G.B.F. (Giant Blue Flower), The Stamelos Gallery Center is proud to share Piece by Piece: Recent Work from Regional Fiber Artists with the campus and greater community. Fiber lends itself to an exploration of the potency of being human. The familiarity of a frayed edge, a softness to comfort us, or a thickness to protect us; fabric reminds us of how we need to be held. It takes us back to the ways we care for each other, the ways our ancestors have blended need and beauty by weaving, knotting, spinning, dyeing, and making for centuries.
Fiber as a medium is not only artistic in practicum, but holds a necessity in its utility in our lives. How can we learn from textiles to weave our communities more strongly? In a place like Southeast Michigan, where so many holes have been torn, threads left frayed, reaching for a hand without the tools to stitch us back together - fiber art is helping piece together a vibrant community, reminding ourselves that we all hold vibrancy in our individuality. This medium provides an opportunity for artists to break from the historical limitations placed on other mediums, while it allows for us to make sense of our identities and define communities. It breaks us loose of rigidity, allowing us to unravel our work off the walls, into our homes and communities. Collectively, the works in Piece by Piece demonstrate the ways fiber art connects us to the lessons of the natural world: to play, to be soft, to listen, to take up space, to give into whimsy. They explore what contemporary fiber making in the area looks like today, and where it will take us in the future.
This exhibition highlights the work of eleven local artists exploring the possibilities of fiber craft in fine art. The exhibiting artists, including Yeager Edwards, Taylor Jenkins, Shaina Kasztelan, Bella Kiser, Kit Parks, Kayla Powers, Jessie Rice, Leslie Rogers, Katie Shulman, Melissa Webb, and Maggie Wiebe, represent only a small snapshot of the fiber community and work being created in Metro Detroit.
These artists' dedication comes through in the evident care, emotion, and time put into these pieces and is founded in the deep knowledge and history of craft. The processes and approaches demonstrated throughout the show are varied: crocheting, quilting, spinning, weaving, sewing, performance, installation. However, all of the artists embody fiber as an ethos in their work, allowing the artists to delve into nuanced exploration of gender, politics, and environmental concerns, often intertwining these themes.
Piece by Piece was curated by Yeager Edwards, a quilter based in Detroit, who drew inspiration for the title of the show from the quilting technique of the same name, piecing. Piecing involves the maker stitching together disparate pieces of fabric in order to create larger components of a quilt. As a quilter, Edwards engages in the process of piecing to create experiences of comfort and joy.
Similarly, this exhibition expands the act from a purely physical one, to one of connecting a community of makers, bound together by a shared passion of craft and care. These artists are taking fiber beyond the craft and technique and using it to understand the world around them. Sharing our passions is crucial for artists to inspire each other, and to help make sense of an increasingly challenging and isolating world. Supporting one another's art through community keeps our work grounded in ideals of care and knowledge sharing, connectivity, and construction.
Piece by Piece will be on display until August 18. For further information and disability accommodation, please contact Laura Cotton, Art Curator and Gallery Manager at lacotton@umich.edu and check the website www.umdearborn.edu/stamelos.
Lichenvision Mini, 
Practicing Imperfection 2-7, 
Sitting/Clasping v.1, Opening Reception
Thursday, May 16, 2024, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Artist talk at 6:00 p.m.
Reception is free to the public, free parking in UM-Dearborn lot. Complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres provided.
The Stamelos Gallery Center is located on the first floor of the Mardigian Library at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. For more information, see below for contact information. Anyone requiring accommodations under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact lacotton@umich.edu.
Taketori Tale,
Kyohei Fujita (b. 1921),
n.d.,
Mold blown glass with gold and silver foil inclusions
Gift of Richard and Louise Abrahams,
Collection of UM-Dearborn (Adp39),
Photograph by Kip Kriigel
World renowned artist Kyohei Fujita was born in Japan in 1921. He is known as the father of Japanese studio glass. Many of his works, including this one, were inspired by early Japanese boxes that were richly decorated with lacquerwork and mother-of-pearl inlays, and traditionally used to store Buddhist writings, jewelry, inkstones and brushes. Fujita's celebrated ornamental glass boxes revive conventional Japanese aesthetics in a contemporary form. This breathtaking piece was mold blown with gold and silver foil inclusions. Whenever asked by collectors what to keep in the boxes, the artist usually stated "You should put your dreams in them."
---Laura Cotton, Art Curator and Gallery Manager
