Art in Santa Fe 2 -- fiber-like

It's always nice to encounter fiber art in mainstream art venues; makes you feel vindicated for working in a niche world.  For many years Thirteen Moons Gallery in Santa Fe carried only fiber art, but proprietor Jane Sauer closed that business a while ago.  Yet here was Jane back again last month, curating a show at Tansey Contemporary called "Fictitious Fiber" -- many of the works resemble fibers but are made from other materials.

For instance, here are two "baskets" woven from clay and a "doily" cut from wood.

Jim Kraft, Keep Blue Rutile

Jim Kraft, White Basket (detail)

Susanna Starr, Oak Round

Some non-fictitious, actual fibers sneaked into the show, despite its title.  I was familiar with Carol Shinn's densely machine-embroidered pictures, and Judith Content's silk kimono-shaped quilts.

Carol Shinn, Alone in the Sun

Judith Content, Evanescence 

But my favorite pieces were those using textile techniques on non-textile materials.

Here are two large weavings, I guess you'd call them, by Gugger Petter, using newspaper and hemp cording. Some areas were done in plain weave, others used tapestry techniques to lay in different colors.  I could look at these for a long time.