California Fibers: Inside Out features the work of fourteen members of California Fibers: Linda Anderson, Olivia Batchelder, Charlotte Bird, Carrie Burckle, Doshi, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Lydia Tjioe Hall, Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Kathy Nida, Michael F. Rohde, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Debby Weiss, and Peggy Weidemann. The show opens April 16 at Visions Art Museum in San Diego, California, and will be up until July 3.
Juror Carolyn Kallenborn selected work that explores the theme of Inside Out in three different ways: The first is “a tangled kind of crazy world, where we are confused and mixed up.” The second is “a contemplative space...where we go to nature or inside of ourselves to find a place of balance and respite.” The third is an “interior space - a visual representation of the physicality of inside and outside, or a close look at things deep inside and unseen.”
Hold On by Kathy Nida is one example of a tangled world. Nida states, “The world is still at risk. The environment is still a disaster. I still love this world and want it to be better. Hold on, y’all.”
Another tangle is the work Carnival by Peggy Weidemann, who explains, “By combining found parts with my weaving in unusual ways, the importance of inside or outside is overshadowed by the play among negative and positive spaces.”
California Wild by Doshi exemplifies a contemplative space. Doshi explains, “The eco-print takes us beyond the obvious – the images look unfamiliar because the point of view is different. We are looking inside the plant at the complexity of nature.”
Manhattan Bridge by Cameron Taylor-Brown also encourages contemplation, “invit(ing) the viewer to ask what might be there…and then again, what might not.”
Kallenborn’s vision of interior space is illustrated by the work Mirage by Lydia Tjioe Hall, who writes, “Mirage is a reflection on our time spent at home sheltering in place. On the one hand it felt safe to be at home and at times it seemed like an illusion of safety.”
Michael Rohde’s Casa del Tio Güero takes a different approach to interior space. He honors the grid as a primary design element, and on a recent trip to Oaxaca “was drawn to the colors and geometries of building facades. Back in the studio, I cropped photos and reduced them to a series of squares, maintaining a sense of the original.”
A “Meet the Artist” conversation about process and inspiration is being planned. Please visit the museum website in April to find out more.
Visions Art Museum is located at 2825 Dewey Road in the Arts District of Liberty Station in San Diego, CA. Hours are Wednesday and Thursday 10 am -2 pm and Friday and Saturday from 10 am -4 pm. Admission is free. For additional information, please visit their website.