{"id":3718,"date":"2015-10-12T16:43:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T16:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=3718"},"modified":"2015-10-13T13:55:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T13:55:07","slug":"the-sublime-to-the-well-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=3718","title":{"rendered":"The Sublime to the …well, NOT"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the right hand side of this blog page I keep a list of the exhibitions where my tapestries have been shown. \u00a0Yesterday was the opening of a show in a venue I’ve never participated in before. \u00a0The focus was all kinds of fiber work, and when I dropped my pieces off for the jurying I was quite intrigued with a number of pieces already there. \u00a0There were quilts of course, and different kinds of felting from felted landscapes to nuno felted vests and jackets. \u00a0There was a beautiful double weave scarf displayed on an acrylic rod in a deep black frame that enhanced the glowing colors of the fabric. \u00a0There were a set of free form coiled baskets made from linen and coiled with waxed linen. \u00a0There was a bit of knitting and a bit of handmade paper forms. \u00a0It was the most diverse exhibition I’ve ever been part of, and I was looking forward to meeting some of the artists who made these works at the opening.<\/p>\n

I do not have any photos from the opening because I was too shocked to actually think of taking any. \u00a0Perhaps they just accepted too many items into this show…. some walls were beautifully displayed and others had too many things jammed together. \u00a0So the crowded walls had things displayed salon style, and the sense of the whole was just a mish-mash because the pieces had nothing to tie them together…..in fairness maybe<\/em> color, not technique, and not with a sense of cohesion. \u00a0It was just painful to look at. \u00a0I couldn’t help thinking that the pieces that were well displayed were the pieces that were valued by the judges–the award winning pieces. \u00a0But this was not the case. \u00a0Some of the beautifully arranged walls had no awarded pieces on them at all.<\/p>\n

Bob took two photos of my works at the opening. \u00a0“Hudson River Idyll” got an honorable mention. \u00a0It was hung quite high above a quilted piece , and our two pieces are quite jarring together. \u00a0I’m trying to put a happy face on it!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1506\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And “Sunset on Wilson Cove” was hung in a place that was not even part of the show. \u00a0There were three gallery rooms and a long hallway that had works on display. \u00a0Then the very back of the long hallway was separated with some architectural molding and this is where \u00a0there was the coat room, the bathrooms, and an exit to the stairway that leads to the lower level. \u00a0THAT is where “Sunset on Wilson Cover” was hanging–the only piece that is not in the actually gallery area. \u00a0Frankly, I think it should have been rejected from the show entirely rather than put it in such a disrespected location. \u00a0I was quite embarrassed by this…. \u00a0and I don’t understand it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1509\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The walls that were carefully chosen were stunning. \u00a0The walls that were over-filled just made everyone’s work look bad…..even cheap. \u00a0And having one piece of work off in a different place entirely was just mind boggling to me. \u00a0There comes a point when accepting more pieces into a show than the space can handle just deters from seeing anything well. \u00a0The other shocking thing is that some pieces still had stickers on them–stuck right to works themselves, not on the sides or backs–with the entry numbers written on them. \u00a0Luckily I can say the volunteers who checked me in at the drop off put stickers on the stretched fabric of my frames, not directly on my tapestries. \u00a0But the pieces hanging on the walls for the opening had stickers stuck right to the pieces themselves.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I did meet some of the very interesting artists! \u00a0I was happy to see that some works were made by men. \u00a0The most interesting person at the opening –to me– was a felt artist. \u00a0She had done a wonderful nuno felted jacket as well as a hand felted mandala (for which she also got an honorable mention–and I have to say it–there was a sticker on this piece) and she had made a large quilted wall hanging. \u00a0She happened to be wearing the most interesting top of all the interesting garments that fiber artists can dream up to wear to openings, and by the end of the opening I just had to approach her and ask about her garment. \u00a0She had made it herself, from a commercial pattern to which she added some handpainted designs and a very funky set of closures to the assymetrical line of the front opening. \u00a0I wish I had asked to photograph her…..but the upside is that I have her contact information and she has offered to help me learn fitting techniques so I can possibly have better success at sewing! \u00a0So, all in all I enjoyed meeting the other artists as the highlight of the event.<\/p>\n

There is one other positive feature about this gallery that I should mention. \u00a0The windows are very tall and they have been covered with balck venetian blinds. \u00a0For this exhibit the blinds are closed, keeping the textiles from too much UV exposure over the next few weeks. \u00a0Of course the halogen spotlights are screamers, but the the gallery is only open from Thursdays to Sundays in the afternoons each week, so not full time.<\/p>\n

Looking back at my admittedly narrow experience in showing fiber works in public spaces, I’ve been quite fortunate to be part of exhibitions in large spaces that allowed such very different techniques to be seen to good advantage. \u00a0I guess it takes a bad experience to better appreciate the good ones. \u00a0Meanwhile, for the next month my tapestry of the sunset on my son’s face can greet people as they retrieve their coats and visit the ladies’ or the men’s….. (snark)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the right hand side of this blog page I keep a list of the exhibitions where my tapestries have been shown. \u00a0Yesterday was the opening of a show in a venue I’ve never participated in before. \u00a0The focus was all kinds of fiber work, and when I dropped my pieces off for the jurying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3718"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3732,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718\/revisions\/3732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}