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Tapestry

Anna Torma

Anna tormaFrom Hyperallergic - Angels, devils, dragons, and monsters are just a few of the unruly creatures that maraud across Anna Torma’s delightfully chaotic textiles. The Hungarian-Canadian artist’s multicolored, swirling scenes are filled with semi-clothed human-animal crossovers tangled together in curious acts of sex and mischief. Inspired by fairy tales, children’s drawings, Hungarian folklore, and medieval legends, Torma’s playful, hand-sewn worlds present an especially engrossing escape from the bleakness of everyday pandemic life.

Torma was born in 1952 in Tarnaörs, a village in northern Hungary. Her first contact with art came from her parents: her father painted landscapes and still lifes when he wasn’t farming, and her mother and grandmothers taught the young artist regional needleworking techniques used to prepare a young woman’s bridal trousseau. Torma’s facility with class drawing assignments and skill with sewing doll clothes were early signs of her artistic path. “I have always been smart with my hands,” Torma told Hyperallergic in a video call from her New Brunswick studio. Torma, whose sunny studio is filled with potted plants and piles of new works, is shy but quick to smile, and speaks in a soft, melodic voice.

For decades, Torma has collected found textile objects like crochet doilies, embroidery samplers, lace, appliqué, and fabric clippings. Some of her favorites appear in her Personal Ribbon (2020) series. In these works, textile objects like scraps of traditional Hungarian embroidery and a fabric photograph of the artist’s grandparents are arranged along strips of hemp cloth. Collectively, the sequenced artefacts form a sort of exhibition within an exhibition of the artist’s personal and material points of origin. Unlike her previous works, these place Torma’s biography at their center. “Activities with textile are always very personal,” the artist said, and with these works, “I invite you to my life in a private way.”

 

 


Natalia Margulis

Natalia margulis home1a_After MonetOne does not need to work strictly in paint and stone to be considered a fine artist. Once a craft, embroidery is every bit a high art as any other material. And so it is with artist Natalia Margulis whose work patterns painters like Monet. Her intricate carefully rendered worksare sensuous to the eye and tactile to the touch.

National and International exhibited fiber artist Natalia Margulis was born in Russia and graduated from Saint Petersburg University. Since 1993 she worked in U.S.A. as full time artist. Participating in the most prestigious art and craft shows, she has gained recognition and won numerous top awards in contests. Her works were published in the books and magazines, and she taught embroidery classes.

"Inspired by nature's sublime beauty, I use a needle as a versatile instrument to recreate our natural environment as an embroidered textile. With my stitchery I investigate and express the endless transformation of nature through the seasons from new life to decay. The fluid and supple qualities of fiber allow me to reconstruct the natural forms and textures which fascinate me.  Each piece is influenced by my desire to share and bring more meaning and joy into our lives.  I am especially interested in creating the illusions of movement, delicacy, light and shadow.

Embroidered pictures, by means of their softness and vulnerability, awaken a deep sense of belonging to the organic world: through visual perception we experience physical tactility.  The fragility of fiber is used to indicate the fragility of the world and reflects my passionate desire to help save and protect it.  Trying to expand the possibilities to express myself, I include all kinds of hand and machine stitches and often some elements of other fiber techniques such as dyeing, fusing, gilding, beading, heat distressing and embossing. These are my tools to achieve my art."


Stephanie Hirsch

Stephanie HirschThrough her use of beads, sequins and embroidery, Stephanie Hirsch's canvases are literally 'illuminated' with phrases of enlightenment and hope. Continuing her personal investigations into individual development through text, Hirsch ups the ante by removing the "easy access" of familiar graphic elements inspired by iconic punk-rock album covers and adding a recognizable figurative element. The use of the figurative element humanizes her compositions and is based upon self-portraits driven by her fascination on the whole social media "selfie" craze.  Wanting to delve deeper into how "selfies" create an image of how we want to be portrayed in the world rather than who we actually are, she shot her "selfies" while saying and feeling the emotional content in the compositions.  Hirsch states, "I was also inspired by Cindy Sherman's work titled 'Aging Socialite.' Sherman perfectly executed the daunting look in the eyes that spoke of insecurity and fear of a life no longer lived.  My fear of just existing while living promoted my 'selfie' study as well.  I am also profoundly influenced by Barbara Kruger whose text based work questions autonomy and desire, which I yearn and struggle for within myself."

 

The journey of how Hirsch struggles with her external and internal self creates a unique entry point for the artwork.  The viewer can identify and reflect upon their own personal experiences by simply reading the words and connecting with the visage.  This simple, yet profound shift creates the intimate and introspective underpinning to the work allowing the viewer to oscillate between the beauty of the materials and the message implied. Using insights like "I'd Rather Die on My Feet than Live on My Knees," "I Was Not Built to Break," "We All Find Our Way," and "It's Never Too Late," Hirsch weaves a story of overcoming one's personal adversity and building an inner spirituality that hopefully filters out into the world.

