EXHIBITIONS

Susan (Wilchins) Brandeis juxtaposes patterns, textures, and color to create thematic composites that communicate the essential qualities she finds in nature. Starting with white fabrics and fibers, she builds up surfaces of dyed fibers, appliqued materials in felt and cotton, and stitched areas to replicate nature’s complex layering of imagery. Brandeis has taught at the School of Design at North Carolina State University since 1982, where she also coordinates the program in Fibers and Surface Design. Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States, as well as in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Columbia, and at the International Biennial of Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Lia Cook’s work draws on imagery childhood photographs and recent self-portraits. A master weaver and dyer, Cook is interested in the construction of imagery in textiles and the ways that imagery can be altered through painting, dyeing, finishing processes, and the manipulation of the weave structure itself. Through her use of digital technologies, she is able to address issues of scale, creating large, installation-size works that encourage the viewer to reconsider the traditional notion of “textile.” Many of her works are draped for installation to exaggerate the tactile and sensual aspects of the fabric. Cook is a Professor of Art at the California College of Art and Crafts (since 1976). Her work is found in numerous collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art; The American Craft Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C., and the French National Collection of Art, Paris.

Junco Sato Pollack makes use of a new dye sublimation process, to investigate the synthesis of natural and artificial, old and new, East and West in her work. Pollack’s abstract imagery on sheer synthetic fabric lends a weightless, ambient quality to her art. Her works are hung from the ceiling, suspended in space away from the wall, which allows them to take their shape in fabric, light and shadow. Pollack is Associate Professor of Art and Head of the Textile Program at the School of Art and Design at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Musée des Tissus Historique de Lyon, France and Museo Nacional des Bellas Arties, Santiago, Chile.

Cynthia Schira is one of the contemporary textile world’s most influential figures. She has been using computerized looms since 1983 to create complex woven textile structures and was one of the first fiber artists to fully appreciate the potential of computerization for the handweaver. Her work uses repeat patterning as a visual metaphor for the varying cyclic and repetitive aspects of life and nature. Her work is in the collection of museums around the world including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland.

Digital printer Hitoshi Ujiie combines a hands-on approach with computer technologies (digital printing) to produce botanically inspired surface designs. Ujiie established Hitoshi Ujiie Design in New York after working as a print designer in the textile firm of jack Lenor Larsen. Ujiie has produced numerous textiles for exhibition and for the international home furnishing market. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the textile Department of Philadelphia University (formerly Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science). Prior to that, he coordinated the Textile Program at Parsons School of Design in New York.

Master of many textile techniques including dyeing, weaving, printing and sewing, Caroll Westfall combines several of these processes in her current work. Westfall’s recent explorations have made use of the digital printer in creating her art. Beginning with a photograph she has taken on travel or research trips, Westfall manipulates these images to create her personal statement. She then uses the digital printer and handprinting processes to make her art—atmospheric textile installations that sometimes incorporate sound. Westfall has taught and lectured in Japan, england, Switzerland, Mexico, and India. Her work is in the collections of the Delaware Museum of Art, New Jersey State Museum, and the Zimmerli Museum.

(The Catalog)