Live Wire

form & concept | July 2020

“Fiber is the material of revolution,” writes Live Wire co-juror Jordan Eddy. “Think of Betsy Ross stitching an early version of the American flag or Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty holding colors aloft to usher in the French Revolution. In recent decades, fiber artists from Judy Chicago to Faith Ringgold have provided potent kindling for social and political movements.” Presented in collaboration with the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center, Live Wire explores fiber’s remarkable ability to conduct world-changing ideological currents. 

The wide-ranging show, originating from a national call to artists, features wearable sculptures, tapestries, found object assemblages and large-scale installations. Nika Feldman playfully incorporates found soda tabs in a series of wearable artworks that investigate the concept of ceremony across cultures. In an exhaustively researched body of work by Tali Weinberg, climate data is translated into impeccably finished tapestries of plant-derived fiber and dyes. Martha Shade, who exhibited in the landmark show Women Artists from the Land of Enchantment co-curated by Lucy Lippard, presents her unconventional interpretation of “crazy quilts” with woven depictions of pre and post-1948 Palestinian exile. Anchoring the exhibition is Priscilla Dobler Dzul’s woven Volkswagen Beetle, a life-sized actualization of corporate and capitalist influence in the arts. 

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