2024 Fiber Art Colorado

The Depot Art Gallery

2069 W. Powers Ave, Littleton, CO 80120

July 23–September 7, 2024

Admission: free

Review by Maggie Sava

The Depot Gallery, run by the Littleton Fine Arts Guild, is a charming community art space nestled in Downtown Littleton. Located within a restored 1888 train station, the gallery harkens back to the city’s past when the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad lines ran through the area. [1] Now, the building brings neighbors and visitors together for showcases of local art and the guild’s mission: “to be an inspirational leader of artistic creativity and craftsmanship for the benefit of our entire community.” [2]

A view of the exterior of the Depot Art Gallery in Littleton. Image by Maggie Sava.

While their exhibition space is typically reserved for guild members, non-member artists are invited to submit for their annual All Colorado Show, a tradition for over 35 years. [3] This year’s All Colorado Show is 2024 Fiber Art Colorado, juried by Cecily Cullen, the Director and Curator of Metropolitan State University’s Center for Visual Art. Bringing together 75 artworks by 49 artists from across the state — some of whom are members of the guild — the show quite literally fills the entire exhibition space, spanning three rooms with weavings, sculptural pieces, clothing, and more.

An installation view of the exhibition *2024 Fiber Art Colorado* at the Depot Art Gallery. Image by *DARIA*.

On the Saturday afternoon I visited the show, the gallery felt lively and light. Folks walking around the town on the sunny weekend came in with their pups, others popped in and out, and some, like me, moved slowly through the several pockets of the show. The gallery’s sense of quick familiarity made me feel all the more welcome within the exhibition.

Alyssa Williams, *Reclaimed*, fabric, embroidery thread, beads, cotton fill, and felt. Image by *DARIA*.

One of the first works to greet me was Alyssa Williams’s Reclaimed, a collage of relics of modern sexuality. The top left of the composition features a rectangle mimicking a Plan B box, with its green and purple curves interrupted by a long, pink line. Under this lies a pink circle surrounding a white circle—an imitation of the image of the pill on the front of the contraceptive’s packaging. What appears to be a birth control pill holder sits on the right and in the middle lies an IUD and a pile of condoms in their wrappers.

While the recognizable imagery is clinical, the texture and patterns of the fabric Williams uses to create the shapes and the softness of the piece, which gives it almost an animated aesthetic, asserts the intimacy of these items and their implications. There is something both profoundly private and immediately relatable about this piece, not unlike the tender, funny, or even at times emotional memories of talking with close friends about relationships and sexual histories.

Heather Hauptman, *Sophisticated Mature Woman With Her Coffee and Vibrator*, embroidery on second hand pillow case. Image by *DARIA*.

An exploration of sexuality continues in Heather Hauptman’s Sophisticated Mature Woman with Her Coffee and Vibrator, the winner of second place in the juried exhibition. In it, the subject shamelessly sits at her table with her drink and sex toy laid out in front of her. The use of the words “sophisticated” and “mature” could refer to her nonchalance or could serve as a euphemism for age. In the case of the latter, the piece showcases an older woman's desire—something that the media in general avoids exploring, discussing, or representing.

Through the use of a household textile—a pillowcase—and the depiction of a scene at what one could assume is a breakfast nook or dining room table, Hauptman plays with a sense of domesticity often attributed to creation through fiber materials. Historically, fiber arts were highly gendered as feminine and relegated as a craft rather than high art in the Western world until the 1960s and 70s, when they began gaining wider visibility in art galleries and other exhibition spaces [4]. At that time, the medium was embraced by artists challenging the status quo, including those participating in the feminist art movement, as they attempted to create space for voices that had long been excluded from the “fine arts.”

Sophisticated Mature Woman with Her Coffee and Vibrator nods to these artists through both medium and subject, displaying the personal on a public scale, elevating a mundane domestic scene within a gallery space, and embracing “taboo” subjects of female pleasure through humor and, like Williams, a sense of relatability.

An installation view of Heather Schulte’s work *What We Feel; We Cannot Say (Fear)*. Image by *DARIA*.

While Hauptman uses a more direct visual language in her embroidered piece, Heather Schulte plays with what is hidden or obscured within stitchwork. From the front, What We Feel; We Cannot Say (Fear) looks to be a monochromatic, rectangular canvas with only the ghostly suggestion of letters within the variation of the cross-stitched line work. As I moved around the piece, changing the angle and position of my body, the word “FEAR” suddenly revealed itself, almost like an optical illusion or mirage.

Heather Schulte, *What We Feel; We Cannot Say (Fear)*, cross stitched cotton embroidery thread on cotton canvas. Image by *DARIA*.

In her artist statement on her website, Schulte describes language as “a dynamic material—a complex web of abstract shapes, sounds, and gestures—in and from which we place and receive meaning. Every thought, word read, or sentence uttered rests upon a constantly shifting cultural negotiation.” [5] In this piece, Schulte skillfully explores textural and textual permeability, letting the shadow-like construction of the word reveal the tension between the said versus unsaid, or the not-yet-verbalized but present/felt/understood. She asks viewers to physically change their perspective as a way to alter perception, challenging us to reflect on why we react in a certain way in the mere presence of the word. While it appears that the piece is relatively uniform at first, the aesthetic minimalism contrasts with the sudden strong reaction provoked by the evocative word, only punctuated more by the bold font.

Rebecca Peebles, *Weaver's Hair - Ritual for Elder Hood,* weft-face woven wool and hair. Image by *DARIA*.

While Williams’s, Hauptman’s, and Schulte’s works involve modern subject matter and aesthetics, Rebecca Peeble’s Weaver's Hair—Ritual for Elderhood represents what might be considered a more traditional approach to textile work. The wool of the woven piece is a soft, almost understated blue, matched by the simple and singular geometric cross shape at the center and the twisted fringes lining the bottom. As the name, and a closer look, reveal, strands of white hair are attached at the center of the cross.

