The Knoxville Museum of Art presents Wind/Rewind/Weave, a major exhibition of work by Chicago artist Anne Wilson January 22–April 25, 2010.
Wind/Rewind/Weave investigates the process of craft and textile production through three separate works: Rewinds, Local Industry and Wind-Up: Walking the Warp.
Rewinds is the premier showing of an installation of glass bobbins, a “deconstructed carpet” of glass stretching 12 feet long. This work stems from Wilson’s artist residency at the Pilchuk Glass School, and at two subsequent residencies at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.
Local Industry, designed by the artist specifically for the KMA, invites museum visitors to consider textile production by spending time winding bobbins of thread. Inside, rows of hand bobbin winders recall the group dynamics of a textile factory. The wound bobbins will be used by a group of experienced weavers to make a single bolt of cloth on a loom set up in the gallery.
Wind-Up: Walking the Warp is a video documenting a group performance January 20-25, 2008, at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago in which 10 participants perform the rhythmic act of building a 40-yard weaving warp on a 17′ x 7′ frame.
A members-only preview party is scheduled for Thursday, January 21 from 5:30 – 7:30pm.
A discussion with the artist is set for Saturday, January 23 at 3pm and is free and open to the public.
Anne Wilson, a Chicago-based visual artist and head of the fiber program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, creates sculpture, drawings, video animations, and installations that explore themes of time, loss, private and social rituals. Her work rests at the forefront of artwork connecting conceptualism and handiwork, activism and aesthetics. Through a diverse range of source materials and production methods, Wilson’s practice extends the relational in terms of labor, collaboration, and identity construction. Her work has been exhibited around the world.
Presenting sponsor for the exhibition is Jupiter Entertainment. Additional sponsors include Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass; Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; the University of Tennessee Visual Arts Committee; and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
For more information about the exhibition and the artist, go to http://www.windrewindweave.com.