If you don’t know what “textile” means, the word drives from the Latin ‘texere,’ meaning “to weave,” “to braid” or “to construct.” The simplest definition would be “art made using fabric or thread.” On Friday, June 10, a show titled “Accumulation: An Examination of Process Through Textiles” opens at the quirky Studio &. Artists in the exhibit used linen fabric, pigment, cotton thread, hand-stitching and repurposed silk, to name a few materials. “Whether you’re making a mark with a stitch or you’re making a mark with a pencil, you’re making a mark,” said Studio & co-owner Minna Jain (who is also in the show). “Textile’s cool because it’s dimensional, so you can sculpt with it, accumulate with it and create all these really interesting things.”
The show will feature work from Ilze Aviks, Leesa Zarinelli Gawlik, Anita Jain, Minna Jain and Arista Slater-Sandoval. Minna is joined by her mother Anita, who has been a textile artist her whole life. “Actually, her parents – my grandparents – in Finland, were tailors in the prestigious ateliers,” said Minna. “So it’s been in the family forever, and I grew up with it.” Textile is tangible, layered and full of ethnographic context. The incorporation of textile and textile techniques is becoming more prevalent in contemporary art, and more recognized by the mainstream as a legitimate medium. It has often been disregarded, shunted aside into the category of mere “craft” or “decorative art.”
Jain has contributed a collection of “Walkers” to the show; weird, slightly cute and slightly sinister four-legged creatures that bear a strong resemblance to the walkers from “Star Wars,” who tread menacingly on mechanical legs. Jain’s walkers have driftwood legs instead. “My mom and I are doing a collaborative installation called ‘Walking Between,’ and we both wanted to tap into our Sami roots,” said Jain. “She is Sami, which is the native Scandinavians that span Norway, Finland, Russia. And in that culture, the Northern Lights is called “Revontulet,” which is “fox fire,” and they’re really this magical doorway between worlds in a way. So we wanted to create that feeling of these elemental forces that walk between worlds.”
DGO Staff