 

Stephanie Hirsch has shown in exhibitions in New York, the Hamptons, Miami and San Francisco. She was a featured artist in Miami Design District's Art Walk (2012) and showcased in the Mercedes Benz VIP lounge at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week (2012).  Hirsch was among 30 artists commissioned to create a unique commemorative crown for display in Harrods (London) in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (2012). Hirsch is the founder of Inca resort wear and author of "Mother Nurture," published by William Morrow (2008).  She lives and works in New York City.

Maria Creyts

Maria CreytsArtist Maria Creyts creates extraordinarily long photos depicting subjects she designs from textiles.  Her works are concerned with hand-sewn garments as subjects in same-scale photography.  Large photo compositions and the clothing subjects themselves are often exhibited together with the matching image and subject just out of view of each other.  Complete ensembles suspended on hangers seem like mysterious gallery goers whose boldly patterned dress outshines the individual to the point that we do not see him or her at all.

In 2012 the artist focused on custom clothing design while preparing an African-themed fashion collection for Kansas City’s West 18th Street Fashion Show.  Through this, she acquired further skill in sewing and explored how clothing design and construction could help in planning a purpose for her sewn subjects beyond the photo shoot.

During December and January 2011-2012, Creyts spent time learning batik techniques in Nigeria under artist Niké Davies Okundaye with the goal of introducing the artist’s own hand into her photo friezes through designing fabrics for photography subjects.  For the menswear ensemble she photoed, Creyts used hot wax to draw and print imagery on 7 yards of seersucker.  The motif used unites the amusing story of her visit to an African palace with traditional Nigerian stencil designs that portray a European royal couple.


About the artist

Maria Creyts is a graduate of Yale University School of Art and her studio, ESTUDIO mariaurora, is in Kansas City, Missouri.  The artist’s photo friezes have stretched over walls at the Visual Arts Gallery of the University of Lagos, Nigeria (2012), Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City (2011), and Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo in Oaxaca, Mexico (2010).  In "Panoramic Patterns” (Kansas City Star, 4/21/2011), critic Dana Self described the artist as "...a curious media traveler, someone who refuses to let a material’s limitations or its nature stand in the way of her inquisitiveness.”  artist website:  http://mariaurora.net


Maira Kalman

Crosstown-Boogie-Woogie Maira Kalman Working as an illustrator, author, and designer, Maira Kalman illuminates contemporary life with a profound sense of joy and a unique sense of humor. 

Kalman speaks of her work as a form of journalism. She uses writing and drawing to render an ongoing account of the world as she sees it. Hers is a daily discipline of creativity based on photography, travel, research, walking, talking, and open observation. A serious love of distraction pervades. Abundant depictions of fashion, food, art, and architecture represent life’s great pleasures. At the same time rubber bands, pieces of moss, bobby pins, and snacks stake a claim for smaller forms of satisfaction. All of this might seem pretty trivial were it not for the counterweight of history, memory, and loss that is also ever-present. Chaos is another constant, be it crazy and madcap or simply devastating.

Indeed, it is her work’s gift to illuminate those things that affirm our own capacity for joy, sadness, humor, charm. In short, Kalman’s art inspires our humanity in light of life’s overwhelming events and details.

Maira Kalman (b. 1949 Tel Aviv, lives New York) is the author of twelve children’s books including Ooh-la-la (Max in Love). Among her adult classics are The Elements of Style, an illustrated edition of Strunk and White’s timeless grammar, and The Principles of Uncertainty, a picture book of essays based on a yearlong online column for The New York Times. She has just completed a second online epic for The Times titled And the Pursuit of Happiness.

Kalman’s best known work, created with fellow illustrator Rick Meyerowitz, is New Yorkistan: a cartoon map of the city designated by tribes, such as Pashmina, Irant, and Irate. When it ran on the cover of The New Yorker in December 2001, it sanctioned a first burst of laughter in the aftermath of 9/11. A relatively more secret aspect of her identity is as the “M” in M&Co, the revolutionary design firm founded by her late husband, Tibor Kalman, with whom she was a constant collaborator. The firm’s famous 10-One-4 watch is based on one of her doodles. She has collaborated on projects with the fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, the choreographer Mark Morris, and the composer Nico Muhly. Her work can be seen in The Jewish Museum .


Vadis Turner

Vadis Turner The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art. - Jackson Pollack

Vadis Turner's work is an intersection where color theory, abstraction, assemblage and feminism meet head on. The artist's innate color sensibilities and energy pay homage to the New York School of Abstract Expressionist and Action painters like Joan Mitchell and Willem De Kooning, by employing broad strokes of color. Through Ms. Turner's exquisite and unique use of materials such as ribbon, clothing, antique quilts, lace and yarn, the artist continues to explore and exploit traditional "feminine" materials and creates a contemporary dialogue as found in the works of artists such as Petah Coyne and Shinique Smith.

