VISITOR-CENTERED EXHIBITIONS. SPRING 2016

Exhibit Design Team: Jay Boda Natale Coombs Jane Hamel Alexia Lobaina Albena Maslinkova Jessie Spraggins Rochford Liz Spraggins Morgan Szymanski Maggie Vaughn Anthony Woodrufft

Instructor: Dr. Ann Rowson Love

This exhibition was planned and researched by all the members of the Visitor-Centered Exhibitions Class, Spring 2016, Florida State University.

Catalog design by Alexia Lobaina

Inspired by her family's reuse of household items, and by the wealth of scrap material in

her grandfather's junkyard, Phi 11 ips began combining found objects and paint at the very beginning of her art career (Fig. 1).

Memories of her grandmother using dowsing rods on their land inspired connections with unseen forces that Phi I lips

identifies as a "great source of wonderment in my childhood," and that would later help shape the narratives of some of her work.

The somewhat surreal, yet oddly relatable landscapes and characters of the

Appalachian outskirts in Phillips' artworks are remnants of her childhood imagination, which she has turned loose on memory,

history, and identity. In 1995, Phillips' work transitioned

from mixed media paintings that

incorporate found objects such as wood and glass, to pieces that focus on the use of paint, thread, and fabric. Having moved to

New Orleans to earn her MFA at Tulane University's Newcomb College, Phillips'

former art pieces proved too impractically heavy for the move. As a result, she began to

fashion artwork out of lighter found materials, using a sowing machine to apply thicker layers of textiles (Fig. 2).

Figure 1

Pink Eye, 1994 Gina Phillips oil on canvas, glass, wood 27.5" X 24.75"

Figure 2

Miss Marrieta, 2001 Gina Phillips fabric, thread, fake fur

3. Gina Phillips, "A Thirsty Switch Still Quivers For Me: The Art ofGinaPhillips,"www.21cmuseumhotels.com2014,http://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/lou isvi Ile/museum/exhibits/th i rsty-switch-sti 11-qu ivers-art-gi na­ph i I I ips-2/.

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Figure 3

Fort Dirt Hole, 2013 Gina Phillips

fabric, thread, paint 162" X 330"

Figure 4

Bitter Nest #5: The Homecoming, 1988 Faith Ringgold

Acrylic on canvas, tie-dyed, pieced fabric 27.5" X 24.75"

Transforming the device into a "free-motion,

thread-drawing machine," Phillips guides lines of

stitching in a motion that resembles painting or

drawing. Through this painterly applique of thread,

she is able to manipulate the formal elements of art

with materials traditionally designated as "craft." As

a result, Phillips releases5

the materials from the

constraints of folk art and ennobles them as a formal

medium. She expands upon the work of artists, such

as Faith Ringgold (Fig. 4) and Judy Chicago (Fig. 5),

who have helped break down boundaries between

art and craft by using fabric and thread.

///n recent years,,

I've been using fabric and thread in a way that attempts to transcend the implicit folksiness/craftiness of the material" 6

5. Phil I ips, 2016, http://ginaphiIIips.org/section/7 4669_Friends_and_Neighbors.html.

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© 2016 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Phillips also evokes these artists through the communal gathering process of

materials. Her New Orleans friends and neighbors often donate to the production of her art,

proving particularly instrumental in growing her collection of fabrics and threads after

Katrina. In this sense, each piece of art she creates is not only reminiscent of a precise

moment in ti me but also of the people in her I ife that helped shape it. The proces� of

rebuilding after Katrina forged a strong connection between Phillips and New Orleans, and

the art she has produced since is indicative of the impact the city and community had on her

identity. Yet traces of her past, such as the repurposing of her grandmother's fabric straps at

the beginning of her art career, are still visible

within the layers of fabric, thread, and paint that

compose her narrative art.

Figure 5

Home Sweet Home from Family, 2000

Judy Chicago

Sprayed acrylic, oil paint, embroidery on linen

24x18in.

5. Phi II ips, 2016, http://ginaphiIIips.org/section/7 4669_Friends_and_Neighbors.html.

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© 2016 Judy Chicago / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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2. Sentimental Tooth: Cornstalk, 2011 fabric, thread, ink, paint, oil pastel 42 x 46 inches