OCTOBER 2008

INTERSECTIONS 4 FUELS FIBER ART REVOLUTION

Herbst International Exhibition Hall, Presidio of San Francisco

In Fall 2008, the preeminent fiber arts group in the San Francisco Bay Area presents a provocative juried exhibition showcasing the cutting-edge talents of a wide range of award-winning artists.

The fiber/DIMENSIONS Intersections 4 show is on view daily from October 18 to November 16 in the Herbst International Exhibition Hall in the San Francisco Presidio.



Featuring close to 90 works by more than 35 innovative artists in a dazzling array of media, Intersections 4 celebrates the diversity of fiber art. Members of fiber/DIMENSIONS use unexpected materials in delightful ways — from coffee-filter kimonos to barbed-wire vessels and pork-rind pigs.

Intersections 4 exhibitors craft unique objects from beer cans, credit cards, cable ties, angora, silk, steel, and wood. Sculpture, textiles, basketry, ceramics, and collage are some of the techniques deployed at Intersections 4.

Marin-based artists founded fiber/DIMENSIONS nearly 20 years ago after an inspiring series of fiber sculpture classes at the College of Marin in Kentfield, CA. Their instructor, Carole Beadle, is a groundbreaking fiber sculpture artist whose work is recognized nationally and globally.

Beadle’s airy, wire crochet creations drift dreamily along walls or ceilings, making interior spaces into lacy, otherworldly environments. Her copper mesh objects and screens lend grace and whimsy to home, studio, or office areas such as tabletops, floors, and architectural nooks.


Other fiber/DIMENSIONS founders and Intersections 4 participants include Cynthia Jensen. Paper, bark, fabric, wood, leather, plastic, metal, and recycled objects are the raw materials for Jensen’s thought-provoking work. She twists metal to her will to make baskets and fashions vessels out of paper with a patina like rusted steel. Jensen draws inspiration from the natural world for her captivating creations.

Another Intersections 4 artist is Lucia Matzger. The Matzger family and friends collect coffee filters for re-use in unique clothing items such as kimonos. Brewed coffee dyes the carefully cleaned and prepared filters into a wealth of abstract patterns that work beautifully in Matzger’s elegant, flowing garments.




A cartoonist at heart, fiber/DIMENSIONS artist Stewart Wagner chooses to share his vision through three-dimensional (3D) media such as ceramics, wood, precious metals, fiber, steel, and recycled materials augmented with conventional and digital photography. Pork rinds, concrete, Lincoln logs, and rubber also figure prominently in his work.



Intersections 4 is open every day from October 18 through November 16, providing many opportunities to see the show during the busy pre-holiday season. Visitors can meet the artists at an opening reception Sunday October 19 or during artist-led tours. For more information, see October 18 and www.fiberdimensions.com/show.

— Claudia Willen

Images:
Summer by Laurel Shackelford (top)
Atypical Tropical by Emily Dvorin (second from top)
Cubism For Triangles by Regula Allenspach Weill (middle)
Caf Ciquant by Lucia Matzger (second from bottom)
Coorsboy Boots by Stewart Wagner (bottom)