The Fibre Report with Joe Lewis
The 8th Kaunas Biennal Textile held in Kaunas, Lithuania, brought together textile work from around the world. Artists participated through invitation for solo exhibitions, special presentations, national survey shows, a student exhibition with work from schools in the Baltic region, and an international juried exhibition, all under the theme of Play, Fast Forward and Rewind.
They presented the work of over 800 makers approaching textiles from numerous directions from the traditions of embroidery, felting, quilting, tapestry, to the conceptual using smart technologies in fibre and new media (computer assisted animation, embroidery, printing, and weaving) and industrial processes.
The embroideries I am presenting here are from the international juried exhibition DAR KARTĄ PASAKOJIMAS/Rewind Personal Story. The jurors who looked at 300 applications from 43 countries and selected 31 makers were: the secretariat of the European Textile Network and publisher of Textile Form – Beatrijs Sterk (Germany), lecturer in history and Context Studies at Falmouth University College – Sarah Braddock Clark (UK), and art critics from Lithuania – Virginija Vitkiené and Monika Krikštopaiyté.
The 8th Kaunas Biennal Textile held in Kaunas, Lithuania, brought together textile work from around the world. Artists participated through invitation for solo exhibitions, special presentations, national survey shows, a student exhibition with work from schools in the Baltic region, and an international juried exhibition, all under the theme of Play, Fast Forward and Rewind.
They presented the work of over 800 makers approaching textiles from numerous directions from the traditions of embroidery, felting, quilting, tapestry, to the conceptual using smart technologies in fibre and new media (computer assisted animation, embroidery, printing, and weaving) and industrial processes.
The embroideries I am presenting here are from the international juried exhibition DAR KARTĄ PASAKOJIMAS/Rewind Personal Story. The jurors who looked at 300 applications from 43 countries and selected 31 makers were: the secretariat of the European Textile Network and publisher of Textile Form – Beatrijs Sterk (Germany), lecturer in history and Context Studies at Falmouth University College – Sarah Braddock Clark (UK), and art critics from Lithuania – Virginija Vitkiené and Monika Krikštopaiyté.
What stood out for me in the juried exhibition was the embroidery work. Not because it was particularly accessible or traditional, it was far from that, but simply for its spellbinding intense beauty.
Read more in our Summer 2012 issue.
Article by Joe Lewis
www.velvethighway.com
