by: Caroline Kipp
The Textile Society of America in partnership with The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum is delighted to present the fall season of Contemporary Voices. Focused on contemporary artists, this series of talks features innovative creators whose practice draws on textile materials, techniques, or knowledge. This season will feature two distinguished artists, Tanya Aguiñiga and Cayce Zavaglia.
Tensión (AMBOS Project), 2017
Performed by Tanya Aguiñiga and Jackie Amézquita. Photo by Gina Clyne.
On September 14th, join artist Tanya Aguiñiga for a discussion of fiber art as activism on the U.S.-Mexico border. In the face of injustice, fiber and textile techniques have been her companions in creating works of healing and empowerment. Aguiñiga unpacks the specifics of why fiber and textile-based materials have been the most effective conduit for her to bridge worlds at the border. She will discuss design thinking, give a brief history of art at the border and explore fiber works by other artists carried out at the border. Program participants will receive a guide to best practices for community engagement.
Tanya Aguiñiga was born in San Diego, California and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. An artist, designer, and craftsperson, Aguiñiga works with traditional craft materials, such as natural fibers, and collaborates with other artists and activists to create sculptures, installations, performances, and community-based art projects. Drawing on her upbringing as a binational citizen who crossed the border from Tijuana to San Diego daily for school, Aguiñiga’s work speaks to her experience of divided identity and aspires to tell the larger and often invisible stories of the transnational community.
On October 12th, American artist Cayce Zavaglia will present her large-scale, embroidered portraits. The back of an embroidery is usually hidden from view, but Zavaglia celebrates the verso image by creating work that can be viewed from both sides — a metaphor for the public and private self. Zavaglia’s works are a celebration of her childhood love of craft, her training as a painter, and her life as both a mother and maker. In this talk, Zavaglia will share her journey from painting to embroidery and back again, and show examples of recent large-scale works which challenge traditional needlework etiquette and the preconceived expectations of hand embroidery.
Cayce Zavaglia earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wheaton College in 1994 and her Master of Fine Arts in painting from Washington University in 1998. She mounted her first solo museum exhibition of embroideries and verso paintings in 2014 at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the 21c Museum and the University of Maine’s Zillman Museum of Art, the West Collection, and numerous private collections. Zavaglia lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri and is represented by William Shearburn Gallery.
To register and attend the programs:
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