Joan Spain Gallery, Perelman Building
Main Building
Three groundbreaking single sculptures, three leading contemporary artists: Secret Garden unites works in fiber by Ted Hallman, Sheila Hicks, and Jim Hodges.
The first of these sculptures is Inner Tree by Pennsylvania native Ted Hallman. A monumental knitted work, Inner Tree integrates the physical and spiritual world through interlaced acrylic yarns over steel armatures.
Also on view is Sheila Hicks' Wow Bush/Turmoil in Full Bloom, a free standing work created between the mid 1970's and 1987. Here, recycled nurses' uniforms from the Hôpital Cantonal in Lausanne, Switzerland in varying hues of yellow, pink, purple, and beige have been torn into strips, knotted, meshed, and sewn together into an installation that takes on any configuration and adapts to any space. First shown in 1977 at the Lausanne Tapestry Biennale (where it created much controversy), it is regarded as a major turning point in the evolution of the tapestry medium.
The third work of art on view comes from American conceptual artist Jim Hodges. Every Touch, created in 1995 in collaboration with Philadelphia's Fabric Workshop and Museum, is a 192 x 168 inch curtain constructed from thousands of fabric flowers. They have been disassembled and then reassembled into a veil of cascading petals and leaves, suspended in open space, evoking a poignant reflection on the fragility of life and its regeneration.
The three sculptures on display are complemented by a group of hand printed textiles from the late 1940s through the 1970s featuring flowers, plants, and landscapes representing the work of some of America's foremost textile artists and designers.
The exhibition coincides with FiberPhiladelphia , March –April 2012, Identity: Context & Reflection: A Joint Conference of the Studio Art Quilt Associates and Surface Design Association, March 30-April 1, 2012; and the Philadelphia International Flower Show, March 4-11, 2012