Fiber Focus Exhibition Opening in Mid-September

Art Saint Louis, the premiere not-for-profit visual art organization & co-op art gallery in downtown St. Louis, presents “Fiber Focus 2011,” opening in the Gallery September 6 through October 13, 2011.

OPENING NIGHT The public is invited to join us for a free reception held at Art Saint Louis on Friday, September 16, 2011, 6-10 p.m. Exhibit juror Lia Cook will be in the Gallery from 8:30-10 p.m. 

GALLERY TALK The public is also invited to join us for a free Juror’s Gallery Talk held at Art Saint Louis on Saturday, September 17, 2011, 1:30-1:50 p.m. Exhibit juror Lia Cook give a very brief talk on the jurying process and how she selected the artworks for this year’s “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibit.

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT “Fiber Focus” was designed to highlight contemporary fiber works by Midwest regional artists living in Missouri and the bordering 8 states. Since 1995 and our very first “Fiber Focus” exhibition, Art Saint Louis has worked to expand pre-conceived notions of what contemporary fiber art is. 

This year's "Fiber Focus 2011" is no exception. The exhibit features 56 artworks in a vast array of traditions, techniques, styles, themes, and media—everything from traditional quilted works to non-traditional quilts, handmade paper, mixed media sculpture, surface design, felted works, baskets, tapestry, fiber collage & assemblage, and much more. The works in this year’s show reach way beyond traditional craft and fall firmly in the realm of contemporary art. We are very privileged to provide the unique opportunity to present this exciting group of fiber work in our beautiful Gallery.

JUROR Serving as juror for “Fiber Focus 2011” is Lia Cook, an internationally exhibited textile artist based in Berkeley, CA. She is currently Professor of Art, Textiles and Graduate Studies at California College of Arts, where she has taught since 1976. Lia works in a variety of media combining weaving with painting, photography and digital technology. She exhibits nationally and internationally, most recently in China, Sweden, Costa Rica, Austria, and Canada. Her works are in the permanent collections of: MOMA, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Cooper Hewitt, New York; Museum of Art & Design, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art; Smithsonian Museum, The National Collection, France; de Young Museum, San Francisco, Oakland Museum of California; Musee Bellerieve, Switzerland; and National Gallery of Australia. Lia’s work can be seen on her website, www.liacook.com.

THE ARTISTS For this year’s exhibit, 60 artists from 9 Midwestern regional states submitted 259 artworks for the juror’s consideration. From those entries, Ms. Cook selected 56 works by 42 artists representing 8 states for the exhibition. 

Art Saint Louis is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sundays, holidays & between exhibits.

*Description by Art St. Louis.