Working with fiber presents challenges much different from traditional mediums of art, such as paints and charcoals. Hours of close attention and manipulation of a variety of materials go into every piece, creating something that is both multidimensional and expressive.
Students, faculty and alumni are presenting their pieces of fiber work at the ASU Step Gallery from Feb. 28 to March 2 in an exhibit titled, “In Stitches.”
“In Stitches” features fiber-based works created by members of the Fiber Arts Network of ASU (FAN Club). This is the third annual exhibit put on by the art club. The theme is based on the technique that creates the visual focus in all of the work. FAN Club’s members include undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni.
Fibers senior Nora McGinnis said she worked on the pieces she contributed in a class studio course. Her pieces incorporated several different textiles, along with beading, fabric dying and stitching.
McGinnis said many of the challenges with working with fabrics as opposed to traditional mediums are overcoming mistakes and incorporating them into the work.
“I think in general, up until the classes we are taking at this point, we have been learning new processes,” McGinnis said. “A lot of the issues stem from not having a lot of experience with it and things not turning out how you expect them to and just how to work with that and learning how to troubleshoot.”
Several of the artists worked with cyanotype, a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. Along with cyanotype, silk painting was another dying technique incorporated into several of the “In Stitches” pieces.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize how much science there is in fiber art,” said Bailey Curry, who graduated from ASU with a degree in fibers in 2011. “There are other processes where small things can go wrong, and unless you know exactly what you did there is no way of fixing the problem.”
“In Stitches” includes several displays of embroidery, hand-cut fabrics, screen printed fabrics and textiles, such as leather, silk and wool.
“With fiber art methods of displaying, it can be a problem. It’s not like a painting, where it’s on a frame, and you can hook it onto the wall,” McGinnis said. “It tends to be half two dimensional and half three dimensional.”
Many of the artists said they find their interest with fiber-based works lies within the process and development of the materials.
“What I like most about fiber art is how intimate it is,” Curry said. “Your hands cannot stop being part of the process … some things you can just let go, and that’s that. With this you have to touch and manipulate, and besides sewing machines, there is really no other way to go about that.”
McGinnis added her passion lies with texture and color.
“The processes themselves are really fun, and I personally love working with color and texture. With this you are working with dying the fabric as you are stitching it together,” McGinnis said.
Gabrielle Llovet, co-president of the FAN Club, has a silk printed piece in the exhibit. She said the process for creating her piece incorporated silk painting and stitching.
“I think, unlike with other mediums, fiber is something that everyone has an intimate experience with,” Llovet said. “And an everyday experience with it, too, so there is a history that people associate with the medium that automatically gives your piece meaning.”
Reach the reporter at newlin.tillotson@asu.edu
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