Fiber Focus 2019

Fiber Focus 2019 - September 28-October 24, 2019 - FREE reception Saturday, October 5, 5-7 p.m. 

Please join Art Saint Louis for Fiber Focus 2019 exhibition featuring artworks by 42 artists from eight Midwestern regional states.

Graphic Design by Emily Amberger.

Art Saint Louis presents Fiber Focus 2019, a juried contemporary fiber art exhibit that was open to artists residing in Missouri and the eight states that are contiguous to our border: Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Artworks submitted for this exhibit were to focus on fiber as media as well as technique. Works in any fiber media or combination of fiber media were considered. Other media may be incorporated, however, the central or key element explored must clearly be fiber or fiber technique. All themes/subjects, styles, techniques, media. For Fiber Focus 2019 214 artworks were submitted by 87 artists for consideration by exhibit Juror Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, from which he selected 47 works by 42 artists from eight states for the final exhibition. The exhibit features artworks in basketry, beading, dyeing, embellishment, embroidery, handmade paper, quilting, sewing, surface design, tapestry, weaving, and more. View the featured artworks in our Facebook album.     HEC-TV spotlights Fiber Focus 2019 Fiber Focus 2019 is presented at Art Saint Louis, 1223 Pine Street in downtown St. Louis, MO, September 28 through October 24, 2019. FREE reception & awards: Saturday, October 5, 2019, 5-7 p.m. with juror Arturo Alonzo Sandoval. Updated time: Free Juror's Gallery talk daytime on Saturday, October 5, 2:30-3 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Closed Sundays & holidays. FREE.   Our Fiber Focus exhibition has a wonderful HISTORY. Created by Art Saint Louis in 1995, we've had the good fortune to exhibit works by hundreds of excellent Midwest regional artists. Our esteemed previous jurors include outstanding key internationally-recognized figures working in contemporary fiber art (this includes Juror's professional positions at the time of their service to ASL): 1995    Barbara Lee Smith, artist, curator, lecturer, author 1997    Rebecca A.T. Stevens, artist, lecturer, author, curator, Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. 1999    Yoshiko Wada, artist, curator, author, Professor, University of California, Berkeley

2001    Laurel Reuter, author, Founding Director & Chief Curator, North Dakota Museum of Art
2003    Junco Sato Pollack, artist, Associate Professor of Art, Head of Textiles, School of Art & Design, Georgia State University, Atlanta
2005    Bhakti Ziek, textile artist, author, Randolph, VT
2007    Jane Sauer, artist, former owner, Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (currently resides in St. Louis, MO)
2009    Alice Zrebiec, curatorial consultant, Santa Fe, NM; consulting curator of Textile Art, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
2011    Lia Cook, artist, Professor of Art, Textiles and Graduate Studies at California College of Arts, Berkeley, CA
2015   Marci Rae McDade, artist; previously Editor, Surface Design Journal, Portland, OR

"Fiber Focus 2019" exhibit Juror Arturo Alonzo Sandoval. Serving as JUROR for Fiber Focus 2019 is artist Arturo Alonzo Sandoval. Sandoval is Emeritus Professor, University of Kentucky, Lexington (1973-2017). Born in New Mexico, Arturo earned a B.A. in Printmaking & Surface Design (1964) and M.A. in Sculpture (1969) from California State College, Los Angeles, CA and M.F.A. (emphasis on sculpture) at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI (1971).
His vast educational career includes teaching positions at SIU Edwardsville, SIU Carbondale, and Cranbrook. In addition, Arturo served in the U.S.N.R in Vietnam and Japan. An award-winning artist, Sandoval has exhibited in local, regional, national, and international exhibitions since 1974. His works have been featured in hundreds of periodicals, books & publications in the U.S. and abroad. Arturo has served as Juror or Curator for over 70 exhibitions. In 2007, Mr. Sandoval was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council and holds professional affiliations with numerous fine art institutions and organizations. Arturo's works are included in private and public collections throughout the U.S.
We first met Arturo in 1995 when we presented his work in our curated exhibit, "Homage: Inspirational Leaders in Regional Fiber Arts 1920s-1980s," curated for Art Saint Louis by Zoe Annis Perkins. In more recent years, his work was juried in to this very exhibit, "Fiber Focus" in 2001, 2009 and 2011. We are very honored to have the opportunity to work with Arturo again.

