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Fabric Workshop, Clay Studio collaborate in “Hard/Cover”

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The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM), 1214 Arch St., Philadelphia presents “Hard/Cover,” on view through Sept. 26.

A collaboration with Philadelphia’s Clay Studio, the exhibition includes important artworks from past residents Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), Viola Frey (1933–2004), Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011), and Betty Woodman (1930–2018), as well as new works by five contemporary artists who have been invited to expand their practice with screenprinting.

These artists include Woody De Othello (Oakland, Calif.), Jane Irish (Philadelphia), Mark Barrow and Sarah Parke (Queens, N.Y.), and Shino Takeda (Brooklyn, N.Y.).

Hard/Cover looks closely at the relationship between time, process, and space in developing an interdisciplinary practice. Framed by celebrated works from past Artists-in-Residence working at FWM in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, as well as tableaus and scenes created by contemporary artists, the exhibition considers how changes in one’s creative practice can open up new pathways of conveying integral ideas.

For Frey, Takaezu, and Woodman, their collective shift away from utilitarian function toward aesthetic and emotive properties illustrated tension in a world that did not easily make room for female artists with a material-focused practice. Now, more than three decades later, artists such as De Othello, Irish, Barrow and Parke, and Takeda can employ interdisciplinary practices that move between function, pleasure and critical discourse.

For information, visit fabricworkshopandmuseum.org.


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