The first time the artist Eve Biddle exhibited her work alongside her mothers, she was a bit nervous.
It was 2018, 20 years after she lost her mom,Mary Ann Unger, to breast cancer.
Unger used materials like bronze, marble, and steel to make her mammoth sculptures.
Artist Eve Biddle in front of her installation for “Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces” at the Museum of Arts and Design. At far right: Mary Ann Unger,Hoist,1994.
She told me, you’re able to see two voices, Biddle recalls.
One didnt drown the other outthey harmonized.
Installation view of Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces.
Installation view of “Craft Front & Center: Conversation Pieces.” In the foreground: Kay Sekimachi’sKunoyuki, c. 1968 (center) and Trude Guermonprez’sBanner,1962 (far right).
In the foreground: Kay Sekimachi’sKunoyuki, c. 1968 (center) and Trude GuermonprezsBanner,1962 (far right).
Its all about relationships, says Schwartz.
Because craft has to be taught, there will always be those connections.
Sheila Hicks,Dark Prayer Rug,1968.
(As it happens, Unger studied under Voulkos.)
Sheila Hicks,Dark Prayer Rug,1968.
Connective tissue permeates the entire show.
Vadis Turner,Red Relic Vessel,2022.
I grew up with a lot of this work, at least being aware of it, Schwartz says.
Vadis Turner,Red Relic Vessel,2022.
Kira Dominguez Hultgren,To Carry Every Name but Your Own,2022.
Kira Dominguez Hultgren,To Carry Every Name but Your Own,2022.
Look to the exhibitions younger, contemporary artists as proof of crafts continued relevance.
Both artists bring their own modern spin to feminist fiber arts.
Beyond this show at MAD, craft has been having a real moment in art institutions around the country.
I ask Schwartz: What is it about our current moment that calls us to these tactile works?
Demolishing art world hierarchies is also something Biddle thinks about.
Artists coming together in community is so much a part of my practice, Biddle says.
At this point, there are more than 1,500 alumni who have passed through Wassaics residency program.
We even encountered one while walking through the show at MAD.
