Not to be confused with the hit Fergie song, “Fergalicious”…FIBER-licious is a little less on the sassy side but has a similarly bold statement.
“Fiberlicious” is the latest art exhibit at The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in Hollywood.
Carol Shaw-Sutton, the recently retired chairperson of the Fiber Program and professor of art at California State University, Long Beach, is co-curator the exhibit.
“[Fiberlicious] was the name picked by Scott Canty, the other curator and he wanted a title that was jazzy and exciting that would appeal to all kinds of people… It’s all kinds of material, all kinds of processes, very open minded and yummy; you know delicious. I think that’s where the ‘liciousness’ came from,” said Shaw-Sutton
Traditionally fiber is fabric and threads and yarn, but a lot of artists use paper, twig, rags, plastic, recycled clothes or anything that has to do with textiles, according to Shaw-Sutton
Some of the 16-featured contemporary artists are also very familiar with CSULB, ranging from alumni to visiting artists.
“CSULB is the only school in Southern California that has a full program in fiber. It’s in our art department and is one of our media, so somebody can major in that,” Sutton said.
A number of CSULB alumni displayed their work in the show such as Krista Feld, Tina Linville, Jennifer Reifsneider and Dawn Ertl. Another artist associated with CSULB is Diedrick Brackens, the new Fiber Program Chair.
Featured Artist and CSULB student Dawn Ertl, who received her MFA last year from CSULB, was honored to work alongside with Shaw-Sutton.
“Carol asked me to be in the show when she saw my thesis exhibition last semester in the Gatovo. She was on my thesis committee, so I have been working with her for, well basically the whole time I was in grad school.”
Ertl’s piece is called “One Nation Under God.” It’s an installation made up of 12 weavings that are made of wool, single-use plastic and took approximately six months to make. It uses at least 50 songs layered on top of each other as the cherry on top of the piece.
“The song I used for this piece is, ‘Wait,’ by M83. There is also three layered music pieces woven into the weavings themselves played on three sets of speakers, so when you walk through the weaving installation you can hear familiar bits of songs you might know.”
The exhibit runs through Jan. 3, 2016 from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays and noon to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of the month. Attendees will have an opportunity to have conversations with the artists and to attend free art workshops.
There is no reservation required and free admission.
If someone can’t make it to “Fiberlicious” there is still a chance to see fiber art at CSULB, made by actual students, located in the fiber department.