Read the exhibition catalogue here
Art Materialized organizes the objects created at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia since its inception in 1977. By manipulating everyday experiences with fabric, the reader is induced to contemplate the ordinary, domestic uses of art.
“With fabric such a pervasive presence in our lives, it is only natural that the contemporary artist — who is, of course, interested in life as well as art — would want to explore its many potentials. In the belief that artists were discovering a place for art in every facet of our environment, Marion (Kippy) Stroud Swingle, with the help of Lucile Michels, Master Printer, established The Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia in 1977. From its inception, the goal of The Fabric Workshop has been to create the fabric of the future and to teach artists from many different media the technical skills needed to create a new form of American art…
The present exhibition is designed to encourage a cross-media exchange of artistic ideas and methods such as is found at The Workshop and to expand our notion generally of the nature of a work of art. Included are examples of the work of forty-one of the nearly eighty Artists-in-Residence at The Workshop during its first four years. These artists, from such different media as painting, sculpture, performance art, ceramics, glassmaking, and weaving, have created at The Workshop print editions, sculptural works, installation pieces, experimental clothing, and functional objects.
Art can be found anywhere — on walls, beds, or bodies — and often it is by meeting the challenge of unfamiliar working methods and materials that the contemporary artist expands our vision into new areas and into the future.”
— Michael A. Quigley, in the publication Art Materialized
