Textiles have long been considered to be “women’s work”; a practical trade that could be done while caring for the family and maintaining the home. However, the intricate embellishments and designs adorning fabrics throughout time reveal that textiles can serve another purpose. “Women’s work” has always been rooted firmly in the stewardship of histories, folklore, and cultural traditions. A weaving can be an archive, and a quilt can be a story.
Tina Williams Brewer, Barbara Weissberger, and Alisha B Wormsley use the format of the quilt to continue this tradition of story telling through textiles. These three Pittsburgh based artists invite you to interpret the quilt as poetry, as jazz, as parable. Fields of bright color and pattern intersect the human form in varying levels of obstruction and augmentation. The use of photography, improvisational piecing, and departure from the customary rectangular quilted form place these works firmly in the future, while celebrating the work of women in our past.
Presented in conjunction with the Fiberart International 2022 June 3, 2022 – August 20, 2022. For more information visit fiberartinternational.org General operating support for Contemporary Craft is provided by Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Heinz Endowments, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The George G Fund, Cathy Raphael, Opportunity Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Grable Foundation, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, Anonymous foundation, The Fine Foundation, Giant Eagle Foundation, JENDOCO Construction Corporation, and by private donations.
Pictured: Barbara Weissberger, “Slash and Burn,” 2020, photographic print on fabric (digital pigment printing), cut, pieced, and sewn, cotton batting, thread, grommets, 59” x 43”, photo: Sean Carroll
