zoom
John Glick
David Gurney
Molly Hatch
Nikki Lewis
Courtney Martin
Kazuko Matthews
Jeff Oestreich
Sam Taylor
David Wulfeck
and rag rug wall art by:
Lewis and Louisa Creed
OPENING RECEPTION OCTOBER 24th, 5-8PM
8413 WEST THIRD STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA 99048
323-655-2607 • WWW.FREEHAND.COM
HOUSTON CENTER FOR CONTEMPORAR
Artist Residency
P ro gra m
Application Deadline: March 15,2010
Media Accepted: Wood
Glass
Metal
Fiber
Clay
Mixed Media
Access to wide variety of professional opportunities and resources
•
Six, nine or twelve-m onth residencies • M on thly stipend
•
Free studio space
For more information, call 713-529-4848 x 112 or visit
www.crafthouston.org
Books
О Canada!
O Art Textiles of the World:
Canada
By Sandra Alfoldy, Alan C.
Elder, Lisa Vinebaum,
J. R. Carpenter
Telos Art Publishing
Brighton, England
$73
telos.net
Openness to technology, re-
sponsiveness to the environ-
ment and a capacity for con-
templation, are among the
qualities of the 20 Canadian
artists chosen by publisher
Matthew Koumis to represent
a composite of the textile
arts in their far-flung land.
The book is the 13th Koumis
has published in the Art
Textiles of the World series.
Sandra Alfoldy, who teach-
es craft history, traces Cana-
da’s textile history, touching
on the contributions of Native
peoples, French and British
colonizers, and immigrants.
Alan C. Elder, curator at the
Canadian Museum of Civiliza-
tion, compared Canadian
textile art in general to the
catalogne,
a traditional striped
fabric: “The work of our art-
ists combines transnational
concepts with regional ap-
proaches; it is flexible—both
physically and functionally—
and it relates to individuals—
both makers and consumers.”
J. R. Carpenter, a writer
and artist, describes how the
Canadian textile community
networks through schools or
through projects launched by
institutions: “Textile produc-
tion is basically the struggle
to join many small parts into
one large whole.
...Mapping
our movement through schools
of thought and circuits of com-
munity reveals a substratum
of connections that stretch
across the great swathes of
country in between us.” Con-
tending that textiles implicate
the body, Lisa Vinebaum, an
artist and theorist, discusses
those among the 20-Kai Chan
and Laura Vickerson, for ex-
ample—whose work engages
the body.
Among the featured artists,
a number of whom were born
elsewhere, are accomplished
weavers like Marcel Marois
and Joanne Soroka; mixed-
media artists who favor instal-
lation like Joanna Staniszkis
and Jennifer Angus; and devo-
tees of the stitch, such as Dor-
othy Caldwell. Technology
prods, among others, Barbara
Layne, who makes electronic
jackets and Jacquard weavings
with LEDs; and recycling
plays a role in the work of
Mindy Yan Miller, whose
installations using such items
as Coca-Cola cans comment
on labor, memory and land-
scape, and of Barb Hunt, who
reflects on death and war
through used fabrics.
Though these artists have
much in common with their
U .S.
counterparts, one puts
down this book persuaded
that Canadians bring a distinct
flavor to textiles.—
b . s .
www.freedowns.net & www.journal-plaza.net