Peebles celebrates weaving as a process, and by describing it as a “ritual,” she emphasizes the importance of the creative act just as much, if not more so, than the end product, calling attention to the body that created the piece. The inclusion of actual hair further asserts presence, pushing back against the art-historical impulse to create a hierarchy between concept and labor and a separation of the art object from the hands that made it.

Kathy Mitchell-Garton, *South Table Mountain: Milky Way*, thread, beads, and sequins on cyanotype-printed fabric. Image by DARIA.

Within the wide range of works composing the 2024 Fiber Art Colorado exhibition are three-dimensional objects that take the art off the wall. Some are more recognizable or functional pieces, including baskets or chairs, while others are more abstract and sculptural in nature.

Tricia Waddell, *Showed Up and Felt Out of Place*, linen, dye, thread, string, stuffing, wire, and dyed sand. Image by *DARIA*.

Tricia Waddell’s Showed Up and Felt Out of Place, with its limbed form, introduces a character that holds emotion through its careful pose. As she shares on her website, Waddell pulls from cultural traditions that instill power in dolls and other similar objects. [6] Emotional energy animates her soft sculptures to reflect different internal and mental states externally.

An installation view of the exhibition *2024 Fiber Art Colorado* with Tricia Waddell’s *Showed Up and Felt Out of Place* in the foreground. Image by *DARIA*.

In Showed Up and Felt Out of Place, the slumped position of the creature, with both ends of the body facing downwards, immediately communicates a sense of dejectedness or sadness that goes along with the feeling of not belonging. The strings wrapped around the character bind it in an exoskeleton of restriction—a potential manifestation of a certain anxiety. The act of externalizing these complicated emotional states serves, for Waddell, as a means of creating “self-portraits and expressions of everything I keep hidden.” [7] Once made visible, we are invited in to share, resonate, and even commiserate with these feelings, creating a sense of connectedness around this formerly lonely friend.

Andrea Gordon, *Felt(Ed)*, needle felted wool and polyester felt. Image by *DARIA*.

An aerial view of Andrea Gordon’s *Felt(Ed)*, needle felted wool and polyester felt. Image by *DARIA*.

In balance, an essential element to a show containing such a variety of pieces is the levity of Andrea Gordon’s amorphous sculpture Felt(Ed), winner of third place in the exhibition. Made up of organic-looking, blob-like forms, Felt(Ed) too seems to have a life of its own. It spills over the pedestal it rests on, as if melting or trying to crawl off. Simultaneously, it looks like a bundle of bright, colorful fabrics, almost like a Beauty and the Beast-type object suddenly brought to life by some magical intervention. Like Waddell’s work, Felt(Ed) embodies its own personality and life force.

A view of three works in the exhibition *2024 Fiber Art Colorado* at the Depot Art Gallery. Image by *DARIA*.

Because the show contains so many individual works, I had to remind myself to move slowly so as not to miss anything. While the first, second, and third place prize winners are all displayed in the first gallery, you have to continue through the second and third rooms in the Depot to encounter all the show has to offer, including woven landscape scenes, quilted and patchwork pieces, and even a sculpture of a boat.

Al Caner, *Pyramids*, knotted cords of cotton, nylon, and polyester. Image by *DARIA*.

While there are logistical limitations with showing so many pieces, and by putting together a show through a submission and jury process, I found myself wishing I had more information about the works, the artists, and their processes—which can be a fundamental aspect of fiber art. At the gallery, I did not find collected statements, nor were they included in the labels for each piece. I also could not track them down on the gallery’s website (although you can find images of all the works included in the show). [8]

Sherrie Robbins, *Quietude*, botanically-dyed antique fabric and lace, joint compound, couched flowers with silk ribbon, repurposed baby clothes, and momigami paper. Image by *DARIA*.

I found myself more and more curious to know how these artists’ practices came about, if they had cultural or familial significance, how they sourced their materials, and the potential significance of the different materials they used, including for pieces that appeared to have more traditional roots like gourd sculptures and woven baskets. While the dedicated art lover could track down many of the artists’ websites through online searches, as I was able to do for several of the exhibitors, I missed some of the specific stories around the pieces in 2024 Fiber Art Colorado, especially when so many aspects of the show felt very intimate.

Perhaps it was a benefit to walk away from the show wanting to keep searching, learning, reading. The fact that the gallery was nearly brimming with art demonstrates not only the multifaceted nature of fiber arts as a whole, but the richness of fiber arts here in Colorado. You will certainly need to budget a solid window of time to soak it all in, and maybe to stop by the Depot’s separate Caboose Gallery while you are there, too.

Maggie Sava (she/her) is a writer based in Denver, Colorado. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history and English, creative writing from the University of Denver and a master’s degree in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.

[1] “Depot Art Gallery – Littleton,” Uncover Colorado, accessed August 21, 2024, https://www.uncovercolorado.com/activities/depot-art-gallery/.

[2] “About The Depot Art Gallery,” The Depot Art Gallery, accessed August 21, 2024, https://depotartgallery.org/about/.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Julia Halperin, “Fiber Art Is Finally Being Taken Seriously,” The New York Times Style Magazine, September 11, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/t-magazine/fiber-art-textiles.html.

[5] “About,” Heather D Schulte, accessed August 21, 2024, https://www.heatherdschulte.com/about

[6] “About,” STUDIO BLKBIRD, accessed August 21, 2024, https://www.studioblkbird.com/about.

[7] Ibid.

[8] “Spreadsheet Photos,” The Depot Art Gallery, accessed August 21, 2024, https://depotartgallery.org/spreadsheet-photos/.