Prof. Deetz’s FABRICation receiving rave reviews

A well-traveled art exhibition, FABRICation, co-curated by UW-Green Bay Prof. Kristy Deetz (Art) with Prof. Reni Gower of VCUarts, Painting and Printmaking Department (Virginia Commonwealth University) is receiving rave reviews. The exhibition has traveled across the United States, beginning in October of 2013, and most recently opened at the Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD, running through-July 8, 2017. Deetz and Gower also serve as lecturers, and visiting artists and conduct workshops as part of the outreach programming connected to the exhibition. Here’s more on the exhibit:

FABRICation, featuring the work of artists (Erin Castellan, Virginia Derryberry, Kristy Deetz, Reni Gower, Rachel Hayes, Susan Iverson and Natalie Smith, incorporates a textile sensibility through elements of fabric and fabrication. Inspired by a rich array of historical textiles (drapery to quilt), these complex multi-part constructions are encoded by traditional handicraft to contrast our culture’s rampant media consumption with the redemptive nuance of slow work wrought by hand. Saturated with vibrant color, the luminous materiality activates the senses and counters passive visual skimming. Works range from delicate illusions to layered constructions to architectural interventions. Mixed media includes oil and acrylic paint, vintage clothing, aluminum screens, wool, silk, plastic, thread, vinyl, burlap, rug-hold, glass, recycled objects, and found fabrics. Whether painting, tapestry or constructs, these works interweave sensory pleasure with repetitive process to invoke introspection and reflection.

The FABRICation catalogue contains an essay by Jessica Hemmings, Professor of Visual Culture and Head of the Faculty of Visual Culture at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. Hemmings writes: “The works presented for FABRICation deserve slow looking. They aren’t what they seem and that is, to some extent, their point. They do expect the viewer to study their making and the illusions their making suggests. Then consume and repeat.”

See the FABRICation Prospectus for images of the work and details of the show.

From gallery directors who have featured FABRICation in their gallery:

University Galleries, the museum of art at University of Nevada, Reno, exhibited FABRICation this fall in our feature exhibition space. Visitors were thrilled with the trompe l’oeil paintings of UW-Green Bay art professor Kristy Deetz. Co-Curators, Professor Kristy Deetz and Professor Reni Gower visited campus and met with graduate students in their studios and presented a slide lecture to an art survey class. Deetz and Gower also gave back-to-back lectures to a group of community elders and then to a larger audience in attendance for the exhibition opening reception. FABRICation was a highlight of the museum’s exhibition season and left our community hungry for more from the artists included in this fine exhibition.
Paul Prindle Baker, Director, University Galleries, Church Fine Arts, University of Nevada, Reno

FABRICation resonated with our audiences — university faculty and students as well as school groups and the public. Visitors engaged with the exhibit on many levels, relating to its visual content and formal properties and drawn by the texture and color of the works of art to examine it more closely. Tours of the exhibit inspired art-making projects with K-12 and university classes who experimented with some of the techniques the artists used in their creative processes.
Joyce Ice, Ph.D. Director, Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6112

I am delighted to offer members of the university and surrounding community the opportunity to explore the role of traditional craft in the contemporary art world and to learn the value of work slowly fashioned by hand in an art world that is becoming increasingly digital in scope. I would like to thank all of the contributing artists for their stunning work.
Nancy Palm, Assistant Professor/Gallery Director, AD Gallery, University of North Carolina Pembroke

FABRICation ranges through multiple mediums and intricate processes, many of which are inaccessible to our students through limitations in our curriculum, making it an excellent and important supplement to a well-balanced visual education. Not only is the tactile quality of media fully explored by these artists but also color, form and space are equally important components of the work in this wonderful, richly visual exhibition.
Timothy McDowell, Professor, Department of Art, Connecticut College

FABRICation taps into a traditional aesthetic of handicraft that has rich historical ties to our community and the modernist explorations and deconstructions of form will appeal to an inquisitive contemporary audience.
Craig Martin, Director, Purdue University Gallery, Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts, Purdue University

The Claypool-Young Art Gallery in the Department of Art & Design at Morehead State University is thrilled to present FABRICation, an exhibition co-curated by Reni Gower and Kristy Deetz. Increasingly, the once disparate realms of art and craft are merging as contemporary makers view materials and media as opportunities for creation, not necessarily categorization. As a gallery director and artist, I particularly appreciate works that merge media, cross traditionally divided disciplines, and are imbued with tactility. It is a great pleasure to work with Ms. Gower and Ms. Deetz.
Jennifer A. Reis, Gallery Director/Coordinator, Arts Entrepreneurship Program, Department of Art & Design, Morehead University