Fiber Philadelphia

at Snyderman-Works Gallery

It would be impossible to capture the whole of Fiber Philadelphia in a blog post. There were over 40 scheduled shows of fiber-based artwork. I probably saw about 25 of them while I was there, most of them on one marathon day. It was exciting to see such varied and high quality work and I came away reassured that this is the time to be working in fiber. Sure Fiber Philadelphia was a bubble, but it was our bubble.

This blog post is not a review. It is a sampling of artwork from some of the shows that stood out to me because of a number of reasons: the quality of the artwork, the setting it was shown in, the unusual pairings of materials, or the way it was displayed. There is so much that is not shown here simply because I didn’t get a photo or my photos weren’t good.

There were several things I noticed over all the shows. One was that most of the artwork I saw was in neutral colors. In general, color was used sparingly. Whether this was representative of the state of fiber art or it was because of curator’s choice, I don’t know. I also noticed a lot of three-dimensional work. This may be because I had my 3-d radar on, but there was a lot of it.

Here are photos from Snderman-Works Gallery, Wexler Gallery, Muse Gallery, Space 1026, Borowsky Gallery, Outside/Inside the Box, and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Some of these were big shows, some small.  Because of time and space I’ve only given the artist’s name and the name of the piece. I’ve done my best to attribute the work correctly.

I hope you enjoy my small and biased tour of Fiber Philadelphia.

8th International Fiber Biennial at Snyderman-Works Gallery

Jill Powers, The Small Winged Life

The Small Winged Life, detail

Lia Cook, tapestry detail

Norma Winkowitz, Hybrid

 

Narrative Thread at Wexler Gallery

Donna Rosenthal, Born to Be Wild

 

Diem Chau, Shadow

 

 

Sara Horne at Muse Gallery

Sara Horne, shibori and blown glass

Sara Horne

 

 

Optical Fiber at Space 1026

Allison Watkins, My Closet in San Francisco

My Closet in San Francisco, detail

 

 

Mending = Art at Gershman Y, Borowsky Gallery

Spinks, Random Act of Kindness #8

Ilaria Margutti, Mend of Me

Erin Endicott, Healing Sutras

 

 

Outside/Inside the Box at Crane Arts Building

Inside/Outside the Box at the Crane Art Center

 

June Lee, Bystander

Atticus Adams, Orange Grove

Orange Grove, detail

Reineke Hollander, Ancestor Chairs

April Dauscha, Exposed: An Armory of Physical Longings

Exposed, detail

Tamryn McDermott, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Tomorrow . . ., detail

Delbert Jackson, Sandstorm

Jackson Martin, Collapse (Until Death Do Us Part)

Birgitte Armager, Humanoids

Humanoids

Rachel Mica Weiss, Sagging Ellipse (After Richard Serra)

Marie Bergstedt, Dressing for a Delicate Condition

Joetta Maue, waking with you

waking with you, detail

Jenine Shereos, Leaf (Auburn)

Ann Wessmann, Words Unspoken: 37,499 days - June 9, 1932 - December 31, 1941

Words Unspoken Series, detail

Emily Dvorin, In the Eye of the Beholder

 

 

A Sense of Place at Philadelphia Art Alliance

Barbara Lee Smith

Barbara Lee Smith, details

Ke-Sook Lee, Green Hammock

Pat Hickman, River Teeth

River Teeth, detail

Marian Bijlenga, detail

Amy Orr

 

 

One thought on “Fiber Philadelphia

  1. Jeanne Marklin

    Cameron, thanks for posting all those photo’s. They are a good reminder of all there was to see at Fiber Philadelphia. I had already forgotten about so many of the artworks, and really enjoyed seeing them again.
    It was great to see you too!

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