Fantastic Fibers 5

I'll finish my report on Fantastic Fibers, at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah KY, with two weavings and two pieces incorporating more than one technique.

One of the tapestries was big (maybe four feet across) --

Maximo Laura, Tiburon Madre (detail below)

The artist is from Peru, one of several international participants in the show, and the primary fiber in this piece is alpaca.  Many of the design elements are raised (wish I knew more about weaving techniques so I could explain how this was done) and apparently outlined with hand-stitching.  I loved the cheerful colors and little sea creatures that seemed simultaneously naive and sophisticated.

The other was small, only six inches wide --

Kathe Todd-Hooker, Too Little -- Too Late (detail below)

I think it's always difficult to use text in art without it seeming heavy-handed, like an editorial cartoon.  But this piece seemed to work well, with the crude letterforms somehow complementing the delicate imagery.

Here's a hybrid of embroidery and quilting --

Laura Gaskin, Winter Has Its Charms (details below)

Loved the dense hand-stitching that made up the "picture" -- not sure about the deconstructed "frame," with neatly pieced border strips concealed by the occasional raw-edge overlay.  If there was a point to this conspicuous gesture, I couldn't figure it out.

Saving the best for last, here's my favorite piece in the show: is it a box? is it a book?  Either way, it's a gem.

Eszter Bornemisza, Primitive Findings (details below)

The box is made of cardboard and covered with newspapers and gauze, accented with handstitching.  The little compartments are filled with folded bits of monoprinted fabrics, which looked so beautiful that we could hardly restrain ourselves from taking them out to see what they looked like.  It's a funny little combination of forms and functions (if you owned it, would you succumb to temptation and use the fabrics, or leave them there forever?) but the artistry of the design and execution is world-class serious.