The art, by Ann Baddeley Keister, Patricia Nelson, Anne McKenzie Nickolson and Jo Morasco, is informed by travel and collecting and references specific sources, including fine and decorative European and American art, as well as ethnographic objects. Also included in the exhibit is work in textiles by the late Diane Itter, who died in 1989 at the age of 43.
In the fall, a slide lecture will be given by metalsmith Nelson and fiber artist Nickolson on Thursday, September 7, from 4:30-5:30 p.m., in the Grand River Room, 250 Kirkhof Center. On the same date, a reception with the artists will be held in the GVSU Art Gallery from 5-7 p.m. The exhibition will continue through September 22.
Ann Baddeley Keister, fiber artist and curator of this exhibit, is an assistant professor in the Art and Design department at Grand Valley. Her elegant, narrative and abstract tapestries are included in numerous corporate and private collections.
Fiber artist Anne McKenzie Nickolson teaches at Indiana University and creates dynamic, detailed, narrative and non-objective textile constructions.
Metalsmith Patricia Nelson is a professor of art at Ball State University's College of Fine Arts in Muncie, Indiana. She creates objects combining metal armatures, organic sculptural elements and colorful, enameled floral forms.
Mixed-media fiber artist Jo Morasco has been a weaver for 40 years. She resides in Missouri and the Bahamas. Her vibrant work is influenced by African art, Haitian Voodoo Banners and her close connection to water.
Many textile artists of the 1960s and '70s worked on a large scale using natural, undyed fibers and unevenly tied knots to create hangings and woven sculptures. Diane Itter, who began working in the early 1970s, took a very different approach, creating small-scale works from fine, vividly colored threads. In 1979, she completed forty pieces, working exclusively in the double- half-hitch knotting technique from that time onward.
The GVSU Art Gallery, located in the Performing Arts Center on the Allendale Campus, is open summer hours from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, June through August. During the Grand Rapids area Evening Gallery Crawl on Friday, June 30, the gallery will remain open from 5-7 p.m. It will also be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 1, during Convergence, the international conference sponsored by Handweavers Guild of America, held in Grand Rapids. In September, the gallery returns to fall hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays and evening hours on Thursdays, from 5-7 p.m.
The exhibition, lecture and reception with artists are free and open to the public. For more information call (616) 331-2564.
