Jacobs
Gallery Presents a two part
exhibit:
Louie Gizyn &
Carnival of Color
~ Fanciful
Figurines
Louie majored in art since kindergarten and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. For the past thirty years, she has been working in clay and cloth.
Whether large or small, each mime is individually designed as a one-of-kind piece. The head of each character is hand-pinched out of stoneware clay. The head is then fired, sanded, painted and varnished. The body of each figure is constructed with a skeletal armature of wood and wire, or welded steel rod. The bulk of the body is sculpted with fiberfill and cloth. The costuming then begins. Color is the breath of her work. When choosing fabrics, she tries to maintain a balance between deliberation and spontaneity. Enjoy!
Impressions
~ Material
ARTistry
A Passion for Creating
Material ARTistry is a new group, formed from five artists of a like mind but broad experience in the fiber and fine arts. A passion for creating art that makes use of fiber, textiles, thread, and other seemingly humble materials brings together the diverse visions of Sally Zehrung, Jae McDonald, MarDee Hansen, Sandra McMorris Johnson, and Janet Hiller, the members of Material ARTistry. Each is drawn to the idea of presenting ideas which appeal to two senses simultaneously--the visual and the tactile. Each works in some way with cloth, but the results are as varied as their makers.
While acknowledging the tradition of textile-based art from many cultures, Material ARTistry pushes the edge of the genre. The group is especially interested in the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the medium with which they choose to create. Fabric is soft, familiar, and accessible, an integral part of life from birth to death.
In the hands of these artists, fibers are manipulated, cut, dyed, fused, and sometimes burned. The resulting works of art, ranging from quilts, to dolls, to collage structures, challenge conventional notions of textile art. The artists are committed not only to exhibiting and promoting their own work, but their medium as well. Making connections with viewers--communicating on a sensory as well as a cognitive level--is the goal.
Material ARTistry is a new group, formed from five artists of a like mind but broad experience in the fiber and fine arts. A passion for creating art that makes use of fiber, textiles, thread, and other seemingly humble materials brings together the diverse visions of Sally Zehrung, Jae McDonald, MarDee Hansen, Sandra McMorris Johnson, and Janet Hiller, the members of Material ARTistry. Each is drawn to the idea of presenting ideas which appeal to two senses simultaneously--the visual and the tactile. Each works in some way with cloth, but the results are as varied as their makers.
While acknowledging the tradition of textile-based art from many cultures, Material ARTistry pushes the edge of the genre. The group is especially interested in the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the medium with which they choose to create. Fabric is soft, familiar, and accessible, an integral part of life from birth to death.
In the hands of these artists, fibers are manipulated, cut, dyed, fused, and sometimes burned. The resulting works of art, ranging from quilts, to dolls, to collage structures, challenge conventional notions of textile art. The artists are committed not only to exhibiting and promoting their own work, but their medium as well. Making connections with viewers--communicating on a sensory as well as a cognitive level--is the goal.
Although Sandra trained in artistic fields as diverse as sculpture, painting, dyeing, weaving and the history of art, textiles have always been at the heart of her work. She came to Oregon from the Midwest where she studied and took degrees in art history and fine art at the University of Kansas, the University of Chicago, and SIUC. The foundation of her recent body of work springs from early childhood memories of her mother and sisters working together…and happy! (1950’s Kansas was a well-known Mecca of the art world)
Now Sandra works primarily dyeing silk & satin fabrics to create small intimate mosaics and (occasionally) large community installations [The Millennium Clothesline on Mt Pisgah (2000), also in Berkeley, CA; Kansas City, MO; Great Falls, MT & Carbondale, IL]
While she believes that her artwork is her best curriculum vitae, Sandra is immodest enough to share details of awards, commissions, exhibitions etc. at her colorful new website at: www.sandramcmorrisjohnson.com.
Jae McDonald is an award winning fiber artist located in Eugene, Oregon. She didn’t come to fiber arts until her mid thirties, when an interest in historic textiles inspired her to learn to embroider, weave, spin yarn and finally, quilt. An artist all her life, Jae never felt that she had found her medium until she began to make art quilts. She joined a new art quilt group, Oregon Fiber Artists, in 2005, and was president of the group in 2007-2008. Since then, she has become more and more dedicated to promoting fiber arts and art quilts as the fine art that they are. She is a member of SAQA, as well as a teacher of art quilting techniques. Her work has been shown in many national and international exhibits. www.jaemcdonald.com
Janet Hiller is a self-taught fiber artist. Her interest in the form began in the early 1990's when she discovered examples of contemporary Japanese sashiko. Since then, her work has appeared in a number of regional, national, and international exhibits. Janet's formal education in the liberal arts informs much of her work, and reflects her continuing fascination with literature, music, and the nuances of language. Her recent works are heavily textured, and constructed primarily of her hand dyed fabrics.
A native Oregonian, Sally Zehrung has lived most of her life in Eugene where she has availed herself of the many opportunities that are offered in the arts -classes, lectures, workshops, and seminars - to hone her abilities. After experimenting with a number of artistic endeavors such as oil painting, wood carving, copper tooling, as well as most areas of needlework, she came back to her first love: fabrics and color. She experienced much pleasure constructing traditional quilts and is now designing and creating wonderfully complex art quilts. Inspiration comes to her from several sources: the abundance of colors, forms and textures of nature; evocative fabrics; and from her personal thoughts and experiences.
MarDee Hansen is in the throes of living her passion. After a lifetime of working with various art forms: water color, bronze sculpting, oil painting and jewelry casting, MarDee took a quilting course 14 years ago and never looked back.
Utilizing the wide array of colors, patterns and textures available with fabric and thread, MarDee put her artistry to work. Her blend of colors, design and mixed media sets her apart, demonstrating that the technique of quilting is like a paint brush, and as such her pieces have moved beyond the word quilt, to art. www.mardeemania.com
