cloth that has been dyed, painted and stitched together by hand and by machine. Susan Gosin, a Brooklyn papermaker, judged the show and had some nice things to say about the piece. As reported in the Jamestown Press, Gosin described the artwork as “a small, powerful piece” with “strength and humor.” She said it was “very sophisticated,” and made “great use of materials” that created “a sense of space with a beautiful design and colors.” Here she is!
“Shelter”, 2020, 6” x 7”
Collage: Works in Progress
Many of the bits and pieces that have come out of my experimentation with materials have started to come together into little collages. The images above are bits I’ve thrown together — works in progress — but I feel like these are moving towards becoming small finished pieces. I just need to figure out how to present/frame them. Small shadow boxes? Attached to tiny stretched canvas? Or no frame at all?
I’ve discovered that I love combining mixed media with fiber of all kinds. It increases the possibilities for interesting texture and the ability to hold form. Materials used in my collages include: earth pigments, canvas, mulberry paper, metal leaf, stainless steel mesh, encaustic, plaster, hand stitching, machine embroidery, acrylic paint. They also incorporate hand crocheted or handwoven fabric. Working these materials with my hands is a nice antidote to technology overload.
Samples, clockwise from bottom left: 1) free machine stitching 2) woven/pleated shibori 3) knitting and encaustic 4) metal leaf on fabric with stainless steel screening
Play Time
I’ve been messing around in my studio way longer than I’d like to admit, probably since March. That makes it about 4 months, which I consider to be a bit overindulgent. However, I’m excited about the possibilities of how I might use what I’ve learned to create a new body of work for two upcoming shows in 2020. Many small samples have come out of my exploration of process and materials. Honestly, I could do this forever, but it’s time to start focusing on finished work.
Metal Leaf
Inspired by the work of Olga de Amaral and El Anatsui I began experimenting with metal leaf on fabric. Using imitation silver and gold leaf, and using layers of gesso and leaf adhesive. On top of the leaf I tried layering oil stick and acrylic paint. More experiments included gold leaf on top of earth pigments painted onto woven/pleated fabric. Here are some pictures from this journey.
Forms
I’ve been exploring forms on a few fronts: using handwoven, pleated cloth, using machine stitching on interfacing and/or buckram for geometric form, and using free machine embroidery on solvy.
Encaustic
I’ve been curious about encaustic and how it might be used with textiles to create interesting surfaces as well as support for dimensional textiles. So when I saw that Kelly Milukas would be teaching an introductory workshop on encaustic painting at the local Jamestown Arts Center I signed up. I loved the sexiness of wax as a medium for pigment, and really enjoyed using the blow torch! So far haven’t done much beyond what I learned in the workshop, but here are a few pictures, including a little knitted piece I brought along to dip into the beeswax and resin.
Excellence in Fiber IV: Juried Exhibition in Print
I’m so pleased to be included in the Winter 2018/2019 issue of Fiber Art Now magazine. My piece “Above and Below Two” was selected for this exhibition in print, which will travel to the Craft In America Gallery in Los Angeles in May 2019.
Collaged scraps
“Red Slant”, a new piece made from scraps leftover from my machine embroidered sculpture, will be included in the exhibition Cut & Paste: Collage Today at the Jamestown Art Center in Rhode Island. If you’re around, come see the show from March 14 - April 20, 2019 . Better yet, come to the opening on Thursday, March 14th from 6-8pm.
“Red Slant” 26” x 22”
If You're In Vancouver...
I'll have some small wearable pieces in this upcoming show at the Silk Weaving Studio in Vancouver. This exhibition is timed to coincide with the Textile Society of America conference which will be in town. Hope you can swing by if you're in the area!
Con/Textile/Ized Opens on March 9
An invitational exhibit of 12 contemporary artists working in fiber will be at the Jamestown Arts Center in Rhode Island from March 9 - April 28. I've been working hard on producing something a little different for this show: freeform machine embroidered wall sculpture. This new work grows out of my recent fascination with woven pleats. I've continued working with folds, just on a somewhat larger scale. The piece pictured above is one in a series of three pieces, entitled "Above + Below" and measures roughly 20 x 20" x 5". I layered heavy linen and buckram fabric with acrylic paint and machine stitching to create a luminous surface. More pictures coming soon!
If you happen to be in the area, the opening is on March 9 from 6-8 pm and the show runs until April 28. Gallery hours at the Jamestown Arts Center are Weds - Sat 10 - 2
Haystack Open Studio Residency
This post is way overdue! I've been procrastinating about documenting my 2 week Studio Residency at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and I'm finally getting around to it. Last spring (May 28 - June 9) I was fortunate to be one of 50 residents selected for the opportunity to play and create in any or all of the studios at Haystack . I went without a highly specific plan. I brought with me an open mind and the possibility of working at something I'd never done before. In the end, this was one of the most fun and creative two weeks I've spent, ever. And it all took place in a spectacularly mystical and beautiful place. Oh, and did I mention the lobster picnic on the rocks?
Experiments in Textiles and ceramic slip
Prior to this residency I'd been mulling over an idea for dipping textiles into porcelain slip and firing it with the intention of retaining the impression of the textile in a hardened, ceramic-like state. So, from textiles (where just about every loom was being used, mostly by first-time weavers), I wandered up to the ceramics studio, with a few little crocheted samples in hand, and did a few tests. As you can see from the photos below, I ended up dipping more than textiles in the slip, just to see what would happen. Of course, when fired, whatever was dipped simply burns away, leaving an extremely delicate (an often hollow) sort of exoskeleton behind. I like some of the results (maybe the beginning of a body of new work about "fragility"?!), but learned that this process will take a lot more time, experimentation, and expertise in the ins and outs of ceramic slips, firing temperatures, and on and on.
