I was excited to receive this article from an important contemporary art collector friend. It made me feel that Unconventional & Unexpected is playing a role in elevating quilts and other textiles from the last half of the 20th century. They create a history and context for the incredible work being made today.

“Many point out that artists made textiles long before they were fashionable, and will continue to do so. ‘Fibre often becomes mired in conversations about art and craft, but artists don’t think about categories—they consider how a material might be deployed’...”

— Julia Halperin, The Art Newspaper

Read the article here.

Material world: Caroline Achaintre’s Befor, 2013. Image courtesy The Art Newspaper. — Material world: Caroline Achaintre’s *Befor*, 2013. Image courtesy The Art Newspaper.

To view images of my installation, visit New Bed on my Artist page.

I am pleased to have been included in the latest group show, "New Bed," at Krowswork in Oakland, CA. Here is a beautiful description of the group exhibition:

“Robert Rauschenberg’s 1955 work Bed represents a watershed in the history of art, one cited as signifying the moment when the hegemony of Abstract Expressionism in America let go. But the piece is far more radical than simply an invisible line in the art continuum. The work hangs on a wall like any painting, yet its central element is a quilt. The eponymous bed is ‘made,’ so to speak, with its corner turned invitingly down and a fluffed white pillow above; but the invitation is moot because the artist stained and closed off this opening with thick, brightly colored oil paint in drips and mottled strokes. Rauschenberg created a bed into which we, the viewers, cannot possibly climb, a bed in which we cannot lie. [...]

In this present show, multi-media, multi-sensorial sculptural installations by [the artists] offer insight into these boundaries between the personal and the public, private and shared history, exploring the disparities between the rhythms, expectations, and emotions of each.”

— Jasmine Moorhead, Krowswork Gallery

What do we learn from the back, that which is usually not seen? I am fascinated by the backs of quilts and quilt tops. I also love the WPA photographs of the interiors of sharecroppers homes. My installation uses the backs of quilt tops and quilts along with a collaborative video piece with Jason Hanasik. I wanted to allude to the types of homes in which these textiles may have originated.

New Bed is at Krowswork in Oakland, CA with work by Roderick Kiracofe, Karen and Malik Seneferu, and Nicole Shaffer, along with a provocative video by Sanford Biggers.

The exhibition runs October 24 to December 6, 2014.