In recent years, more and more contemporary artists have turned to techniques derived from tapestry, weaving, embroidery, beading, quilting, and knitting, while craftspeople have absorbed concepts from contemporary art to imbue their traditional materials with a new resonance.
"Threading the Needle," an exhibition organized by Sara Cochran and Eric Fischl of work by 50 artists using fabric and fiber, is opening Thursday at The Church in Sag Harbor, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. It will remain on view through Sept. 18.
The show is organized around four themes. "The Body and Its Distortions" includes a sound suit by Nick Cave, a vitrine by Louise Bourgeois, a monumental piece by Daniel Lind-Ramos, a bonnet by Angela Ellsworth, figurative tapestries by David Enrico, Christina Forrer, and Erin Riley, and sculpture by Thomas Friedman, Charles LeDray, James Lee Byars, and Liza Lou.
"Politics and Identity" features Margarita Cabrera's potted desert plants made from border guard uniforms, Dink Q. Le's interwoven images from films about the Vietnam War and the war itself, fabric pieces by Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, and Hank Willis Thomas; Charles McGill's golf bags that suggest Ku Klux Klan figures, a handkerchief by Ann Morton, a sculptural installation by Christa Maiwald, and tapestries by Tabitha Arnold and Diedrick Brakens.
The idea of "Webbing" is explored in Jim Hodges's brass spider's web, El Anatsui's bottle-cap tapestry, a can-tab piece by Alice Hope, a bead and ceramic wall piece by Maria Nepomuceno, hanging pieces by Ernesto Neto and Julianna Swartz, a tapestry by Candace Hill-Montgomery, wall pieces by Toni Ross and Tomas Saraceno, and a woven sculpture by Alan Saret.
"Stitching" includes tapestries by Etel Adnan, Helena Hernmarck, and Rosemarie Trockel, a printed piece using tapestries by Louise Eastman, cloth pieces by Bastienne Schmidt and Alan Shields, embroidery by Mark Olshansky, and an altered, found tapestry by Lucy Winton.
"The exhibition explores what happens when the conceptual approaches of art and the skills involved in fabric practices come together and produce artworks that challenge expectations in the arenas of art and craft, changing both fields," says Ms. Cochran. "The work of these extraordinary artists is going to transform the building and surprise the public."
