Description

Cutwork is a type of lace, formed by cutting patterns into fabric and embroidering around the edges of those shapes. Inspired by this process, this exhibition is a broad exploration of work using methods of cutting into or removing material. Layered and intricate textures reveal what is built and what is left behind, as these artists explore the gravity of their materials. Elizabeth Alexander and Piper Shepard remove materials, stripping them down to gossamer skeletons. The laciest of all, Shepard’s monumental hand-cut muslin pieces loom large, pushing the very limits of cloth. Alexander dissects domestic materials and “objects of nostalgia”, chipping away at the complexities embedded in notions of home life, gender, and status. Leveraging floral motifs and openwork patterns, Alexander and Shepard counter narratives of the feminine or fragile, speaking more so to resilience and adaptability. Teresa Faris and Lydia Thompson also address ideas around “home”. Faris’s sculptural jewelry, which combines intricately cut metal with wood that has been altered by a captive bird, addresses the forced assimilation of indigenous cultures as well as a deep personal connection to place and animals. Thompson constructs empty house-like frameworks using clay and found ceramic objects to investigate ancestral memory and migration. They reflect the experience of finding, building, and repairing home - not only the physical structure that surrounds us, but the systems and communities that can nurture and protect those inside. Like Thompson, Justin Stewart and Michael Velliquette use additive processes, cutting out precise shapes in soft felt or thin paper and building structures from the ground up. Playing with our sense of perception, their complex layered compositions call to mind elaborate architecture or vast landscapes. They are the product of bits and pieces coalescing through small, repeated motions. The soft or delicate materials create friction with the robust quality of the forms they construct. These works create a space of duality: fragility and endurance; construction and deconstruction; the creation and disruption of systems. Here, we may consider what is removed, what is inherited, and what is built. Curated by Erika Diamond, Associate Director of CVA Galleries.      CVA gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support of Brenda and Larry Thompson.