If I had the plane fare, I’d be on my way right now to see Thread as the Line: Contemporary Sewn Art at the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington, Virginia. The show, which opened in May, exhibits the work of 16 artists. “‘The Thread as the Line,’” Ellipse’s web site says, “exposes the expanding interest in using traditional sewing and embroidery in contemporary fine art.” The work is amazing and innovative, such as Jennifer Boe’s, Immaculate Mary Full of Grace, a triptych for which this embroidered, cherub-embellished vacuum cleaner is the central image. Boe notes “a distinction between and a hierarchical ordering of fine art over craft, which solidified about the time of the renaissance; ‘Art’ being strong, masculine and educated; ‘craft’ being weak, feminine, domestic and amateur.” This exhibition does a beautiful job of arguing against that dichotomy. You can read more about Boe and the show’s other 15 artists on Ellipse’s site.
Many thanks to Noreen at Hankering for Yarn for pointing out this fabulous find.
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