Influences/Influencers: Workshops at Craft in America

As part of the Influences/Influencers exhibit, California Fibers’ members have been preparing workshops to go along with their art.

Aneesa Shami Zizzo recently gave her Fabric Collage Workshop, using reclaimed fabric, collage methods, and applique techniques.

Annette Heully will be teaching knotless netting on Saturday, October 14, from 12:30 AM-3:30 PM. Use simple knots, loops, and a needle to learn to shape a flexible netted structure around almost any form.

On Saturday, October 28, from 11 AM-4 PM, Debra Weiss will be teaching Layers of Life: Collage and Stitch. You will learn to layer and stitch opaque and sheer fabrics to make a small autobiographical artwork that can also become a needle case.

Lastly, Ashley V. Blalock will be teaching beginning crochet on Saturday, November 18, from 11 AM-5 PM. Learn all the basic stitches while crocheting a small, three-dimensional item.

All class information is available on the Craft in America website.

Influences/Influencers: California Fibers at Craft in America

The Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, CA, presents Influences/Influencers: California Fibers from September 9 - December 2, 2023. Influences/Influencers features the work of twenty-three members of California Fibers: Sandy Abrams, Olivia Batchelder, Charlotte Bird, Ashley V. Blalock, Carrie Burckle, Marilyn McKenzie Chaffee, Ben Cuevas, Doshi, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Lydia Tjioe Hall, Susan Henry, Annette Heully, Anifaye Korngute, Kathy Nida, Liz Oliver, Marty Ornish, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Elise Vazelakis, Debra Weiss, Peggy Wiedemann, and Aneesa Shami Zizzo.

This exhibit showcases the breadth of the influential and innovative work created by members of California Fibers.  Emily Zaiden, Director and Curator of the Craft in America Center, states, “The artists in this exhibition are part of an historic organization that has been at the forefront of contemporary fiber art in Southern California, across the state, and far beyond.”  Influences/Influencers represents some of the vast influences that are shaping fiber today,and simultaneously is a celebration of how fiber has become a beam of influence on the broader contemporary art world in recent years. 

Works in the exhibition are accompanied by artist statements expressing the myriad influences on their individual artistic practices and are a window into the many threads that continue to shape the field of contemporary textile art and artists.  Some examples follow.

Susan Henry says of her work Vortex II, “I find great inspiration through art history and most notably the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner… Turner's influence in my work is reflective of a combination of perspective, movement and chaos as I aspire, like Turner, to convey mood rather than information.”

Susan Henry, Vortex II: deconstructed wool trousers, cotton canvas Arashi wrapped and discharged resist, machine stitched.

Annette Heully states that her piece Weight of Change – Red is made with yarns that were gifts from her mentor Frances Bulwa. “By using this material it was my way of honoring her memory. The pieces all have unwoven sections exposing the warp threads expressing the feelings of loss. Over time the weft threads slowly settle, starting to close these gaps referencing grief and the element of time in healing.”

Annette Heully, Weight of Change - Red: handwoven wool and cotton.

Ben Cuevas says that his more recent work is influenced by Agnes Martin. Her white paintings that explore the idea of the grid are referenced in his current series, Non-Binary Code, of which Reveal/Conceal Diptych is a part. “I knit with acrylic fiber on canvas in a stitch pattern derived from the word NON-BINARY, which I translated into binary code, with knits for 1’s and purls for 0’s. The finished work is an abstract minimalist white grid knit-painting, and a coded meditation on gender identity.”

Ben Cuevas, Reveal/Conceal Diptych: acrylic fiber on canvas.

Anifaye Korngute finds inspiration from her study of choreographic artmaking as an experimental and explorative form. “I learned about Black Mountain College from the perspective of Merce Cunningham and John Cage — Chance Dance, which continues to influence my artmaking today.” Her piece They Call Me Mellow Yellow is a current expression of this approach.

Anifaye Korngute, They Call Me Mellow Yellow: silk noil (raw silk), washi paper, fabric dye, sumie ink, gouache, acrylic, cotton, stitch, charcoal.

Carrie Burckle states that her influence for (en)gendered vessel “comes from my teacher Carol Shaw-Sutton. Carol Shaw-Sutton was my professor at CSULB where I earned my MFA. She was head of the fiber program for 35 years…Carol emphasized deep knowledge of materials and skill building as a foundation for idea-based work that pushed the boundaries of fiber art.”

Carrie Burckle, (en)gendered vessel: kraft paper twine, house paint, twining.

Elise Vazelakis says, “As a weaver, I have long been inspired by the weavings of Deidrick Brackens and his unique process of combining the tactile nature of yarn with the rich tradition of storytelling. His work has influenced my own artwork in countless ways, but perhaps most significantly in my series Exposed. This series is deeply personal to me as it incorporates construction materials salvaged from the rebuilding of my home that perished in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. I have been able to imbue these materials with new meanings and bring my own story to life in a tangible way.”  A piece from this series, Exposed VIII, is included in this exhibition. 