Fiber Focus 2019 is presented with generous support from Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Missouri Fiber Artists, and Weavers' Guild of Saint Louis.

The featured artists in this exhibit are:

Fiber Focus 2019 Juror's Statement
  "Throughout history and in today’s culture, textiles are ever present on our bodies, in homes, fashion, theater, and contemporary art and art installations. Fiber art tells stories, are dramatic and quiet, show empathy, are functional, innovative, textural, bombastic, are jewelry and books, use scale, layering, accretion, have color, employ industrial materials, have glitter and sheen, use hand processes, made on 2D surfaces, use 3D forms, are loaded with pattern, are modular and linear, are tapestry and interlacing, employ digital imaging, use hand and commercial dyeing, silk painting, beading, basketry, quilting, binding, stitching, needlework, knitting, felting, and crochet; are used in space, in surgery, and much more. It is through this lens that that I selected the entries for the "Fiber Focus 2019" juried exhibition. For this exhibit, I worked to select as many textile voices to show the varied and rich creations possible."

— Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, artist,
Emeritus Professor, University of Kentucky, Lexington

Art Saint Louis' Fiber Focus 2019 exhibition is presented in conjunction with Innovations in Textiles 2019, a collaborative art event presented Fall 2019 in St. Louis city & county, St. Charles, and Columbia, MO as well as Metro East, IL and Mt. Vernon, IL.
Created to investigate the state of contemporary textile arts, Innovations in Textiles 2019 is comprised of 49 regional nonprofit & commercial art galleries, organizations and museums that have joined forces to present innovative exhibitions and programming that explores fiber art, textiles and fashion created by local, regional, national, and international artists. Programming includes exhibits, receptions, workshops, lectures, gallery talks & tours, a bus tour, and related programs at regional venues throughout the Fall. A special weekend of events is scheduled in conjunction with Surface Design Association‘s (SDA) biennial “Beyond the Surface” Conference presented in St. Louis October 3-6. For information on all related events, partners and exhibitions, visit the Innovations website.

Some of the 47 artworks featured in Fiber Focus 2019:

Rowen Schussheim-Anderson, Davenport, IA. "Primary Interest." 2018. Fiber/Tapestry, 54”x44”. $6,500	Kristin Morland, Lawrence, KS. "As Above, So Below." 2019. Sequins, Beads, Thread, 36”x36”x7”. $2,500.	Gena Mark, Lexington, KY. "Pinwheel Star." 2017. Hand Dyed Cotton, Pieced, Quilted, 46 3/8”x46 3/8”. $1,000.
Aviva Alter, Chicago, IL. "Sprung." 2018. Plastic, Metal, Wire & Plastic Mesh, Glue, Thread, Pigment, 12”x16”x4”. $1,200.	Miguel de Aguero, Sullivan, MO. "Manifold Series-Arachnine II." 2019. Woven Nylon Twine, Acrylic Medium, 18”x24”. $425.	Elizabeth Madden, Clayton, MO. "Net of Miraculous Occurrences." 2017. Embroidery Floss on Broadcloth, 8”x9.5”. Not for Sale.
Laverne Zabielski, Lexington, KY. "Felted Mandala." 2019. Fiber, 70”x40”x1”. $800.	Alanna Huck-Scarry, Chicago, IL. "Skye Iris I." 2018. Spandex, Polyfill, 6’x3’x1’. Not for Sale.	Becky Stevens, Belton, MO. "More Stories To Be Told." 2019. Hemp, Cotton Cloth, Wool, Indigo, 48.5”x23.5”x.25”. Not for Sale.
Geraldine Craig, Manhattan, KS. "The Earl Project: Normandy 2.1." 2019. Digital Printing on Cotton, Machine Embroidery, 14”x14”x1” . $2,200.	Sharon Havelka, Memphis, TN. "Soundproof Forest." 2019. Wooden Cigar Box, Soundproof Material, Recycled Fabric, 20”x18”x6”. Not for Sale.	Michele Lasker, Tulsa, OK. "Sanctuary." 2017. Surface Design, Digital Collage Fabric, Hand Embroidery; Screen-Printed, Commercial & Painted Fabric, Digital Fabrics, Hand-Dyed Fabrics, Thread, Ribbon, 64.5”x42”. $5,000.