PICTORIAL TAPESTRIES
Art ranges from huge wall hangings to beautifully sturdy covers for furniture
Fiber arts are here to stay. The University of New Mexico Hospital, Jonathan Abrams MD Art Gallery is hosting “State of the Art: Tapestry in the 21st Century” with works by eight area female artists through Feb. 19.
This is a solid show by a group of contemporary weavers that all have skill sets worthy of exhibition. The art of tapestry ranges in use from huge wall hangings to beautifully sturdy covers for furniture. This pictorial exhibition presents medium to small scale echoes of paintings, one of the traditional roles of tapestry.
The high point for tapestry was during the Middle Ages in Europe where large stone buildings like castles and other fortresses were softened and warmed by large wall hangings that dispelled drafts and broke the visual monotony of vast stone walls.
In the 20th century pictorial tapestry techniques were used to reproduce paintings by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso and Sonja Delaney to Stuart Davis and New Mexico’s own Charles Strong.
One of my favorites at UNMH is “Umbral Notes” by Heather Gallegos-Rex who revisits optical art and minimalism with her beautifully executed black and white rendering. Gallegos-Rex is celebrating the world of shadows at the liminal edge where visual perception can be tricked.
“Umbral Notes” vibrates with the ebb and flow of a central series of rectangles that emerge and fade with uninhibited abandon. Her work echoes that of Joseph Albers before he dedicated himself to color theory.
Linda Giesen offers a series of beautifully executed night scenes from White Sands that share a kinship with “Desert Night” a mural scale textile triptych by master multimedia artist and unabashed iconoclast Lin Lecheng of Beijing. Giesen studied with James Koehler who is one of New Mexico’s all-time best weavers so it’s no accident that her work compares favorably with Lin’s who is a world renowned fiber artist.
Nancy Lane offers elegant color harmonics and a strong sense of landscape design prowess in her “After Mel’s Mesa” a beautifully designed and executed vertical composition. Her work echoes Raymond Jonson’s transcendental landscape paintings without copying a particular one.
Because of her mastery of her palette Lane’s offering is one of the most powerful works in the show.
Katherine Perkins wades into the fray with “Sirocco Sky Provence” a very lively composition featuring a central tree motif replete with distant mountain ranges. The piece has enormous eye appeal as well as an animated internal energy that breathes life into the gallery.
Perkins studied with French tapestry weaver Jean Pierre Larochette and his wife designer Yael Lurie in California. The touch of European curvilinear flavor adds a lot of pizzazz to her hand dyed weavings.
Still life informs a series of floral designs by Letitia Roller who isolates irises in a field of gold in several pieces. In “Iris II” Roller completes a nicely composed design that very well represents the pictorial tradition of tapestry making.
Works by Mary C. Cost exude an affinity for subtle shading, soft edges and architectonic forms. In looking for a parallel sensibility Nancy Kozikowski springs to mind.
Janice Thompson Peters approaches the oft depicted Anasazi ruins in Chaco Canyon with a fresh stylization of the famous doorways. Peters substitutes the surrounding split stone walls with ones built of cut block stones.
Rebecca Mezoff, another student/apprentice of Koehler, brings a sense of razzle dazzle to the show with calligraphy inspired abstractions that are brimming with warm colors and skillful weaving.
This is a nice cross section of contemporary tapestry by some great artists. The natural lighting in the gallery from the usually bothersome floor to ceiling windows actually enhances this collection. Free parking is available in the UNMH West Parking Structure.