Elise Vazelakis, Exposed VIII; loom-woven cotton, concrete anchors, wood-panel-mounted.

Kathy Nida’s piece, And Then There Was One, exemplifies the ongoing influence of  “…women artists or artists creating about being female; this piece is about being a feminist, which means raising both my kids, one male and one female, to accept a woman’s equity and strength in today’s world, to make no assumptions of what is right for this or that gender, or to even let biological gender limit us.”

Kathy Nida, And Then There Was One: fused applique, machine stitched, machine quilted.

Lydia Tjioe Hall states that her piece Nesting Houses is influenced by Ruth Asawa’s “sculptures within sculptures.”

Lydia Tjioe Hall, Nesting Houses, Steel wire looping technique.

Michael Rohde explains that his work Birnalese Sonnet is one of a series “examining languages, how they are expressed and used. This subset of that effort comes due to influences by Jim Bassler’s own work based on examination of Peruvian textiles. My connection to language and Peruvian textiles comes from speculations by scholars such as Mary Frame. She has explored the idea that repeated patterns in textiles might encode undeciphered verbal ideas…”

Michael F. Rohde, Birnalese Sonnet: handwoven tapestry: silk, natural dyes.

The Craft in America Center is located at 8415 West Third Street in Los Angeles, CA. Hours are Tuesday – Saturday from noon – 6 PM.  Admission is free. The opening reception with participating artists is September 9 from 3-5 PM. Workshops and talks TBA.  Check the Craft in America website for more information about upcoming events.

About Craft in America and the Craft in America Center: Craft in America is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organization founded in 2004 with the mission to promote and advance original handcrafted work through programs in all media. In addition to the acclaimed PBS documentary series, Craft in America promotes and advances original handcrafted work through the Craft in America Center—a small museum, library, and programmatic space where visitors engage directly with art, artists, and ideas. They give voice to traditional and contemporary craft, ranging from functional to purely conceptual, through personal engagement. They organize exhibitions, artist talks, scholarly lectures, a reading group, book signings, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, student field trips, concerts, and publications. The Craft in America Center produces 6-8 exhibitions per year featuring work by local and nationally acclaimed artists. They highlight the work of numerous local craft-based artists while providing a platform in Los Angeles for the nation’s finest artists. For those who are not able to visit in-person, exhibitions are digitized and shared on their website and artist talks are filmed and archived online as resources for all to access. The Center also operates an education outreach program, Craft in Schools, which offers standards-based art education for underrepresented LAUSD and public K-12 schools and local colleges. 

Contemporary Perspectives in Fiber Arts at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery

William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad, CA, presents California Fibers’ newest exhibit, Contemporary Perspectives in Fiber Arts, opening January 7 and continuing through March 18, 2023. Contemporary Perspectives in Fiber Arts features the work of twenty-five members of California Fibers – Sandy Abrams, Olivia Batchelder, Charlotte Bird, Ashley V. Blalock, Carrie Burckle, Marilyn McKenzie Chaffee, Ben Cuevas, Doshi, Gail Fraser, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Susan Henry, Lydia Tjioe Hall,  Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Anna Faye Korngute, Chari Myers, Serge Nepomnine, Kathy Nida, Carol Nilsen, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Elise Vazelakis, Debby Weiss, Peggy Wiedemann and Aneesa Shami Zizzo.

Works selected for the exhibit express a wide variety of themes interpreted in diverse textile materials and processes – a hallmark of contemporary fiber art.

Carol Nilsen, Montecito

Hand-dyed and commercial silks, commercial metallics, vintage kimono and sari fabrics, metallic leaf. Translucent silks overlaid in layers over sari and kimono medallions, metallics, and metallic leaf on felt; machine stitched free-form applique

Carol Nilsen says of her work Montecito, “Flood followed fire, with boulders and trees riding thundering rivers of raging mud to form an unholy convergence that destroyed more than 20 lives and hundreds of homes, one of them ours. Climate change rewriting the surface of our reality.”                                                                                                                           

Ben Cuevas states that his piece, Non-binary Code, plays “with the binary nature of the knit/purl stitchwork inherent to knitting; I translated the word ‘nonbinary’ into binary code and knit this label of my gender identity into a textile wall hanging. The choice of medium—acrylic (yarn) on canvas—brings the work in dialogue with the history of white paintings in minimalist abstraction. I see this work as a queering of many supposedly binary hierarchies, complicating and challenging distinctions of art & craft, digital & handmade, male & female.”                       

