Fiber art can be purely aesthetic, with a concentration on design and technique, or it can be filled with narrative, political, and conceptual content—or combinations of each of these approaches. This exhibition presents contemporary artists from a wide range of backgrounds, approaches, and media, who blur boundaries between craft and fine art. String Theory: Contemporary Art and the Fiber Legacy, opens Saturday, December 19, 2015, at the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA) in historic downtown Tucson. “This exhibition gives the public a chance to see some of the interesting historic and contemporary fiber works in the Tucson Museum of Art collection,” said TMA Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Dr. Julie Sasse. “It also provides an opportunity to become introduced to emerging artists from the West who have embraced fiber techniques and reinvigorated the medium.”
Among the many historically significant fiber artists in this exhibition are Jim Bassler, Carol Ann Carter, Henry Easterwood, and Arturo Sandoval, all nationally known for their works that both embrace traditional techniques and elevate the medium to fine art. Other artists are well-known for using fiber arts to address cultural stereotypes or to emphasize the link between past and present; including Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia, Joyce Scott, and Marlowe Katoney. Several artists who reside in Tucson, Arizona, and the West reveal innovation in concept and design; including, Scott Ellegood, Diane Gilbert, Erika Lynn
Hanson, Saskia Jorda, Victoria May, and Claire Campbell Park, Carrie Seid, Denise Yaghmourian, and Angie Zielinski. Each of these artists expands the medium and reinforces that fiber arts are alive and well as a vehicle for creative expression. String Theory: Contemporary Art and the Fiber Tradition will remain on view at TMA until June 19, 2016.
