Process and Collaboration: Celebrating Twelve Years at 1315 Cherry Street
2 December 2006 - 6 January 2007
Jim Hodges, In collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, You, 1997 (detail). Silk flowers and thread. 168 x 192 inches. Collection of The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Photo: Will Brown
Opening Reception and Annual Holiday Party
Friday, 1 December 2006
5:00 – 9:00p.m.
Process and Collaboration: Celebrating Twelve Years at 1315 Cherry Street highlights a selection of works created by artists-in-residence at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) during the past twelve years at 1315 Cherry Street with a particular focus on artists who have pushed the boundaries of materials or their own working process into new materials and new media. The exhibition, curated by Lorie Mertes, features works from past projects as well as drawing from FWM's extensive permanent collection of more than 5,500 works by more than 500 internationally renowned contemporary artists.
The exhibition begins with an installation of work by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996). In late 1993, Gonzalez-Torres agreed to inaugurate FWM's then-new space at 1315 Cherry Street with an exhibition of new and selected works, chosen by the artist and placed in both prominent and discrete locations throughout the largely unfinished offices, studios, and exhibition spaces. To mark the occasion, Gonzalez-Torres extended his series of sheer blue curtains ("Untitled" (Loverboy), first made in 1989) and created a text portrait of FWM that remains on view in the 5th floor offices and studio, which poetically chronicles significant milestones in FWM's history as well as major cultural or world events with connection to the museum. The resulting exhibition was not only a significant showing of Gonzalez-Torres' work, it was also a sensitive introduction to FWM's new home for the museum's public.
Starting with this inaugural exhibition at 1315 Cherry Street, Process and Collaboration looks back on twelve years of collaborations with emerging, nationally, and internationally recognized artists. The projects on view represent the wide range of new materials and new media artists have experimented with during their residencies at FWM including: video, leather, rubber, paper, felt, silk flowers, spider silk, and hog intestine by such artists as Marina Abromovic, Miroslaw Balka, Christine Borland, Leonardo Drew, Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, Glenn Ligon, Laura Owens, and Lorna Simpson.
History of FWM and the Permanent Collection
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) was founded in 1977 by Marion Boulton Stroud as a space where artists were invited to experiment—initially with fabric, and later with a wide range of innovative materials and media—in collaboration with master silk screen printers and construction technicians. FWM also served as an education center for Philadelphia's under-served youth who, as printing apprentices, learned technical and vocational skills along with approaches to creative expression. Known then as The Fabric Workshop, FWM quickly became a dynamic visual arts organization featuring a lively exhibition program and open studios that invite visitors and students to witness the evolution—from conception to completion—of contemporary works of art created collaboratively with FWM staff and a diverse group of artists, architects and designers including: Louise Bourgeois; Roy Lichtenstein; Louise Nevelson; Claes Oldenburg; Faith Ringgold; Italo Scanga; and Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, among many other leading creative talents of the late 20th century.
In 1996, the word "Museum" was added to the museum's name to reflect FWM's commitment to presentation and preservation of a growing collection of contemporary art and an extensive archive documenting each residency. FWM Archives, containing process materials, still and moving photographic images, audio recordings, and original correspondence, has grown into a unique scholarly resource and historical record documenting nearly thirty years of creative activity by some of the most significant artists of the late 20th and 21st centuries. The Archives are part of a permanent collection that currently consists of over 5,500 objects created by more than 500 residency artists.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is the only museum of its kind, offering internationally renowned artists the resources to create new work in experimental materials. Artists come from all media-including sculpture, installation, video, painting, ceramics, and architecture-and use FWM's facilities and technical expertise to create works of art that they could not create on their own. Research, construction, and fabrication occur on-site in studios that are open to the public, providing visitors with the opportunity to see works of art from conception to completion. FWM's permanent collections include not only complete works of art, but also material research, samples, prototypes, and photography and video of artists making and speaking about their work. Access to the creative process provides visitors with a point of entry into understanding challenging works of contemporary art. FWM offers an unparalleled experience to the most significant artists of our time, students, and the general public.
FWM Exhibitions and Programs Admission: $3 for Adults, Children under 12 and FWM Members for Free. Group tours available by appointment.
Hours: Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat.–Sun., 12 noon to 4 p.m.
The programs of The Fabric Workshop and Museum are supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts; The Judith Rothschild Foundation; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; National Endowment for the Arts; Miller-Plummer Foundation; LLWW Foundation; U. S. Institute of Museum and Library Services; Nimoy Foundation; The Arcadia Foundation; Claneil Foundation; Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro; Independence Foundation; The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation; Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation; The Henry Luce Foundation matching gifts program; The Barra Foundation; LEF Foundation; Louis N. Cassett Foundation; Quaker Chemical Foundation; and the Board of Directors and members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
For more information, please contact Jeffrey Bussman, Assistant to the Directors, at 215-561-8888 ext. 229
jeff@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org.
For general information, call 215-561-8888.
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