PRINTFATE spinners
Artists showcase fiber works
ANN HERMES
Fiber artist Bob Hartzell will display his screen-printing work in a show for the Fiber Art Tour and Exhibition show “Connections” June 3 to July 8 at Cherry Street Artisan.
May 24, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Columbia is about to be dotted with fiber artists and their works this summer at the Fiber Art Tour and Exhibitions. The June event will showcase Columbia and national artists’ works at 12 locations downtown. Banks, colleges, art studios, craft shops and cafés will house fiber art from off-the-wall paper sculptures to practical felt pincushions.
Jennifer Perlow, co-owner of PS: Gallery, and Jo Stealey, who has a Ph.D. in art education, organized the event. “Columbia is really growing as an art community,” Stealey says. “Basically we wanted to bring people from outside into Columbia so that they begin to understand what a dynamic arts community we have here.”
One of the many artists involved is Bob Hartzell, a 44-year-old MU fiber art graduate student. He does most of his work in the screen-printing room in the arts department and uses the name Augratin Press on his work. Hartzell says what he wants, when he wants without apologizing. Naturally, his art is uncensored.
The 12 exhibits are varied by subject and material, each showcasing different types of fiber art. The exhibits are conveniently located in downtown Columbia, only blocks from one another. “I want people to remember my work and for it to elicit some kind of conversation between diverse groups so that it leads to things they wouldn’t usually talk about,” Hartzell says. He will have a series of fiber pieces based around the symbols of stars and stripes at Cherry Street Artisan.
Local felt artist Ruth Walker has a more practical take on her art. “I want to make larger pieces and to push myself to try new things that I haven’t done before,” she says.
The tour is the first of its kind for mid-Missouri. For many, fiber art has a vague awkwardness about it. Everybody knows what a painting or a drawing is, but fiber art leaves much more to the imagination. “People are going to really be stretched in what they think fiber is,” says Leandra Spangler, a local paper and basket maker.
Hartzell says the freedom of what constitutes fiber art is what makes it so great. “I could park cars in the street in a certain pattern, and that could be fiber art,” Hartzell says. She has 27 years of experience in printmaking and sculpture and says he chooses media based on what would best portray a concept. This spring he made 400 silk-screen printed books using eight different designs, each a unique “psychological self-portrait.” For example, in his exhibition for FATE, he wants to provoke thought about patriotism and the meaning behind stars and stripes. He says the American flag is a beautiful design but that it’s important because of the meaning behind it, not because of the material. “People fight for each other, not for the cloth,” he says.
Although it can take weeks to make the books, Hartzell will give most away in an attempt to stimulate deeper conceptual thinking.
FATE will have its share of conceptual artists such as Hartzell, but many of the exhibitions will showcase more practical art. Walker will show a new selection of felt art, including hats and scarves, at Bluestem Missouri Crafts. Fiber arts gurus Spangler and Jenna Weston will display sculptural vessels made from basketry and handmade paper at Bluestem. “Each of us have a need, a desire to do things in layers and a tendency to not make things simple,” says Spangler. The exhibition is appropriately named “Layers, Layers, Layers.”
The Stephens College fashion design department has a working collection of garments featuring surface design from the early 20th century. The garments will only be on display 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m on June 4. Stealey is pleased to have the added variety in FATE.
“I think the community will realize that there are far more fiber artists in Columbia than they had thought,” she says.
The artists are excited to be a part of FATE. “I hope we engage people so that they want to touch our pieces,” Spangler says. But they also want to teach Columbia about the intricacies and the meaning behind their works. Hartzell says teaching others about art serves a higher cause. “I really think contact with the arts is essential to sanity.” Hartzell is convinced that having the freedom to choose any material to work with makes fiber art one of the most expressive and interesting artistic fields.
