This handwoven, pleated, machine embroidered "cocoon", originally intended to hang in space, landed on my head. Fits perfectly. An Easter bonnet perhaps?!
Pleating
Links to articles for forward folding
"Forward Folding" had a good run at the AS220 Reading Room. The opening was well attended and lots of fun, and several of my pieces have found new homes. Below are three links to articles about my show. The first is an interview I did for AS220 which gives some good insight into my work and process for "Forward Folding. The second is another interview and slide show put together by Origami Spirit, and the third a posting on World Shibori Network. Enjoy!
as220.org/forward-folding-an-interview-with-kate-barber/
www.origamispirit.com/2016/07/textile-folding/
shibori.org/2016/06/16/exhibition-forward-folding-by-kate-barber/
I took the show down on Saturday, and am back in my studio working on ideas for my next series.
Forward Folding
I've been in hiding since the holidays, working towards my first solo exhibit, scheduled to open in July 2016. The show will be at The Reading Room, a Providence, RI gallery, one of several run by the forward-thinking AS220 arts organization. Working towards this goal has given me new focus and a good opportunity to develop a small body of work. I'm enjoying the concentrated effort, developing ideas slowly, and seeing the sometimes surprising turns my work takes. The working title of the exhibit is "Forward Folding". Most of the pieces in the show will be for the wall, although I also intend to make a few three-dimensional pieces. And undoubtedly I won't be able to resist throwing in a few wearable items as well. More to come!
Pleating Continued...
This 15" x 15" piece called "Storm" was recently in the Handweavers' Guild of Connecticut's Biennial show which ran for three weeks last month at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, CT. I wove a long and narrow warp shibori strip using a fine polyester warp and silk, polyester and linen weft. After I cinched up the pleats and steam set them, I cut the strip up and stitched sections back together. I love the way the tension pulls and distorts the lines of the pleats. This won the HGA Award of Excellence for fiber art and took first place in the "wall hangings" category.
And here's another small piece, a sample using the same idea as "Storm" (above) but using a finer and softer warp. It has a soft enough drape that it could potentially work as something wearable.
Playing With Pleats
Being a texture person, I've always loved pleats, and have long thought about exploring the pleating process on loom. I recently joined the Textile Study Group of New York which is having a show of members' work this winter called "Square". Every piecemust be mounted on a 12" x 12" square panel provided to all entrants. This was my chance to work small and do a pleated sample of sorts. Here is "Fold," the piece I submitted for the exhibition I wove narrow strips of randomly striped fabric using a warp shibori technique and pleated the fabric after it came off the loom. I then cut it, pieced it, and hand stitched it back together. The piecing together part was time consuming and gave me plenty of time to think about the next step in this exploration. I'm thinking bigger. And circles. Stay tuned.
What Else I've Been Up To
Here are a few other images showing what I've been up to in my studio the last couple of months. Not much rug weaving, but I am determined to get back to that as soon as I can. Mostly playing around with different ideas and getting a few finished scarves out there for sale.
