ACCI Gallery Featured Artist

Fiber 2006Click here to see photos of the show

This exhibition showcases the work of 8 premier Bay Area fiber artists who are widely recognized for breaking the boundaries of this traditional medium. The exhibit will include textile artists Anja Broenink and Jasmin Zorlu whose contemporary clothing and hats are collected internationally. Art quilts by Alexandra Von Burg, Karin Lusnak, and Nina Shortridge will inspire and delight with their color. Donna Duguay, a pastel artist, has abandoned her medium temporarily to tackle the quilt, ignoring the rules, and defining her heritage and current events through her use of vintage material and cloth from garments collected from Good Will. Deb Shattil’s work resembles embroidered “samplers” that come with stories connecting us to our past, while Marty Jonas uses hundreds of colored fabric squares to build portraits of individuals who are connected to her history.

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EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Anja Broenink, Donna Duguay, Marty Jonas, Karin Lusnak,Deb Shattil, Nina Shortridge, Alexandra Von Burg, Jasmin Zorlu

		Nina Shortridge As an artist and a quilt maker, my interest lies in creating images and capturing moments that have inspired me or touched me in some moving way. Rather than using literal or realistic content, I try to capture my inspiration in the form of a certain texture, line, shape or a wash of color that is reminiscent of the moment I am attempting to document through my art. My process begins with a basic idea, is very free form and intuitive. I create as I work, using my fabric as my paint, allowing the idea to take on a life of its own and following where it leads. The names of my quilts are equally as abstract because I want the viewer to be free to look at the work and take away what they might find, not what has been my own inspiration.
		Karin Lusnak Although my work continually alternates between two art forms, quilt making and sculpture, I use similar methods of stacking, layering and repetition in both in order to evoke the element of time and suggest a sense of protection and strength. In many instances the layering is metaphorical, part of a process where the overlay of patterns and personal stories creates the final piece. CAN’T becomes ACT is an attempt to reconfigure memories associated with the word can’t. By discovering within this word another word... act I hope to suggest an attitude towards life that does not allow for limited expectation or failure but encourages choice and action. My first use of text was an effort to exorcise the word SHOULD from my vocabulary and my life. Only when sensitized to the frequent use of this word is it possible to rephrase associated actions to allow for personal choice. The piece consisted of layers of burlap cloth having references to a hair shirt, a garment worn next to the skin by religious ascetics to mortify the flesh. The upright stance of the letters, once the layers of fabric were tightly bound, suggests the strength that can result when we confront all of the shoulds’ in our life. http://www.karinlusnak.com/
		Jasmin Zorlu "Jasmin Zorlu injects organic elements morphed with an elegant directive from the Art Deco Age when creating her hand-formed, entirely hand-stitched sculptural felt and fishskin hats. Made with clean deliberate structure and linework, inspired by nature in form. Her hats are highly versatile and can be worn a myriad of ways, depending upon the wearer's mood. The raw materials are imported from Europe and Canada. Velour felt is a mixture of wool and rabbit. Fishskin leather is made from tanned carp. It smells like leather, is waterproof, strong, and light weight."
		Deb Shattil In the late 1980's, I had the opportunity to sketch some blues musicians from New Orleans while they had a jam session. I recently looked at them again and contemplated how their lives must have changed since Katrina. My sketches reflect the energy and emotion of their playing and makes me feel bonded to them, even now. In September I started making pilgrimages to the deYoung Museum to see the Gees Bend quilts. I am humbled by the power of the worn materials as well as the strength and tenacity of the women who did the work. My musician collages are a response to these two influences.
		Alexandra Von Burg http://www.twocraftywomen.com/ Alexandra was born in 1963 in Long island, New York, to Swiss and Hungarian immigrant parents.Her Bachelor of Science education came from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she double majored in Graphic Design and Printmaking. After a year of working as a professional printer, (where she was employed in the Andy Warhol print shop) Alexandra went on to receive her Master's degree in printmaking from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. It was there that she decided that the art world in Manhattan was not something she wanted to stay involved with. She then attended the Tamarind Professional Printer program at the University of New Mexico where she refined her skills as a professional Lithographer. Alexandra came west to Berkeley in 1991 to continue her career as a working artist. While exploring Berkeley Alexandra happened upon the local quilt store and was intrigued by the possibilities that fiber art offered. She bought a sewing machine and started making art. She immediately began winning awards with her art quilts and soft sculptures, and continues today to show internationally as well as locally.
		Marty Jonas http://www.martyjonas.com/ “In 2005, I recently viewed large "portraits" in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican in Rome. Upon closer scrutiny, I realized these "portraits" were rock mosaics. I returned home and made several pieces of art using this technique in fabrics.”
		Donna Duguay CITY QUILT (REFLECTIONS ON 9/11) After 9/11, I was often restless and unable to focus on completing my oil pastel works, I found some fabric that I had hand-screened many years before at Cal, and looked at it anew. The main pattern, with and without irregularities in registration, and the test pieces evoked a sensation of visual and emotional drama. I worked intuitively to reveal an aerial view of city blocks, elevator shafts, chain-link fences and security bars, heavily trafficked streets; the swatches of test fabric with tentative markings seemed similar to the mysterious bits of memories and dreams following a disastrous experience. Perhaps the red flower shapes stand for renewal; the strength and determination of city people to carry on with humor and an air of bravado. The top border is ash-like in pattern and the back of this work continues the color symbolism of death and destruction - drops of blood amidst the flying shards of glass and steel, the ephemeral wisps of spirits mingled with the blackness on either side.