Critical Stitch

Sewing, knitting, embroidery, rug-hooking, and crocheting – from an intimate scale to a grand scale, Critical Stitch presents the work of a new generation of needle-working artists.   Curator Lorraine Morales Cox brings together a diverse group of twelve artists, who are linked by their approach to these once marginalized techniques.  With thread, fabric, felt and yarn, they offer social commentary and examine complicated, nuanced ideas and truths of modern life.  Working in media which have traditionally been associated with craft and with the domestic or feminine, these young artists have moved beyond the old stereotypes to construct new meanings on their own terms.  After all, who says you can’t use knitting to comment on the U.S. military industrial complex?

The works in this show are also bound together by their undeniable aesthetic power. These artists use the thread, yarn, or fabric of their choice in wide-ranging and unconventional ways. If you have never stopped to consider the visual impact of a crumpled, empty water bottle, its incarnation in the art gallery as a piece of hand-embroidered organza will be the occasion for intense scrutiny and reflection, not to mention possibly a bit of soul-searching.  Inherent in the chosen media of these artists is the tactile and associational appeal – the sensuous, elegant, soft, or warm – of these works.  And it is in part this dichotomy between the form – often comforting, appealing, seductive – and the content – often challenging, disturbing, taboo – that engenders such a rich and deep trove of meanings.

This exhibition provides an exceptional opportunity for the Union community of students, faculty and staff, as well as the greater regional community, to engage in an examination of complex social and cultural issues embodied by this work.  Whether shocking or soothing, humorous or subversive, Critical Stitch takes us on a rich and rewarding visual journey.

Curated by Lorraine Morales Cox.

Artists Include: Vadis Turner, Dave Cole, Laurel Roth, Tamara Kostianovsky, Alicia Ross, Mark Newport, Rob Conger, Barb Hunt, Richard Bassett, Lauren DiCioccio, Margarita Cabrera, and Johanna Unzueta.