Artist Statement

Mom taught me pretty much everything she knew. Knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cooking, camping, fishing, compassion and responsibility. Then I went to school and learned some more. It all interests me, rocket science, plant biology, history, art, you name it, I’m interested. So, I became a designer, the one career that forces you to keep on learning. I ran a graphic design business called Shades of Gray for over 25 years specializing in corporate and employee communications.

Seven years ago, I sold that business and began my career as a full-time fiber artist. Stitching is an extension of my thoughts through my hands. It’s about the edges as defined by line. It’s about the inner coming out. It’s about the layered, ripped, cut, and sandwiched together. Stitching is a slow process, so I can be sensitive to surprises, allowing the stitched drawings to tell me more than I think I know. Surrounded by inspirations, I am awed by the mystery and eager to create. I multitask, dream in code, read with urgency and play with intent. Most days, I am breathless.

Biography:

Paula Kovarik received her Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. As the creative director and owner of Shades of Gray, Inc., a graphic design studio, she specialized in communications. Paula’s textile art has been recognized by several national venues. She has been profiled in American Craft, Fiber ArtNow and Art Quilting Studio magazines. Paula lives and works in Memphis, TN.

Artist Statement

Mom taught me pretty much everything she knew. Knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cooking, camping, fishing, compassion and responsibility. Then I went to school and learned some more. It all interests me, rocket science, plant biology, history, art, you name it, I’m interested. So, I became a designer, the one career that forces you to keep on learning. I ran a graphic design business called Shades of Gray for over 25 years specializing in corporate and employee communications.

Seven years ago, I sold that business and began my career as a full-time fiber artist. Stitching is an extension of my thoughts through my hands. It’s about the edges as defined by line. It’s about the inner coming out. It’s about the layered, ripped, cut, and sandwiched together. Stitching is a slow process, so I can be sensitive to surprises, allowing the stitched drawings to tell me more than I think I know. Surrounded by inspirations, I am awed by the mystery and eager to create. I multitask, dream in code, read with urgency and play with intent. Most days, I am breathless.

Biography:

Paula Kovarik received her Bachelor of Arts in graphic design from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. As the creative director and owner of Shades of Gray, Inc., a graphic design studio, she specialized in communications. Paula’s textile art has been recognized by several national venues. She has been profiled in American Craft, Fiber ArtNow and Art Quilting Studio magazines. Paula lives and works in Memphis, TN.

Artist Statement

I use embroidery to investigate cultural and environmental issues. Mixing a variety of source materials such as scientific data and early explorer’s journals, I stitch words and numerical graphs on silk and velvet fabrics to make large narrative wall hangings and a series of annotated topographic maps. My recent projects examine geophysical climate issues inspired by a series of collaborations with scientists. I seek simple explanations for the important principles in environmental science and attempt to convey simple and complex layers of meaning. The foundation for each project begins with developing an understanding of published research and climate data generated by satellite instruments and other exploratory data collection tools. Conversations with scientists help me interpret key concepts and clarify their context and relevance. My interest in climate science is motivated by backpacking trips in California’s Sierra mountain range. Lengthy walks and primitive exploration integrate the impacts of contemporary society and historical context and provide a novel opportunity for the consideration of current events and ethical questions.

Biography

Bonnie Peterson is a textile artist investigating environmental and social issues. Recently she worked with scientists studying fire ecology, atmospheric science and lake chemistry to make artwork about climate science. She was an artist-in-residence at Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Isle Royale, and Crater Lake National Parks. Her work is in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and in many private collections. Peterson has an extensive exhibition and grant funding record including four individual artist grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a grant from the Illinois Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and other awards. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois-Urbana and an MBA from DePaul University.

Artist Statement

Donna June Katz’s artwork---which includes art quilts, and paintings on cloth and wood panel--- is informed by natural history, geology, landscape, maps, cosmography, patterning, and concern for the environment. Her work explores the intersections of art and nature. Some of the imagery is based on fossils, topographical views, rivers, planets, constellations, insects, birds, vegetation, sky (and star) maps, landscapes and geological formations. Some recent pieces combine manmade objects with images from nature.

In her fiber work, each image, background and pattern is painted by Katz using thinned acrylic paint on unbleached muslin. These pieces are quilted, embroidered or framed.

