Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Sheila Hicks at Joslyn



I've been trying to get to this show for a while now, and I actually paid and made it to the gallery at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha about a month ago, but they were having trouble with their alarm system, and there were strobe lights all over the museum flashing rapidly.  It was instant headache time, so we left, and I made it back today alone.  I'm so glad I didn't miss this.  What a wonderful exhibit!

Sheila Hicks is a native of Hastings, Nebraska.  Here's what Joslyn has as her bio:

Hicks was born in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1934 and trained as a painter at the Yale University School of Art, taking courses with famed color theorist Josef Albers, pre-Columbian art scholar George Kubler, and the architect Louis Kahn. Although she had learned to embroider and knit early in life, Hicks became interested in textiles in 1956 while studying Latin American art. The following year, she traveled to South America, a formative experience for the young artist. With Santiago, Chile, as her home base, Hicks toured the continent to photograph the landscape and historical sites and learn indigenous weaving techniques. These textile practices, along with other skills the artist discovered during her extensive travels — such as back-strap weaving and Moroccan and Guatemalan rug-making — continue to inform Hicks’s approach, even as she has developed new ways to use thread. 

I really  love almost all of what they showed, although I found it interesting that the first smaller room of the exhibition gallery, that you could see some of without a ticket, was the least interesting, at least to me.  Her colors and use of varied textiles and threads is really inspiring.  

I find myself eager to try to make art rather than just garments.  We shall see how that goes.  I purchased the exhibition catalog, Sheila Hicks: Material Voices to inspire me as time goes on.

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