Continental Drift: Encounters, North and South
An exhibition presented by browngrotta arts
October 17–25, 2026 | Wilton, Connecticut
This October, browngrotta arts presents Continental Drift: Encounters, North and South, an exhibition exploring how artistic tradition migrates, transforms, and takes root across the Americas — and beyond. The show brings together more than 40 leading fiber and sculptural artists, tracing lines of influence that cross borders, generations, and continents.
About the Exhibition
The exhibition takes its name from the geological process by which continents slowly separate, collide, and reshape one another over time — a metaphor the gallery uses to examine how artistic traditions move across the Americas in much the same way. Art, like land, does not stay fixed in place; it drifts, merges, and reforms wherever it travels.
Continental Drift approaches this idea from two directions. The first brings together significant artists from the United States, Canada, Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia — many shaped not only by their countries of origin, but by lived connections to other regions as well. The second gathers work by artists from outside North and South America whose practices reflect a direct encounter with American art, artists, or experience, evidence that these traditions travel outward just as readily as they move within the hemisphere.
"Art doesn't stay put any more than land does," said Tom Grotta, co-curator of browngrotta arts. "The artists in this exhibition carry more than one place with them — a training, a teacher, a landscape, a material tradition — and you can see it in the work itself."
A Five-Decade Checklist
The exhibition's checklist spans five decades of studio practice, pairing pioneering figures in American fiber art with artists working today, including Adela Akers, Sheila Hicks, Ferne Jacobs, Lia Cook, Kay Sekimachi, Lenore Tawney, Gyöngy Laky, Trude Guermonprez, Ed Rossbach, Carolina Yrarrázaval, Ximena Ibañez, Eduardo Portillo and María Dávila, James Bassler, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, and dozens of others working across textile, basketry, and mixed-media sculpture.
Highlights
Highlights include Ximena Ibañez of Argentina, who merges fiber and ceramic; Carolina Yrarrázaval, whose woven pieces draw directly on Chilean textile tradition; and Eduardo Portillo and María Dávila, whose Venezuela-based studio incorporates natural dye and silk production into a contemporary fine art practice.
The exhibition also features Canadian artists Micheline Beauchemin and Dawn MacNutt, and American artist Adela Akers, who worked closely with weavers in Peru and Mexico. Sheila Hicks and Ferne Jacobs — credited with establishing fiber as a sculptural medium in the mid-20th century — appear alongside Lia Cook and Kay Sekimachi, celebrated for their weaving innovations.
International artists who credit North or South America as key influences round out the second thread: Jiro Yonezawa, whose bamboo work bridges Japanese technique with American form; Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, who worked with American weaver Dorothy Liebes; basketmakers Tim Johnson (UK) and Stéphanie Jacques (Belgium), who both cite Ed Rossbach as an influence; and Danish weaver Trine Ellitsgaard, reflecting three-plus decades living in Mexico.
Exhibition Details
- Dates: October 17–25, 2026
- Opening Reception: Saturday, October 17, 11 am–6 pm
- Gallery Hours: Sunday, Oct 18, 11 am–6 pm; Mon–Sat, Oct 19–24, 10 am–5 pm; Sunday, Oct 25, 11 am–6 pm
- Location: browngrotta arts, 276 Ridgefield Road, Wilton, CT 06897
- Admission: Free and open to the public
- Private Viewings: By appointment for collectors, consultants, and design professionals, Oct 16–25. Reservations recommended.
- Note: No narrow heels — the gallery has barn floors.
About browngrotta arts
browngrotta arts is a Wilton, Connecticut-based gallery specializing in contemporary fiber and mixed-media sculpture, representing an international roster of artists. Founded by Tom Grotta and Rhonda Brown, the gallery has organized exhibitions and produced scholarly catalogs on fiber art for more than 38 years.
Media Contact: Rhonda Brown, art@browngrotta.com or 203.834.0623.