Turner states, "During the creation of my marital Dowry and Reception (Permanent Collection, Brooklyn Museum of Art), I became interested in the aesthetic bridges between diverse rites of passage. Elaborate ceremonies honor, idealize and purify the subject as they transition from one life chapter to the next. The subject simultaneously embodies a climax and demise. A new identity is conceived. An old identity dies. In this body of work, elements of ceremonial adornment are partnered with various processes of decay. Satin ribbons and flowers are fixed in a stilled state of destruction and removal inspired by fire or mold. Through consumption and repurposing, each process re-imagines the beauty and energy of change and loss.".

Turner's latest installation creates a delicate balance between sustainable and ephemeral, addressing elements like fire, mold and other forms of decay by combining elements from a proven path and a path less traveled. Together with the known and unknown, Vadis Turner crafts a visual kaleidoscope that draws the viewer into an otherworldly realm of aesthetics and beauty.

Vadis Turner earned her MFA and BFA from Boston University. Her work was recently included in New Acquisitions, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY and Common Jive, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY. Her work is in numerous public and private collections


Andrea Dezso

Andrea dezso I just discovered Andrea Dezso and her fascinating series of works - in tunnel books (paper), strange embroidery, animation, sculpture, drawings, painted journals and sketchbooks. But despite the variation on the medium, there is a wonderful, surrealistic consistency through all her efforts. She creates a new world, not unlike Joseph Cornell, where body parts, girls with moss and mother's sayings from her Transylvania childhood all come into play.


 Tunnel books

Romanian-born Andrea Dezsö, a visual artist and writer, has taught tunnel book workshops at venues including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City and The Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore, MD. For Slash: Paper Under The Knife, Andrea created an installation consisting of 30 one-of-a-kind tunnel books. Examples of Andrea Dezsö's tunnel books and other work can be seen on her website at www.andreadezso.com.

Andrea Dezsö earned her BFA and MAFA in visual communication at the Hungarian University of Design in Budapest. Following a year of teaching at her alma mater, Dezsö moved to New York, where she exhibited her work in galleries and held teaching positions at Parsons School of Design and the City University of New York. In addition ot solo exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Japan, She has participated in numerous group exhibitions. Her public art projects are found in Budapest and in the New York subway at the Bedford Park Boulevard-Lehman College Station. Dezsö’s illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Time Magazine, Mc Sweeney’s and others. Currently, she is assistant professor of media design at Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

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Matthew Cox

Matthew cox
Matthew Cox is an astonishingly versatile artist whose current repertoire includes oil painting, drawings created through stamping on paper and embroidery on x-ray film. I like his playfullness and his "low-brow" art approach.

As his press release says - In his search for alternative drawing materials, Cox utilizes subject specific rubber stamps as his drawing tool. Rubber stamps have become part of his lexicon and his renderings capture the essence of the subject in both words and precise portraiture. Embroidered X-Rays are Cox’s latest discovery… literally hand stitching the X-Rays, bringing them to life and resurrecting the subject from the material. Cox’s multifarious bodies of work strengthen one another by balancing technical and conceptual concerns with humor and formal beauty.


Check out his work at the Hard Times Mini Mall


Deborah Rustin Cyr

Deborah rustin cyr 
Deborah Rustin Cyr had a tumultuous early adolescence, like the most of us. She was driven to photography and creative sewing and has been honing these skills for 40 years.

Cyr grew up in a small town of northern New England with a storytelling father and a raucously funny, creative mother and if she wasn’t making something she was making something up.
Today Cyr finds her inspiration in a diverse range of places, from New York’s Chinatown, to the back pages of gay-wear catalogues, to family photo albums and even to grandmother’s closet. Her raw materials are both original “found” pieces of cloth and fabrics that she prints herself using digitally manipulated photographs and illustrations.

These are cut, refigured and stitched until characters appear. Opposites are combined, characters are put into unfamiliar settings and scale is varied for no apparent reason. The end result is both funny and poignant.

Artist Statement

I pull my characters from the culture at large, my family and childhood, and from my dreams, waking and sleeping.

Life means fabric and color, creating tension in my work as I combine opposites, putting familiar images in unfamiliar settings, or on unexpected bodies, and varying scale for no apparent good reason.

Though some of my themes are quite dark I try to infuse even these with a touch of irreverent humor. It amuses me to take a traditional woman’s craft technique, sewing, and use it to make contemporary art.

I am honoured to take my place in the long line of women who have expressed themselves with thread.


Chris Roberts-Antieau

Those of us familiar with the cartoons of Roz Chast will greatly appreciate the beauty, with and wisdom of the artwork of Chris Roberts-Antieau. Chris is a self-taught artist from Manchester, Michigan whose fabric art is just like a Chast cartoon as a fabric painting.

To create her tapestries, Chris hunts through old five-and-dimes and country quilt shops to collect a palette of fabrics, cuts her designs freehand and finishes the detail with a sewing machine. Her limited-edition pieces are all under glass in hand-painted wood frames. Her work is featured in prestigious galleries, including the American Visionary Museum. Her work is uniquely wonderful, absolutely her own, and among the nation's best.

Chris Roberts-Antieau1  Chris Roberts-Antieau 2Chris' work can be seen at NYC's Red Truck Gallery.