Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grant Exhibition

September 8 – October 22, 2016 • Joan Mondale Gallery

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-8 pm
Overflow Parking in the Tierney Brothers parking lot at 3300 University Ave SE, Minneapolis (east of Textile Center)

Featuring the work of:
Marcia Haffmans
Sarah Nassif
Alex Newby
Maggie Thompson

Talk: Tuesday, October 18, 12-1 pm
Join the artists for an informal discussion about the program and their work.

Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grants expand opportunities for emerging artists to take a step forward in their artistic careers. This year, four artists were awarded project grants through Textile Center. More on the program here.

Artist Statements

Marcia Haffmans

Script under Suppression incorporates handwritten historic script created under suppression relating oppression during World War II. The mixed media art gives another dimension to the graphics of those handwritings and encourages interpretation in a present-day context. Through selected materials and techniques the work probes in a search for answers.

Sarah Nassif

What We Grow is a public fiber art project happening in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis in 2016. Textile artist and Prospect Park resident Sarah Nassif explores gardens, gardener stories and what it means to be a part of a rapidly growing community in the city. Using over 100 drawings collected at garden gatherings, canvas dropcloths become picnic cloths covered in participants’ designs of neighborhood garden plants. The gallery installation will invite the viewer to explore the idea of community connections and grab a seat at the table to join the conversation.

Alex Newby

My work plays with a push and pull of useful and useless, manufactured and hand-made objects, in order to explore the tensions of being a designer and craftsperson in an age of mass consumption. My creative practice covers a variety of fiber art and textile related techniques, including weaving, off-loom construction, and screen printing surface designs. I construct objects that communicate ideas about dualities that are fundamental to modern living and my love-hate relationship with modern materiality.

Maggie Thompson

I created a collection of garments inspired by Ojibwe and Plains Indian style bead working. The garments explore the qualities and traditions of native art and history, but will be presented in a contemporary form, exploring the concept of cultural appropriation.

Pictured from left: Maggie Thompson, Marcia Haffmans, Sarah Nassif, Alex Newby

Textile Center exhibitions are supported in part with funds from the Joan Mondale Endowment.