New Duke Hall Gallery exhibit explores textile traditions
JMU News
Harrisonburg, VA. – The Southeast Fibers Educators Association will present their works in a new online exhibition called In Flux at the Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art at JMU’s School of Art, Design and Art History. In Flux features works that explore textile traditions in a variety of media that range from thread on laundry dyer sheets to homemade textiles cast in concrete to quilts enhanced by geographic data. Past, present, and future collide as artists experiment with new materials and historical forms and traditions. Curated around themes of temporal duration and change, In Flux offers multiple perspectives on fibers aesthetic traditions.
Rob Mertens, an associate professor and fiber arts and weaving head at SADAH and a member of SEFEA, will show his work, Recollecting Time, within the exhibition. Mertens uses fibers, wire, sound, and even electrical conduits to express the path between the past and the future, and society’s changing relationship to technology.
The In Flux online exhibition is available here: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/influx/.
There will also be three virtual events:
- GABRIELLE DUGGAN will give an Artist Talk Thursday, Oct. 22, 4:30-5:30 p.m.
- CRYSTAL GREGORY will give an Artist Talk Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1:30-2:30 p.m.
- ROBERT MERTENS will give talk about “What is Fibers Art Now?” Tuesday, Nov. 17, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Gallery Information:
Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art’s mission is to present the highest level of fine art experiences and to create an active space for robust discourse of vital issues facing our society. It is a space where the local and academic community share ideas about contemporary art and our wider cultural experiences. Art breaks barriers between languages and brings us together to be inspired and knowledgeable citizens, no matter where we come from. The gallery is free to all guests. Visit jmu.edu/dukehallgallery for location, hours and parking information.
DHGFA opened in August with limited hours and new visual guides to help visitors keep safe distances, with no more than 25 visitors at a time. Due to guidance on large gatherings during COVID-19, all in-person exhibition events are cancelled in favor of online events.
Media contact: Contact Beth Hinderliter, director of the Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art, at (540) 568-6407 or at hindersb@jmu.edu.
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