Biography:

Donna June Katz has exhibited her work nationwide, most recently in Intersect Chicago/SOFA as one of twenty artists selected by the Studio Art Quilt Association. Other recent exhibits include two travelling exhibits; “H2oh!” (the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona MN being two of several venues), and “Aloft”. Her work can be seen in several publications including Art Quilts of the Midwest and Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World. She is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award and two State of Illinois James R. Thompson awards for excellence in craft.

Sonji Hunt

88” x 64”

2009

Acrylic on painted canvas and muslin,dyed muslin, metal grommets, Peltex, poly-cotton thread, fusible web

Sonji Hunt

77” x 58"

2011

Acrylic painted canvas, Peltex,fusible web, metal grommets,cotton embroidery floss, poly-cotton thread

Sonji Hunt

41” x 36”

(revised and ongoing) 2007 –2020

Acrylic painted canvas, cotton batting, Peltex, fusible web, metal grommets,poly-cotton thread

Sonji Hunt

31” x 26"

2013

Acrylic painted canvas and paper,Peltex,fusible web,metal grommets,cotton embroidery floss, poly-cotton thread

Our current exhibition, Threads, works by five contemporary artists creating in fiber, seeks to show the diversity of approaches used in these works that move beyond craft into fine art. Artists Sonji Hunt, Laurel Izard, Donna June Katz, Paula Kovarik and Bonnie Peterson each use the traditional and some non-traditional materials to create works that express very different interests and concerns that place their work squarely in the contemporary art world. Their works show a range of possibilities in both techniques and ideas that is available to artists who love to work with fiber, thread, stitching, weaving, and embroidery.

Historically, artists working in the field of textiles wove works that were utilitarian in nature, while aesthetic in appearance. Embroidery and sewing were a means of making functional fabric creations decorative. Beginning in the 20th century, both natural and synthetic fabrics were available for artists to use in their expressions, and the materials used become an important element in their creative practice. Many fiber artists emphasize the texture and material nature of their media, and the element of excellent craftsmanship that is often important to the fiber media. But the move from fiber being a “craft” to being part of the fine art world took place when these artists began to explore content, ideas and emotional expression. This began in the 1950s when fiber artists began to move away from utilitarian works to non-functional works. In the 1960s and 1970s, especially with the influence of the Women’s Movement, the fine art of fiber (often created historically by women) exploded with ambitious works that were sculptural and often monumental. In our current times, when so much is dictated by technology, the use of fiber to create can elicit the comfort of things made by hand. The practice of repetitive stitching or embroidering can suggest meditative practice as well. Nonetheless, these artists have no limit as to what content they choose to use in their creative practice, no matter what the materials and techniques they use.

Sonji Hunt began as a painter, and is particularly interested in creating hand-painted fabrics that become her vocabulary for her abstract sculptural works. She is influenced by traditional quilts, hand-embroidery and sewing, and incorporates her love for these established techniques in her works that break traditional boundaries. She incorporates painted fabric, paper and muslin in a collage fashion by both sewing and fusing them. The final works become an aggregate of their smaller elements and shapes; her works are ultimately constructions which are sculptural and come off of the wall.

Hunt considers herself a formalist; her interest is in the art elements of shape, movement, line, color and texture. Her shaped constructions burst beyond the rectangle with a freedom that is joyful and bountiful. Vivid colors add to the playful interaction of large and small shapes, voids and solids, with a deep dynamic energy. The pieces seem influenced by jazz improvisation; their visual presence is exuberant because of the repetition of shapes with strong rhythmic movement. These works abound with enthusiasm, excitement and the courage of experimentation.

Artist Laurel Izard bases her small, embroidered works on the “archtypes of the tarot.” In terms of content, she explores the symbolism present in the tarot, but is using animal imagery rather than human imagery, leaving the subjects open to the interpretation of the viewer. Archtypes refer to symbols or beings that can be universally understood by our unconscious, no matter our backgrounds or history. Izard here makes works that display animals that are threatened or endangered, but they are not depicted realistically but instead with whimsy and humor. Her animals appear to face danger or threats, yet are portrayed as if they are comic book characters. Her use of bright colors adds to the fanciful nature of these works. Izard uses fibers as if they are paint strokes, moving from color to color with subtle transitions. These intimate works intrigue us by a combination of her exquisite technique and her challenge to our own imaginations.

