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Fiber Artists on the Rise
Textile Center Designates 2015 - 2016
Jerome Fiber Artist Project Grant Recipients
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January 7, 2015
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN --
Textile Center is pleased to announce the 2015 Jerome Fiber Artists Project
Grant Recipients: Sarah Kusa, Becka Rahn, Jennifer Schultz, and Kate Vinson.
Now in its seventh year, this program is designed to expand opportunities for
emerging fiber artists in Minnesota, supporting them each with a $5,000
project grant, as well as additional professional development programming (in
collaboration with Springboard for the Arts). The fellowships include
exhibition planning and implementation culminating with a final show of the
artists' new work from September through October, 2015, at Textile Center's
Joan Mondale Gallery.
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Sarah Kusa
Kusa attended the
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and has continued with her artistic
education with classes at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota Center
for Book Arts, Textile Center, and the University of Minnesota. Manipulating
and transforming materials such as paper, thread or fabric is at the heart of
Sara's studio practice. The materials she uses play with the duality of
delicate-and-strong that can be mimicked in the human condition, and her
final works are sculptural forms that deal with human vulnerability,
resilience, and interconnectedness.
Kusa's goals with her
project are to grow her body of sculptural three-dimensional work,
and to learn first-hand about creating larger-scale installations for a
gallery space. Drawing on recent works and structuring the project based on
distinct types of spacial problem solving, Kusa will create a wall-based,
floor-based and ceiling-suspended installation.
Becka Rahn
Rahn is a self-taught
"engineer" of digital surface design and wearable art. She creates
designs from digitally manipulated photographs which are then printed on a
variety of fabrics. She uses her custom fabrics to make wearable art garments
using original and vintage patterns. Rahn worked as the Education Manager at
Textile Center for 11 years; she recently retired to pursue her artistic
career.
Focusing on artistic
development for the project grant, Rahn identified important goals that could
be achieved by collaborating with other artists on digital designs, called
"duets," and making these designs into wearable art. The final
digital designs and garments will reflect the conversations had throughout
the creative process about texture, color, layers, and balance.
Jennifer Schultz
Schultz attended the
University of Minnesota and Minneapolis College of Art & Design
before moving to Athens, Georgia. While in Athens, she worked as a custom
framer and as a curator and manager of a fine art gallery. She became
interested in fiber and fabric art and the direction of her exhibition program
began to shift. After returning to Minnesota, Schultz joined groups
and organizations like Studio Art Quilt Associates, Surface Design
Association, and Textile Center. Schultz experiments with encaustic and
prints on paper, and finds her calling and commitment to the fiber
arts.
Jennifer's
project during the grant period will be to get her work off the
wall by creating sculptural books made with quilted and embellished silk,
encaustic, and bookbinding materials and techniques. The books will contain printed
images, stitching, and incised markings on encaustic. These unique
"signatures" will be hand-bound and engage the physical space of
the viewer.
Kate Vinson
Vinson discovered the
variety and tactile nature of fiber arts while taking art classes while in
school for a second career. For Vinson, fibers allow freedom in range of
materials and techniques like knotless netting, foiling, and paper arts.
She uses these techniques to create sculptures that reflect the natural world
and lots of texture.
The project grant will
focus on Vinson's use of materials, processes, and techniques in fiber
enhanced through two main professional development opportunities:
participating in the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM)
Mentor/Protege program; and attending workshops at the National Basketry
Organization's 8th Biennial Conference.
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For 20 years, Textile
Center has put $360,200 of Jerome Foundation grant funds to effective use in
selecting emerging fiber artists based in Minnesota for individually designed
project grants that have informed and advanced their development as artists and
their creation of new works. In partnership with the Jerome Foundation,
Textile Center supports and celebrate the creative spirit of fiber artists.
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