City Gallery's new exhibit CASTING A NET
catches a fascinating collection of Jennifer Davies' newest fiber works, on
view from Friday, November 29 to Sunday, December 29. There will be an Opening
Reception on Sunday, December 8 from 2-5PM, and an Artist Talk on Sunday,
December 29 at 2PM.
The
title CASTING A NET has
both a concrete and an abstract meaning. Davies' work involves the literal
casting of paper pulp into molds of tree bark and fungi, and she constructs
pieces using a variety of materials including gauze, plastic bird netting, and handwoven
nets. But Davies, a prolific local artist, regularly casts out her net
figuratively to gather in new ideas and experiment with different ways to use paper
pulp.
Though
size and material are diverse in her work, handmade paper is a common element. She
pigments the paper herself, and layers it as one would use paint, combining it
with thread and fabric to make textured abstractions. She uses the netting or
altered gauze, dipped into pigmented pulp, to make complex textiles. For her
large pieces, some measuring upwards of 9 feet, she pours colored pulp onto a
screen and uses a hose to spray it into a lace-like pattern.
“Informing
the imagery of my work are the patterns in nature that I return to again and
again,” Davies explains. “Celestial designs, the foam on a spent wave, or the
richness of aerial photos, all find echoes in my work. Though I start with an
initial idea or the memory of a natural form, I take my cues from the
interaction of elements that I put together. The joy is found by being
surprised and going down an unforeseen path.”
Davies’ inspired work was recently included
in an exhibit entitled Water at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Art (Cedarburg, WI) and awarded
Best in Show at the Surface
Design Association’s exhibit Context:
Language, Media, and Meaning at the Fuller Craft Museum (Brockton, MA). She
graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and the Rome Honors Program. She
has studied and taught papermaking at Women’s Studio Workshop and Creative Arts
Workshop, and has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows at museums and
galleries including Hygienic Gallery
(New London), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
(Gatlinburg, TN), Artspace (New Haven), Center for Contemporary Printmaking
(Norwalk), Hockaday Museum of Art (Kalispell, MT), Morgan Conservatory
(Cleveland, OH), and the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking (Atlanta,
GA). Her work is included in numerous corporate and private collections. She is
a long-standing member of the City Galley.
CASTING A NET is free and open to the public. City
Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are
Thursday - Sunday, 12 noon - 4pm or by appointment. Closed December 26. For
further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org,
www.city-gallery.org.