Donna June Katz has a strong interest in natural history in works that use fiber in a unique way. She combines painted imagery with sewn imagery, painting the fabric with diluted acrylic in washes that get built up like layered watercolor. Her strong interest in fossils, birds, geological formations and plants nurture her beautifully rendered drawing and painting. The images float through the flatter but organic fields behind, tied together by vines or abstract linear patterns that suggest topographical maps, such as appears in “Stardust”. Her rich use of color entices the viewer to observe every tiny detail, as bright colors on a more muted background draw the eye throughout the work. Katz then creates tiny stitches throughout the muslin fabric, but these are surely not traditional quilts. Her earlier works were larger quilts with painted imagery on them, and often featured locations with geographical features and information on each area. These more intimate pieces illicit a tender understanding of and love for nature.

Works by artist Paula Kovarik provide a strong contrast to Katz’s work. Her works are filled with an orderly chaos of shapes, stitches, contrasting colors, and flat vs three dimensional forms. Like the other artists, Kovarik has a strong sense of craftsmanship, but her quilted works move a long way from traditional quilting. Shape is a very important element in her work, both in terms of larger shapes, such as the shaped work “Dark Heart,” a riff on traditional Amish quilt patterns and the smaller spontaneous shapes. Kovarik's stitching becomes a web of drawing that enhances her shapes, much as might be found in contemporary painting where lines lay over imagery. In fact, like the works by Hunt, these works seem to be a visual depiction of jazz, with improvisation, notations and freedom from the more “classical” quilt tradition. Kovarik does mention that creating contemplative, slow art, “a product born of concentration and hours of application,” feels very satisfying in a frenetic world.

These works from Kovarik’s Stitched Dissent series reflect the anxiety of our current American world, with the artist’s expressions of tension made apparent by her use of strong contrast of colors and values, diagonal thrusts of shape and line, squiggles in stitching; it is work that shouts rather than whispers, something we wouldn’t expect from quilts.

Bonnie Peterson creates quilts that combine image and text, based on science; her interest in climate change and other human effects on the environment has caused her to collaborate with scientists and explore research and information on the various subjects. Her quilted works are busy with charts, maps, diagrams, writing, all embroidered with colored stitching that contrasts with the background fabrics. At times, she includes images that are photo-transfers of historic subjects onto fabric. While her quilts provide much scientific information, they are presented with great imagination and visual delight. Peterson uses intense color to highlight areas of the imagery, and very fanciful composition, as well as quirky shapes. Like the works by Kovarik, they are intensely improvisational for works that carry such weighty subject matter.

Peterson’s work is informed by not only scientific data, but by exploratory hiking trips she takes, exploring her interest in natural phenomena. These works portray her concern and love for nature, much as Katz’s works do. While Katz uses keen, poetic, observational drawing in her works, Peterson instead portrays nature as systems that change with human intervention. Instead of concentration on the details that delight, Peterson concentrates on policy and a hope for intervention into human destruction.

Threads as an exhibition reflects the plurality of techniques and approaches that can be found in fiber art today. From Hunt’s beautiful and playful design quality to Kovarik’s reflection of contemporary society, and from Katz’s lyrical take on what nature offers us to Peterson’s visually stunning but educational quilts, works in fiber art can provide many avenues of expression and creativity. This often-overlooked medium has much to express in a world today that is filled with quick and hectic imagery. The slow process of creating in such a medium also presents artists with the opportunity for contemplative imagination.

Beth Shadur
Gallery Director

Artist Statement

Making art, for me, is both a meditation and dialogue with the materials and the elements of art. I make art of some kind every day, because it feeds me emotionally and spiritually. My studio environment is filled with a large assemblage of artworks, rocks, fossils, pottery, and old lunchboxes that have been collected over the years. Collecting has influenced my work beyond visual cues and such things, as vintage books, ephemera and old textiles become the materials in my work. I am a collector of images as well and have over 50,000 images of art, science, science fiction, quilts, animals, artists work and you name it stored on Pinterest. My background in anthropology has always played a big part in my art, and interest in how we see the world physically and spiritually. My work has been exhibited in galleries, and art centers all over the country, and I have won awards along the way.

A fascination with sewing and textiles started as early as I could hold a needle, but I never really considered it as my main art making material until 2011. Since then I have spent hours creating small intensely embroidered images loosely based on the archetypes of the tarot. 2019 has been the year of the quilt as I have embarked on a project to portray animals, particularly endangered animals on art quilts. Now I have an even better excuse to collect old quilts and exotic fabrics.

