A Network (n) : an arrangement of >intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.

To Network (v) : to connect as or operate with a network.

To Weave (v) : To make (a complex story or pattern) from a number of interconnected elements.

New Image Artists is a group of professional fiber and mix media artists who have been exhibiting together and individually for over 40 years. They are trailblazers and innovators working in a medium that has only recently gained solid support from the leading institutions in the art world. While each artist has her own studio process and conceptual aims, they are united by their dedication to their art and a creative camaraderie which has grown over years of meeting and exhibiting together.

This group exhibit, Beyond Networks, highlights work by New Images Artists that explores the meaning of networks and is intended to draw attention to how the processes inherent in the creation of textile art as well as the “encoding of meaning” have been mirrored in the invention and development of digital social networks.

Unlike the recent advent of online networks, the cultural and artistic history of textiles has developed internationally over millennia. Indeed, the invention of the Jacquard Loom in the 19th century in Europe which used punch cards to automate the weaving of complex patterns inspired the creation of the first computer.

Beyond Networks seeks to create a conversation about meaning and personal expression in a complex, wired and networked world.  The viewer will experience a variety of styles and techniques in Beyond Networks from the gestural work of Dominie Nash to the more structured work of Cathy Kleeman. While Nash and Kleeman work with quilted fabric, their studio methods and imagery are different . The variety of techniques is also demonstrated by contrasting the crisp representational work of B.J. Adams that is created with thread and a sewing machine with the hand built work of Joan Dreyer’ “Multiverse”, Saaraliisa Yitalo’s “Flooding In”, or Mary Beth Bellah’s “Mend the Web”.

-Mary Welch Higgins

Photo Credit: Greg Staley