Ben Cuevas, Non-binary Code

Rebecca Smith finds her inspiration for After Lenore in “the groundbreaking work of Lenore Tawney whose gauzy, open-weave techniques helped transform fiber art during the Fiber Revolution of the 1950s-1970s. I have explored how Tawney's innovative open weave can contribute to the transparent tapestry format that is practiced by Scandinavian weavers.”

Rebecca Smith, After Lenore

The Good War by Aneesa Shami Zizzo is a part of her Reclamation series, which "blends abstract memory landscapes with Islamic folklore. Using reclaimed fabric, collage methods and applique techniques, creating this piece relies on a making-while-meditating mindset to evoke a sense of the collective unconscious through material exploration."

Aneesa Shami Zizzo, The Good War

Charlotte Bird explains that her work Legacy “is a love letter to my mother-in-law. The pages are made from her damask table napkins. The cookie recipes printed on the pages are from her hand-written recipe cards. The name of the person she got the recipe from is in the upper right corner. The covers were molded out of paper maché using the waffle baker she used throughout her married life.”

Charlotte Bird, Legacy

Several artists are inspired by the rhythms of the natural world. One example is Autumn Maple Leaves by Serge Nepomnine, which expresses the beauty of fall colors “in the format of the Japanese paper scroll and is an impression of maple leaves on a sunny afternoon in mid-autumn.”

Serge Nepomnine, Autumn Maple Leaves

Spring Tides, a felted piece by Chari Myers, “reflects the quality of the light of the New Moon and Full Moon on the Spring Tides.”

Chari Myers, Spring Tides

Sandy Abrams states about her work Sanctuary, that she started “with a wonderful found piece of wood I constructed by twining rattan and covering that with rice paper, a refuge for the clay crows. From my observance, crows bond in large families and settle each night as a group. I am truly fascinated by their antics and camaraderie.”

Sandy Abrams, Sanctuary

The William D. Cannon Art Gallery is located in Plaza Paseo Real at 1775 Dove Lane in Carlsbad, CA. Hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from noon – 5 pm, and Wednesday from noon – 7 pm. Admission is free.  Please check their website for details about the exhibit, including the opening reception planned for January 7.

California Fibers: Inside Out at Visions...Did You Miss the Exhibit?

Well here it is…with some of the artists and all the work.

On Saturday, June 25, some of the artists were at the exhibit to talk to viewers and show their techniques. Here they are with Charlotte Bird’s piece Southland Odyssey, a large folding book of California landscapes.

Artists (l-r) Kathy Nida, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Charlotte Bird, Rebecca Smith, Peggy Wiedemann, and Olivia Batchelder.

Here’s Charlotte Bird with one side of the piece…

And the other side here…

Bird also had some of her Microbes pieces in the exhibit.

Polly Jacobs Giacchina was kept busy explaining her techniques to viewers. This is her piece Burst from Inside.

And Microscopic View.

Peggy Wiedemann explained to visitors how she works with pine needles…

Here she is with one of her pieces, Carnival.

Here is her piece Batteries Not Included.

This is Wiedemann’s Shake It Up…

Olivia Batchelder with her pieces Multiple Horizons with Fragility (l) and Multiple Horizons with Condor (r).

Rebecca Smith with her tapestry Flight.

And her piece Memory Tree.

Kathy Nida cut out tiny pieces for her next quilt…

Here she is with her piece All Stacked Up.

And Hold On.

The exhibit had a wide range of techniques shown, from quilting, to weaving, to knotting, to coiling, to wrapping, to dyeing, to printmaking.

Starting with weaving, here is Michael Rohde’s Casa de Tia Guero.

This is Rohde’s piece Etla.

Cameron Taylor-Brown also uses weaving techniques in her work. This is Manhattan Bridge.

And here is Shoreline.

Debby Weiss works with fabric and stitching. This is her piece Fractured.

Also working in fabric is Linda Anderson, who paints her images, constructs the quilt, and then intensely quilts it. This is Unbroken.

And here is Perceptions of Life.

In the category of ecoprinting is Doshi’s work. This is California Wild.

Here is Late Summer Secret.

Working with fabric and found objects is Brecia Kralovic-Logan. This is her piece She Invited the Moon.

Lydia Tjioe Hall also works with objects; in this case, the absence of those objects helps create the image. This is Mirage (l) and Liminal Dwelling (r).

Carrie Burckle’s piece Twizzle, created from printed fabrics, hung in the center of the exhibit.

Here are a couple of full views of the exhibit.

And a view of the hands-on samples artists provided to help understand how they made their work.

Plus a last view of the artists who were available on the Artist Talk day.

Hope you enjoyed the show. Keep your eyes peeled for the next show, coming up in late 2022 at the Cannon Gallery in Carlsbad, California.