‘Roadside Attractions' tops fiber artists' exhibit
'Roadside Attractions' tops fiber artists' exhibit

Published: June 15, 2008

"Roadside Attractions” range from an old photo of twins joined at the chest to a medicine show snake oil ad in a quilt by Martha Green, which won the top cash prize in the 2008 Fiberworks show.

But it is the overall power of Green's work, greater than the sum of its parts, that gives an eye-dazzling impact to the giant quilt, made up of seven highly decorated rows of six squares each.

The 30th annual fiber arts exhibit, sponsored by the Fiber Artists of Oklahoma, is on view in the Individual Artists of Oklahoma gallery.

Rivaling the kaleidoscopic visual interest of Green's contemporary "crazy quilt” are many of the other award-winning works in the show, juried by Minnesota artist Erica Spitzer Rasmussen.

Shea Alexander won a $500 Juror's Choice prize for a long sweater (or short dress) made out of "ripped maps covered with netting and stitched to cotton.”

"Don't Stray” is the bittersweet, almost teasing title of Alexander's austere yet evocative article of clothing, which seems to be urging a romantic partner or spouse not to wander off to another town or location.

Nicole Moan won the $500 Most Innovative Award by attaching a glazed ceramic upper body corset, tied with ribbon, to a golden swatch of upholstery fabric as if it were a ball gown for a "Leading Lady.”

Much lower key but well executed is a black-and-red "Mosaic Scarf” by Nancy Peterson, which won the $500 Joe Handley Technical Excellence in Weaving Award.

Julie Marks Blackstone won the $250 Rachel Valliere Best Original Handwoven award for "Possumhaw on Snowy Ground,” a white, fringed shawl or scarf adorned with frozen red flower branch imagery.

A $250 Interweave Press Handweaving for the Home Award went to Jamie Wester for a wool and linen rug whose interlocking elements are forcefully designed, if almost programmatic.

Winning $250 Awards of Merit were Kay Moore, John Hernandez, Brenda Essinger and Charles R. Sides.

The exhibit is recommended viewing.

— John Brandenburg

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