EXHIBITS
Sparks by D. Weir
Out of Darkness
Bent Needle Collective July 31 - October 27, 2019 Out of Darkness is an exhibit of bold, colorful art quilts and textiles that follow the theme of
emerging from a period of darkness. The three artists of the Bent Needle Collective- Carol Nilsen, Deborah Weir, and Susan Willen- have created a collection of pieces that play with their own personal journeys and talents, but that all flow into one universal story of recovery, optimism, and hope for the future. By focusing on new directions to take their work, the Bent Needle Collective hopes to challenge and inspire viewers to use fiber arts as a vehicle for expressing things in uniquely personal, tactile ways. |
Detail, Promise of the Pinecone by Deborah Runnels.
Shifting Tides:
Convergence in Cloth Studio Art Quilt Association June 26 - September 29, 2019 Held over thru October 13! In an arc along the western shores of North America to the archipelago of Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific Ocean is a source of life and livelihood. Yet threats to the Pacific ecosystem are growing. These perils challenge our perception of the ocean as limitless bounty. Overfishing and global warming threaten not just oceanic life, but the human communities that depend on it. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch draws in waste material from across the ocean, including coastal waters of Canada and the United States. The ocean knows no boundary. The convergence of these ecosystem issues requires communities and governments to also converge in finding solutions.
Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth focuses on the current state of the Pacific Ocean ecosystem, its marvelous natural diversity, and the human activities that both sustain and threaten oceanic life. Whether one lives on the ocean or in the interior, the Pacific touches many lives and economies. As residents of this greater North Pacific region, artists share personal narratives and statements about what exists, current threats, and needed actions. The exhibit includes a representative range of North Pacific mainland and island habitats and issues. The selected works may focus solely on one area of flora, fauna, geology, oceanography and human activity, or may combine them. Subject matter may be inspired by sources as personal as vacations or fact-based as current scientific research. Through the variety of artistic styles and viewpoints from realism to abstraction, Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth will delight and challenge viewers to assess their own perceptions regarding the interplay of oceanic and human communities. Exhibiting Artists:
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Octopus and Crab by Beth Blankenship
Connecting Threads
Beth Blankenship October 2 - 27, 2019 I’ve lived in Anchorage, Alaska for 38 years but I grew up 100 miles south of here near the Sound, in the little town of Steilacoom. Where I would often wander down to Saltar’s Point beach to observe the creatures living there and see what the tide brought in.
Nowadays, I live in downtown Anchorage, where my view from the studio is the streets and buildings of the city framed by the beautiful Chugach Mountains. The offices of the oil company ConocoPhillips are right in front of me and the Cook Inlet ebbs and flows behind me. Since I’ve always lived near a body of water, there’s a special place in my heart for the life of the sea. Many of the vessels you see here reflect on the changing marine environment—the negative effects of “resource development” and the shifts brought on by climate change. I think all the time about the intersection of the man-made and the natural. I think about oil spills, tailings pond leaks, the rise of ocean temperatures and other adverse effects of climate change on Alaska’s waters and subsistence way of life for its indigenous people—the many ways sea life and human life are connected. We are all connected. There are countless symbiotic relationships in the natural world. We humans—through our actions or inaction—alter those relationships. And yet the work I make isn’t only about the bad news. Oftentimes, I think about the beauty and bounty that surround me in the wonderful place I call home. Alaska has over 33,000 miles of coastline filled with an abundance of life. The salmon that return to our rivers are sometimes so thick that they say one could walk across a stream on their backs and never touch the water. The threadwork of these vessels is a metaphor for the concept that one thread is indeed fragile but many threads, holding together, make the world. |
