The Let Go by Nick Cave
Through July 1, 2018
Park Avenue Armory
Using his multidisciplinary methods of artistic production, Nick Cave emphasizes on the importance of textiles with his diverse work of sound suits and sculptures. The “part performance and part installation,” as Cave calls it, tackles issues of “identity, race, gun violence and civic responsibility.” A sense of community, and a reaction to pre-existing social conditions is at the heart of Cave’s artistic practice and activism. The catalog expresses that “the re-imagined Wade Thompson Drill Hall allows for social gatherings and is activated by ‘chase,’ a multi-colored, 100-foot-long sculpture that glides across the dance floor.”
Jack Shainman Gallery
Through June 23
“Installation View.” Photo Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery
Jack Shainman Gallery features Nick Cave’s new work and will debut a series of “wire Tondos, in which swirling cacophonies of colors are created from the layered mapping of cataclysmic weather patterns superimposed onto brain scans of black youth suffering from PTSD as a result of gun violence.”
Through September 2018
Opening Reception, June 15, 4:30-6:30 PM
New York Live Arts
Nick Cave collaborates with artist, Bob Faust, to present a “a collaborative kaleidoscopic mural” of woven forms. The catalog at Jack Shainman gallery aptly describes Weather or Not as the “visual manifestation of states of mind”, and The Let Go as “an expression of states of being.”
May 24, 2018 to July 6, 2018
Sikkema Jenkins & Co.
“Installation View.” Photo Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co.
Sikkema Jenkins & Co. presents a solo exhibition of the work of fiber artist, Sheila Hicks. By practicing under Bauhaus artists like Anni and Josef Albers, Hicks “blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture with her vibrant woven and textile works.” Some of the highlights of the show include Hicks’ recent works like Dauphine, Secret Chamber and Path to Light. She uses fibers like acrylic, linen, cotton, and silk to create installations which play with scale, gradations and harmony. The exhibition displays Hicks’ work in a sublime way, and yet sheds light on the complex nuances of woven structures.
Highly Personal, Deeply Social
Spaceworks Gallery
June 7, 2018 to June 28, 2018
“Highly Social, Deeply Personal.” Photo Courtesy of Hannah Schultz
Spaceworks Gallery introduces a group exhibition to shed light on the importance of flags. Curated by Hannah Schultz , “each artist’s flag engages its viewer through its deeply social form to explore the common threads that unite all our collective yet most private human experiences.”Artists presented in “Highly Personal, Deeply Social” include Aymar Ccopacatty, Sara Duell, Ricki Dwyer, Lena Hawkins, Laila Lott, Christopher Martin, David Mahfouda, Jeemin Shim, Niki and Yusuke Tsukamo.
Planthouse Gallery
June 6, 2018 to June 20, 2018
Light Life is a collaborative exhibition featuring the work of Thompson Street Studio and 5th26. While woven textiles of 5th26 by Brandon Tang highlight complex woven structures and the organic materiality of cloth, tapestries created from the patchwork of these woven textiles shed light on asymmetrical shapes. Together, the studios share the vision of deriving inspiration from nature and working with indoor spaces.
Queens Museum
Through August 2018
“Flint Fin.” Photo Courtesy of the Queens Museum.
Queens Museum and No Longer Empty presents “All Over the Place” which “debuts their four newly commissioned projects — Flint Fit, Soundtrack, Unmoored, and Wake.” By featuring more than “70 works including drawings, illustrations, videos, documentation and public works” the exhibition reflects Chin’s career across 20 years. An important aspect of the exhibition is Flint Fit in which Mel Chin begins the process of making fabric from fabric bottles under the production of Unifi Inc. To take it further, artist and designer Tracy Reese develops a capsule fashion collection using the same fabric. The garments are finally produced by women at the St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center in Flint, Michigan.
Holding Space: The Museum Collects
American Folk Art Museum’s Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City
Through July 08, 2018
“Presidents Quilt, Clara J. Martins, 1964.” Photo Courtesy of American Folk Art Museum’s Self-Taught Genius Gallery
“Holding Space: The Museum Collects” exhibits the museum’s recent acquisitions from 2013 to 2018. The exhibition catalog introduces “more than forty works of art by eighteenth through twenty-first century artists and visionaries whose formal and conceptual concerns cut across cultural and generational divides.” The exhibition also features work by artists in mediums distinct from cloth, and yet situates Clara J. Martins quilts next to the art by James Brown, Thornton Dial, Sheldon Peck, Ammi Phillips, and Martin Ramire.
Charles McGill: Playing Through (1964-2017)
Pavel Zoubok Gallery
Through June 23, 2018
“Playing Through.” Photo Courtesy of Pavel Zoubok Gallery
Pavel Zoubok Gallery presents “a memorial exhibition celebrating the art and life of gallery artist CHARLES McGILL (1964-2017) who passed away last summer at the age of 53.” His process of making, creating and repurposing symbolizes the racial dynamics in the U.S.
Pop-up Studio and TAC Maker Space: Natalie Stopka
Bard Graduate Center
Through July 1, 2018
Natalie A. Stopka binds books emphasizing unconventional structure and materials. She sources uncommon fibers, repurposed and hand-dyed fabrics, and vintage textiles to bring a unique variety of texture to her work. In her exploration of historical fiber arts techniques, Natalie refreshes half-forgotten methods such as fabric marbling, mordant patterning, and the fermentation of natural dyes. Read more about her work here.
Tenri Cultural Institute
June 21, 2018 to July 3, 2018
“Our Road.” Photo Courtesy of Tenri Cultural Institute.
Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan presents Japanese dyeing artist Ken Arai and textile artist Kiyo Masuyama first exhibition in New York. Both textile craft practitioners engage with hand dyeing and hand printing specifically through “ikat and batik.” Their work incorporates a contemporary approach to the hand-production of traditional Japanese textiles.
Fiber Book Picks
Exploring literature allows us to be aware of how artists communicate significant global problems through the language of cloth. On the one hand, exhibitions like Nick Cave Weather or Not, Charles McGill: Playing Through (1964-2017) and Highly Personal, Deeply Social urge their viewers to address issues related to race, politics and craftivism. On the other hand, solo and group exhibitions like Down Side Up and Mel Chin: All Over the Place take inspiration from essence of nature to produce contemporary craftwork.
Drawing from the revolutionary aspects of themes this month, June’s Fiber Book Picks, contributes to the textile-craft discourse by suggesting six books:
- Celebrating nature: craft traditions/contemporary expressions (2004): available at the New York Public Library
- Unpacking the fashion industry : gender, racism, and class in production (1990): available at Blue: The Tatter Textile Library
- Nick Cave : meet me at the center of the Earth (2009): available at The Brooklyn Public Library
- Sheila Hicks: weaving as a metaphor (2013): available at the Pratt Institute Libraries
- Ain’t I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race (2007): available at the New York Public Library
- String, felt, thread : the hierarchy of art and craft in American art (2010): available at Museum of Modern Art Library
