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I am glad to be selected 2015 International
Guest Fiber Artist to show in January - February 2015 The Theresa Show,
currently on display at the Harriet Tubman Gallery of United South End
Settlements (USES), in the Boston MA, United states of America
Thanks to Jackie Mcruth, Prof Kawada of the Fiber Dept. @ MassArt,Chelsea Revelle and the scholarship committee
What Is Fiber Art? Who Was Theresa India-Young?
February 3, 2015
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by Heather Kaufmann
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The Theresa Show,
currently on display at the Harriet Tubman Gallery of United South End
Settlements (USES), brings together a diversity of color, culture, and fiber.
Founded in 2013, this annual exhibition celebrates the legacy and work of
Theresa India-Young (1950-2008), fiber artist and long-time South End resident.
Fiber art is a dynamic and seemingly
boundless art form. It utilizes materials ranging from cotton, silk, flax, and
wool to tree bark, grass, and metal. Several participating artists described it
as a tactile form. Some fiber art techniques include knitting, quilting,
weaving, papermaking, and embroidery. Artist Beverly Arsem says that fiber art
“has been a part of every culture and civilization on the earth, fulfilling
both practical uses and representing ideas and beliefs.”
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Participating artist Mary Geisser
was drawn to fiber art, particularly wool, because “it has such a malleable
nature and it can surprise you.” Geisser describes her work Bunches (pictured
left) as “a conglomeration of small vessels which are felted and then sewn
together. It plays with variations in color and there is a playfulness about it
which is representative of my process.”
India-Young was a “friend, mentor,
advocate, cosmic force, and researcher of world cultures,” says Reginald
Jackson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Communications at Simmons College.
An art instructor and education
consultant at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, India-Young also taught in the
Creative Arts in Learning Program at Lesley University and co-founded the Kush
Club, a former teen docent program partnered with the MFA and the Museum of the
National Center for Afro-American Artists in Roxbury, MA. Her own artwork was
primarily in the areas of Ethnic Weaving and Earthenware Ceramics.
A number of this year’s pieces
mirror themes and techniques used in India-Young’s own prolific work. The Katchina Doll,
a quilt by fiber artist Susan Thompson, “reflects the comprehensive and
enduring study Theresa undertook on Native American life and culture,”
says Jacqueline McRath, friend of India-Young and co-founder of The Theresa Show.
Elizabeth Belstraz’s From Healing Crisis to Wellness
speaks to India-Young’s reverence for the diversity of culture and practice
around the world in its portrayal of healing societies and rituals through
fabric and paper designs. |
The Theresa Show
features several well-known Boston-area artists, including some of
India-Young’s close friends and colleagues. Chelsea Revelle, Director of Arts
& Culture at USES, describes the participating artists’ work:
Elizabeth Belstraz, Napolean
Jones-Henderson, Selena Narovlansky and Susan Thompson convey the importance of
various cultural societies’ ancestral heritages. Felt work by Mary Geisser and
Janet Kawada amplify the beauty of colors while Amy DiPlacido expands the sense
of space and vision.
L’Merchie Frazier’s cultural and
political figure Frances Harper is stunning in its calm portrayal, while
Jeffrey Nowlin and Beverly Arsem’s quilts stimulate inquiry. Our 2015 International
Guest Fiber Artist, Ugandan Mathias Tusiime, shares with us his oil paintings
created on handmade papers (pictured right).
The show includes a silent auction
with proceeds to benefit the Theresa-India Young Ethnic Weaving Scholarship at
MassArt. The 2014 scholarship recipient was MassArt student Rachel Oswald. Her
woven creation Aphrodite
is on display in this year’s show.
The gallery opened on January 7,
2015 and will be on display through February 13, 2015.
More details follow the link:
http://www.uses.org/fiber-art-theresa-india-young/.
More details follow the link:
http://www.uses.org/fiber-art-theresa-india-young/.
