Photos courtesy of Laurie Addis
Two pieces by Laurie Addis, who is exhibiting work in the art exhibit opening on Sunday in the Sage Center for the Arts: Clinched (B) and a rosedaisy circle.
Raphael designed tapestries. Tapestries are textiles. So the new exhibit opening at the Sage Center for the Arts on Sunday will showcase textiles—in this case textiles like quilts and weaves designed on computers.
One of the nine artists featured is visiting professor of art and CAT Textiles curator Barbara Bushey, who emphasizes the traditional and modern elements of textiles, from Raphael to the “art quilt such as developed in the 1960s and 70s.”
In her introductory essay to the show, called “The CAT Show: Computer-Aided Textiles,” Bushey says the development of textile production as an art form has through the ages depended largely on the development of technological innovations.
“Developing machines that could perform the tedious, time-consuming tasks of textile production led the Industrial Revolution,” Bushey writes.
“The development of the jacquard loom was an important step in developing complicated textile that could carry beautiful images.”
Now, textile artists use a basic binary system based on one developed by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1804, which would eventually lead to the development of the computer.
“All of these works are fairly ‘cutting edge,' as they rely on the computer in one way or another,” Bushey said. “The quilts all use fabric that has been printed by a computer printer—after the image is manipulated in Photoshop by the artist. In this way, the artist can make the fabric first, then construct the quilt.”
Computers can create directions, telling a loom how to recreate photographic images, Bushey said, while also controlling each yarn on a loom individually. This can design “very intricate images,” Bushey said.
Graduate students and professionals—Laurie Addis, Linda Grashoff, Karen Hampton, Michael James, Pat Mink, Jennie Moore, Carla Tilghman and Pat Williams—join Bushey in exhibiting their art for the show.
So the range of experiences they depict in their work is broad.
“It's here because I have been involved in this type of work and find it fascinating, and I thought I would share this with the Hillsdale community,” Bushey said.
“The CAT Show: Computer Aided Textiles” opens Sunday, and will be open for viewing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The exhibit is free and will be open to the public until April 8.