I look at these works as hand-embroidered paintings, which are created with DMC floss on cotton twill fabric. The vibrant quality of the surfaces are created by mixing the fibers of the floss and that gives these works a presence that belies their small size. Each of the embroidered pieces takes four to six weeks to complete, and that is one reason for their small size, yet, I also feel the intimacy of closely viewing these pieces creates a different kind of connection with the viewer.

This series explores the inner worlds of the imagination and subconscious mind, rather than recreating the physical world. The imagery in this work is informed by the archetypes of the tarot. I have been intrigued by these archetypes, which embrace ideas about human existence as both physical and spiritual beings. What also draws me to these symbols is their open-endedness, which allows the viewer to interpret them according to their own journey through life. My versions of the tarot have evolved from my interest in pulp science fiction illustrations, medieval illuminations, old wood block prints, comic books, and the hundreds of images I look at each week.

Biography:

Laurel Izard currently lives and works in Michigan City with her artist husband Edwin Shelton and two cats. She received a BA from Northern Illinois University, with majors in art and anthropology, and a MFA in Ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After collage Izard and her husband started a ceramic business called Izwin, and wholesaled colorful whimsical tabletop wares to galleries, boutiques and department stores throughout the country. After twenty-three years of self-employment she taught art in numerous after-school and summer programs. Her art-teaching career culminated in nine year of teaching art at Marquette High School. Her philosophy as an artist and teacher is that an integral part of being human is to be creative, and continues to teach others how to discover their inner artistic resources. Currently she works part time as the education coordinator at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts and creates art full time. Izard is an award-winning artist who exhibits her artwork throughout the country.

Laurel Izard

Hand-embroidered cotton

5.75” x 3.5”

$950

Laurel Izard

Hand-embroidered cotton

6.5” x 4”

$950

Laurel Izard

Hand-embroidered cotton

6” x 3.75”

$950

Laurel Izard

Hand-embroidered cotton

5.75” x 3.5”

$950

Paula Kovarik

cotton fabrics, thread and batting

39.5” x 41”

2018

Paula Kovarik

cotton fabrics, thread and batting

46” x 55”

2019

Paula Kovarik

cotton fabrics, thread and batting

30” x 41.5"

2020

Paula Kovarik

cotton fabrics, thread and batting

39” x 39"

2015

Donna June Katz

Mixed media on fabric

2011

14.5” x 11”

Artist Statement

Sonji Yarbrough Hunt lives and works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a painter who incorporates other craft methodologies in order to bring her visual work to life. Using the technique of painting canvas, muslin and paper, and then fusing, cutting and sewing the paintings, allows her to create surfaces that breathe and become more environmental, as opposed to simply being objects on the wall. As an abstract formalist, Sonji considers the physicality of the work most important, although the subject matter based on the ongoing relationship between the natural world and the human activities that impact it, always informs the shape, color, movement and texture of her constructions.

Aside from painting and sewing, Sonji is obsessed with spinning wool and various forms of weaving and basketry. Contemplating how to incorporate these techniques in her evolving art results in a lot of work that is not fit for viewing, but she hoping to get it together by the time we can all be together at the gallery.

Donna June Katz

Mixed media quilt

2007

33” x 33”

Donna June Katz

Mixed media quilt

2009

32” x 35”

Donna June Katz

Mixed media quilt

2017

12” x 12”

Bonnie Peterson

36” H x 32” W

2017

Embroidery on silk

Bonnie Peterson

38” H x 55” W

2017

Embroidery on silk

Bonnie Peterson

65”H x 85” W

2015

Embroidery on silk

Bonnie Peterson

16” H x 16” W x 1” D

2019

Embroidery on silk

Artist Statement

Sonji Yarbrough Hunt lives and works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a painter who incorporates other craft methodologies in order to bring her visual work to life. Using the technique of painting canvas, muslin and paper, and then fusing, cutting and sewing the paintings, allows her to create surfaces that breathe and become more environmental, as opposed to simply being objects on the wall. As an abstract formalist, Sonji considers the physicality of the work most important, although the subject matter based on the ongoing relationship between the natural world and the human activities that impact it, always informs the shape, color, movement and texture of her constructions.

Aside from painting and sewing, Sonji is obsessed with spinning wool and various forms of weaving and basketry. Contemplating how to incorporate these techniques in her evolving art results in a lot of work that is not fit for viewing, but she is hoping to get it together by the time we can all be together at the gallery.