Another Fiber Art Exhibit: At the River's Edge

Saturday, August 9, 2008, is the last chance to see At the River's Edge, a dynamic fiber art exhibit in the Charlotte Price Gallery at the Water Tower in Louisville, Kentucky. The postcard above shows one of the art pieces: Water, Mountains, and Trees; she watches over me by Valerie C. White.

According to the gallery guide, "the art ... focuses on both pictorial and abstract representations of rivers and the landscapes, bridges, and communities that border them." The six participating artists -- Pat DaRif, Kathleen Loomis, Marti Plager, Joanne Weis, Valerie White, and Juanita Yeager -- embarked on the river theme in 2003. With five years to explore the theme in depth, the artists developed pieces that "conjure up the essence of the river; you feel the movement of the water, ... the ancient draw to live close to a body of water."

The pieces are wildly different and yet I saw in each a reflection of the predominant fact about a river: its constant movement. Perhaps most striking is the piece by Kathleen Loomis, whom, incidentally, I know because of my involvement with another art quilt group. Two of Loomis's piece are simultaneously tiny and enormous. Small pieces -- an inch? half an inch? -- of fabric, multi-colored and/or embellished, are strung together both horizontally and vertically, creating a whole that shifts and moves gently in the breeze from a passing observer. The colors merge into each other and separate, just as the river itself does. Stunning works.

As are Marti Plager's bridges. Hot colors and precise angles offer the comfort of bridges in the midst of the textile rivers. Her pieces, lovely in their own right, add the same element that bridges offer in the course of a long car ride: the joy of geometry in the midst of natural shapes. (By the way, I know Marti as well.)

You can see more examples of the art work at the website of the Louisville Visual Art Association. They give you a hint of what's happening in the gallery, but only a pale hint of the remarkable power of this exhibit.