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The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) presents “Textiles Today: Exploring New Possibilities,” a new exhibition at the SPARC Chamber Gallery inside the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, with an opening reception on July 20, 2019, from 5 to 9 p.m. as part of the South Pasadena Arts Crawl. Featuring local textile artists Victoria Arriola, Cynthia Thiel, Lillian Montalvo, Melanie Ciccone, and Val Echavarria, the exhibition will run through October 15, 2019.
Among the works:
Arriola’s “A Fragile Ceremony,” a series of four pieces “inspired by personal experiences and those of others in the midst of transition, loss, and joy,” incorporating twigs, wire, “decayed and found objects,” and other materials imbued with meaning.
“The Road Taken,” based on mixed media artist and weaver Echavarria’s autobiographical series, using various looms and fibers in “Outbreak (Please Don’t Touch My Nodes),” “Exploring Cultural Roots #2,” “Rest Stop 1,” and “Bad 1980’s Diagnosis for the Parental Unit (Roads Series).”
Ciccone’s meditation on human existence as reflections and products of nature in “her hands are birds, her heart a drum,” with materials ranging from bird-netting, chiffon scraps, and recycled bubble wrap to “a scavenged white leather glove.”
Thiel’s translation of her lifelong affinity for textiles into realizations of “the emergence of the female form, still life, or a mixture of both” in such pieces as “Queen’s Nightie” and “Little House.”
“Imaginary Land – You Are Here – Somewhere,” Montalvo’s exploration of maps as representations of journeys, connections, and discoveries.
Local painter and collage artist Shelley Stephens curated the exhibition, describing the versatile use of textiles on display as “a peek into the range and diversity of work that results when artists explore the possibilities of these materials in new and unusual ways.”
The SPARC Chamber Gallery is located inside the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce at 1121 Mission Street. (Gallery hours vary; to view the exhibition after July 20, it is suggested that you call the Chamber at (626) 441 2339 to confirm your visit.) Admission is free. Information about SPARC: www.sopasartscouncil.org
