Textile Museum Presents Textiles From Washington Collections

The reasons people acquire fiber art are as individual as the collectors themselves, but all would agree with collector Marc Grainer: “These works have everything a collector seeks. They combine technical virtuosity with interesting, challenging ideas.” Private Pleasures is on view September 28, 2007 through February 17, 2008.

The exhibition explores both the individual preferences of the collectors and showcases the textiles on view as outstanding examples of the art form. Drawing from the personal worlds of Washington area art lovers, the exhibition highlights the various approaches taken to collect objects. Some collectors acquire and display art in order to replicate the museum setting. Others expand their collecting worlds, accumulating objects that vary from African textiles to contemporary fiber art. Still others collect as a continuum of their lives, juxtaposing inherited family heirlooms side-by-side with cutting-edge textile art. Despite their individual strategies, the collectors share a passion to collect and live with textile art.

“Acquired and displayed to create a retreat from the stresses of everyday life, these private collections are usually seen only by family and friends,” said exhibition curator Rebecca A.T. Stevens. “Private Pleasures gives visitors entrée into an otherwise unseen world.” Private Pleasures: Collecting Contemporary Textile Art includes textile art from the mid-20th century to the present day and places the genre in the context of contemporary art history. Both wall works and sculpture are presented in the exhibition. On view are textile artworks created by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, including Olga de Amaral, Archie Brennan, Lia Cook, Michael James, John McQueen, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Jon Eric Riis, Ed Rossbach, and Cynthia Schira, among others.

Featured in the exhibition are works by California-based artist Lia Cook, who embraces new technology in her pieces to develop imagery through the weave structure. Georgia-based textile artist Jon Eric Riis, in comparison, uses traditional tapestry weave to investigate questions about contemporary ideas of art and beauty. Riis incorporates precious materials, such as metallic and silk thread, with freshwater pearls and crystal beads in his pieces to attract viewers to his work and engage them in his art conversation. Colombian artist Olga de Amaral also uses metallic gold in her art but for different reasons. She combines gold with simple weave structures to reference two parts of her country's past – the Spanish Colonial architecture and the indigenous people's textile making skills. Her glimmering, eyecatching works reflect the light and her proud heritage.

While many artists use time-tested materials, exhibiting artist Ed Rossbach is known for his use of non-traditional materials. An artist ahead of his time, he used discarded plastic and newspapers to construct artworks long before recycling was fashionable. In both his baskets and weavings Rossbach commented, among other things, on popular culture, history and how he saw the world and man's place in it. He asserted that recognizable images such as Mickey Mouse are the iconic symbols of our time, much like mythological and biblical figures of the past, and included them on many of his baskets.

Regardless of intention or technique, each piece on view in the exhibition resonates with its collector, motivating him or her to integrate the particular artwork into his or her life. Private Pleasures: Collecting Contemporary Textile Art is curated by Rebecca A.T. Stevens, The Textile Museum’s Consulting Curator for Contemporary Textiles, and is accompanied by an evening lecture series funded by Eleanor T. and Samuel J. Rosenfeld.

The picture shows American Gotham, 1995 Archie Brennan Collection of Jane W. And Worth B. Daniels Photo by Jeffrey Crespi. -- www.textilemuseum.org