Adventure #2: Molding and Stitching Paper
This is a story of a circuitous route to a new idea.
On one of my walks to the rocky shoreline below the Haystack campus I picked up a mussel shell that had a hole in it and needed mending. This brought me to the small metals/jewelry studio to see if there was a way I could pre drill tiny holes around the edges of the ragged hole in order to "mend" it with needle and thread without further cracking the delicate shell. After accomplishing this, as I was leaving the jewelry studio a box of copper scraps caught my eye. Hmmmm. Some of them looked like they could be mended too. More drilling. More stitching.
At about this time I paid a visit to the print studio where another scrap box with giveaways attracted my attention. I left with what I later learned was a good-sized sheet of well-used blotting paper. I began playing with cutting, wetting, and shaping the paper to see if I could make it somewhat "sculptural". To my great delight, this paper was up to the task. And, of course, being in a stitching frame of mind, once shaped, these little paper sculptures cried out to be stitched too.The pictures below tell the story. (Note: now, many months later, I find I am applying this idea to some new work - sculptural free machine embroidered pieces with hand stitching. More on that to come in a future blog).
The Forge Beckons
This was an unusually cold spring in Deer Isle and the lack of heat in the cabins and studios was beginning to wear thin. This brought me to the forge, one of the most stunning (and the warmest) studios at Haystack. I fell in love with everything about this place. The fire, the sculptural anvils, the array of hammers, and the patina of so many well-used tools. I went to the forge to see if I could scale up one of my little paper sculptures into something made out of steel. I wanted something solid, something with heft. Which meant it had to be steel. This was no small undertaking, and it was a test in determination. I spent the first day cutting my piece of steel and shaping it by hammering it cold over one of the anvils. That kept me really warm! By the middle of day 2, someone suggested that it really should be heated to make the hammering easier. Into the fire it went, and the work began to progress at a much more rapid pace. By the end of day three the piece was just about finished (and my arm and hand muscles were too). Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to use a hand drill to make all of those holes in the steel so I could "mend" it with a paper yarn that I plied by hand.
The End
And this is the end of my long-winded tale of my open studio residency at Haystack. The best part of all, of course, was the remarkable people I met-- residents and staff alike -- who made this a truly special experience. It was a privilege to be counted among them.
Happy ending -- unexpectedly, I returned to Haystack later in the summer to take a workshop in fiber sculpture with Tanya Aguinigas. It was a LOT warmer.
Morning play
Garden clippings headed to the compost made a detour to my studio and look what happened. Wrapped with bits of dyed silk and linen, found lying about.
My New Hat!
This handwoven, pleated, machine embroidered "cocoon", originally intended to hang in space, landed on my head. Fits perfectly. An Easter bonnet perhaps?!
Cocoon: at the Silk Weaving Studio
In a departure from wearables, the Silk Weaving Studio is having this show of textiles for the home. I'm putting the finishing touches on several 3-D pleated pieces before they are shipped off next week. The opening is on May 4th from 6-8 pm. Hope you can make it.
Haystack Artist Residency
I am thrilled -- just heard that I have been accepted into the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Artist Residency for this spring. I intend to spend my two weeks there exploring, sampling and creating new woven, pleated textiles. In the company of other artists working in a variety of media, I know I will be inspired and invigorated.
woven, pleated, machine embroidered
Paula Stebbins Becker
Last weekend I was able to catch a show called "Surface Appeal:Material Perception" at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery in Westport MA. I was immediately drawn to several small textiles on the far wall, created by Paula Stebbins Becker of RI. So interesting and lovely. Here's my favorite.
To quote from her artist statement:
"I deconstruct and unravel the [old] textile, then I re-weave the threads, combining them with the new threads, merging the old with the new and the past with the present...With each process of unraveling, reweaving and embellishing, a new generation of pattern and material is combined with the old. The textile embodies the mood and the spirit of the person or place found in the photograph while expressing subtle details..."
Links to articles for forward folding
"Forward Folding" had a good run at the AS220 Reading Room. The opening was well attended and lots of fun, and several of my pieces have found new homes. Below are three links to articles about my show. The first is an interview I did for AS220 which gives some good insight into my work and process for "Forward Folding. The second is another interview and slide show put together by Origami Spirit, and the third a posting on World Shibori Network. Enjoy!
as220.org/forward-folding-an-interview-with-kate-barber/
www.origamispirit.com/2016/07/textile-folding/
shibori.org/2016/06/16/exhibition-forward-folding-by-kate-barber/
I took the show down on Saturday, and am back in my studio working on ideas for my next series.
Forward Folding
Forward Folding
I've been in hiding since the holidays, working towards my first solo exhibit, scheduled to open in July 2016. The show will be at The Reading Room, a Providence, RI gallery, one of several run by the forward-thinking AS220 arts organization. Working towards this goal has given me new focus and a good opportunity to develop a small body of work. I'm enjoying the concentrated effort, developing ideas slowly, and seeing the sometimes surprising turns my work takes. The working title of the exhibit is "Forward Folding". Most of the pieces in the show will be for the wall, although I also intend to make a few three-dimensional pieces. And undoubtedly I won't be able to resist throwing in a few wearable items as well. More to come!