Opening Reception:
Reception: Thursday, February 8 from 5-7 P.M.
Simmons University presents: Crumpled Wrapped Woven, an exhibition of works by Susan Emmerson, Ruth Daniels, and Karen Gelbard from February 6-March 15 at the Trustman Art Gallery, located on the fourth floor, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway in Boston. A reception will be held on Thursday, February 8 from 5-7 P.M. (snow date February 15). The gallery will be closed March 5-9. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
The artists’ textural and tactile creations push fiber and fabric in distinctive and sculptural ways. Susan Emmerson’s Tyvek fabric pieces are distressed, cut away and crumpled into various forms. Ruth Daniels’ organically shaped wrapped wall works employ thread as a covering rather than a fabric. The weaving of Karen Gelbard uses edge technique, quilting and pin tuck details added to the woven cloth.
Susan Emmerson did her graduate work at Lesley College of Art and Design, and recently moved to Boston from the Midwest. Emmerson works with Tyvek calling to mind the human body, cellular structures and the inherent fragility of skin and what lies beneath the surface. Her investigation by heating, gluing, sanding and cutting, echoes her former calling as a surgeon. The forms suggest imaginary organs, microorganisms, and body cavities.
Ruth Daniels’ “Tangled Series” are wire structures wrapped with thread creating three-dimensional line drawings. Her repetitive wrapping process is meditative. The element of chance is evoked by the amount of thread determining the final shape, and formal considerations of light, dark, thick and thin and the motion of the wrapping, are all part of the object. Daniels, a Boston native, graduated from the New England School of Art and also studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Karen Gelbard is from Oregon; her award winning creations have been featured at shows and in fiber publications throughout the United States. She graduated from University of Kansas and studied with Persis Grayson at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN. Her new Armor Series “Women with Steel” employs surplus wire from Boeing Aircraft Industries. She utilizes a 100-yard warp on her loom. Frequently her color palette looks to the Oregon coast as inspiration.
All three of these artists exploit fiber in intricate permutations. The range of what we consider fabric and thread is expanded and examined in their works.
Trustman Art Gallery hours are 10 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 10 AM – 7 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. The gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. For more information, contact Kyle Mendelsohn at (617) 521-2268 or find us on Instagram.