Feature Articles


March Issue 2000

Focus Gallery at Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, Presents Two Women Expressing Courage Through Cloth

From Mar. 2 through Apr. 13, 2000, the Folk Art Center's Focus Gallery in Asheville, NC, will display the work of two courageous fiber artists who have taken bold steps in the progress of handmade fabric and wearables. Members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Suzanne Gernandt (Asheville, NC) and associate member Jimmie Benedict (Reno, NV) find their work in fiber art is more powerful than merely the expression of technique or style. Their work has evolved to become a way of arousing and acknowledging vital energies in both themselves and their customers.

For Jimmie Benedict, the adage "less is more" has never been applicable; she makes it very apparent that "more" is what she aims to achieve. More color, more detail, more fabrics, and more depth, creating a garment that offers more to celebrate than most anything else in a person's wardrobe. As part of this exhibition, Benedict will display two of her Guardian Coats, each designed as an elaborate cuirass, offering strength and protection to the wearer, as well as an amazing array of color, design and workmanship.

To make one of her wearables, Benedict begins with muslin and batting cut to the pattern of the garment. Upon this foundation, she builds a design, choosing fabrics, ribbons and buttons to form the design. It's not unusual for her to choose 30-40 different fabrics for a single garment. These fabrics, many of which are intricate yields from looms around the world, are pieced, quilted, appliqued and embroidered before she can call any item complete. The time-consuming applique and embroidery process connects her with women in handwork world-wide. She follows the traditions of many cultures and tribes that take tremendous effort in clothing adornment. By recognizing each detail as an expression of love and nurturing, fiber artists can enable the wearer to walk proudly, feeling beautiful, safe and protected. For over thirty years as a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, Benedict has continued to add richer experiences to her wearables. Small touches like using piping on the edging, embroidering lines for emphasis, or hiding sewn surprises inside for the wearer to discover give each piece a unique character.

Suzanne Gernandt considers herself a risk-taker; she seeks to push the limits of fiber art, devising new techniques and applying them to her work. Her compositions are made from her own hand-woven cloth as well as other materials, to which she has added surface color by means of dyeing, painting or printing. Her latest focus has been mono-printing on fabric. She takes hand-dyed fabric, prints an image on it using sophisticated surface design techniques, then uses a discharge agent to strip some of the color, dyes it again, prints, and discharges, over and over again. She has made many yards of these multi-layered fabrics, which have been processed between 3 and 20 times.

This layering gives the fabric depth and color-rich, abstract markings. The printed fabrics are eventually cut into pieces and used to build her elaborate compositions. Her quilted wallhangings are often based on a grid pattern, which, as a handweaver, she finds offers the best framework to experience the intensity of each fabric sample. She envisions the viewer's eye being drawn across and down the grid pattern, settling on the details of one part at a time. In the long, slow process of her artwork, Gernandt not only creates a sense of movement for the viewer, but also expresses with color and abstract markings some of her deepest thoughts and feelings. "I consider art making at its core to be about healing our deepest wounds," Gernandt says of her process.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the Center at 828/298-7928.

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