Fiber fantasies
The Memorial Art Gallery has morphed into a wild and woolly funhouse -- stuffed with fabric pigs, a dental-floss suit and other exotic varieties of fiber artistry.
The new Fiberart International is a touring exhibit featuring 81 artists from Canandaigua to Hong Kong. It juggles traditional and frankly bizarre techniques and materials, in a freewheeling carnival atmosphere.
"The exhibit explores the unexpected relations between fiber art and other disciplines," says Marlene Hamann-Whitmore, the museum's curator of education. "Some of these artists come to fiber through painting, photography and fashion design. Others were introduced to stitching when very little and have always worked in fabric."
It's just one of 10 fiber art exhibits around town, many showing a similar eclectic spirit. Although Fiberart is the biggest and boldest, current shows at Rochester Contemporary Art Center and Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester also show how diverse the craft is.
Organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, the MAG show puts the world of funky fabrics at your fingertips without actually letting you touch. For a good reason: These pieces are on sale for $500 to $32,000, and your smudges won't boost their appeal.
Not all of these creations will find their way into art lovers' homes. At least a third of them are stronger in innovation than artistic depth. The museum has cleverly mixed these dark horses among the thoroughbreds -- leaving you to guess who'll trot into the winners' circle.
Start with a circle of outrageous outfits near the entrance. Each of them would probably give Heidi Klum and her Project Runway pals instant ulcers. Yet they're sure to put a big, goofy smile on your face.
Rhode Island artist Rebecca Siemering uses star-shaped scratch tickets and dental floss to make a suit fit for a dentist who plays the lottery. Hong Kong designer Ray Hau molds fluffy orange wool into a mini-dress that floats behind its wearer, like a long-exposure afterimage.
Flashier ingredients go into Laurie Carlson's Galactic Sunburst. She builds a rich, purple-and-gold wall hanging from rayon, beads, paint and brass trinkets. It suggests an abstract version of Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold, glimpsed through a glowing mesh.
Now, back to earth. We sincerely doubt that you'll find any other exhibit starring fabric pigs. Stephanie Metz's Super Suckler is a realistic mamma hog equipped for 24 piglets. The medium is felted wool, but this Bay Area artist's message is anything but cuddly. She foresees a not-too-distant world in which genetically engineered animals serve humankind's needs.
A quilt by Penny Mateer of Pittsburgh shows handcuffed pigs flanked by dollar bills and convertibles. These swine must be emitting anti-capitalist oinks, because American flags flutter nearby with just a hint of irony.
One wall is devoted to the single work that you can touch: Atlanta artist Leisa Rich's wall hanging, No Sense Crying Over Spilled Milk: The End of the Ocean As We Know It. A long swatch of white cloth dribbles down from a milk bottle. Viewers can attach to it Velcro figures of a helicopter, bikini-clad babes or an oboist in tight underwear.
We won't even begin to interpret what these objects mean. In any case, visitors have other options for hands-on experiences."We have a special area where kids can sew or touch fiber," says Hamann-Whitmore.
Compared to Fiberart International, the Arts & Cultural Council exhibit is intimate and richer in wearable art. You'd expect that from its organizer -- the Weavers' Guild of Rochester, celebrating its 65th anniversary.
Its 140 members do highly skilled work with traditional fabric and unusual materials. Jan Hewitt Towsley of Henrietta, for instance, made a slab of copper wire with pretzel-like designs on top. It is provocatively displayed in the kind of black tray normally used to serve sushi.
Equally offbeat is Fairport fabric artist Jane Ellen Bartlett's hand-dyed silk kimono. Its pattern suggests clouds seen through rain-streaked windows -- Rochester's normal weather, translated into cloth.
For a jolt of whimsy, eyeball Rochester artist Denise Kovnat's Coat for Eliza. Its potato-sack shape is enlivened by a lively purple-and-red waffle weave, wide faux cuffs and bulls-eye buttons.
It's just one of the seductive outfits that make this a dangerous place to bring a wife or girlfriend. Almost everything's for sale, so keep your wallet close.
Lastly, be sure to tour the Northeast Regional Contemporary Fiber Exhibition in its final two days. Rochester Contemporary got an early start with this juried show, which displays works by 22 highly inventive artists.
Their designs sometimes seem more conventional than their flamboyant techniques. Vermont artist Michele Ratté, for example, has created a giant talisman that resembles a medieval bishop's staff. But it's pierced by stones and adorned with gold scales that give it a distinctly 21st-century look.
While we're on the subject of talismans, Carol Ann Rice Rafferty of Erie County likes to inject a little luck into her playful fashions. She uses coffee filters and beeswax to construct Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi.
The show's most graceful creation is a trio of transparent boats suspended over reeds. Pittsburgh fiber artist Laura Tabakman uses steel wire, silk and polymer clay for an installation that seems to float weightlessly.
If these three exhibits whet your appetite, take heart. Fiber mania will rage throughout the region until Sept. 19, when the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival closes in Hemlock, Livingston County.
After all, everyone agrees that fiber is good for you -- taken in sensible doses.SLOW@DemocratandChronicle.com
