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February Issue 2007
Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, NC, Features Works by Mary Edna Fraser
Textile artist Mary Edna Fraser is being featured in the installation, Our Earth and Beyond: Batiks by Mary Edna Fraser, on view at the Hickory Museum of Art's Coe Gallery in Hickory, NC, through Mar. 11, 2007. Fraser's monumental two-dimensional batiks will take on a sculptural quality as they cascade across the rafters and down the walls of the Coe Gallery.
Towering heights are second-hand for Fraser. In an artist's statement she explains her creative process: "My life's work is from an aerial perspective, a view of the earth I choose to transcribe onto silk using dyes in the ancient medium of batik. The art comprises a series of narrative landscapes inspired by the terraqueous reaches of the continent where separate realms of earth, sea and sky converge. Each area is carefully researched by often hiking the terrain, exploring the waterways by boat, and painting watercolor studies on location. Books and charts are studied to identify features of visual interest".
"Photographing from the open cockpit of my grandfather's '46 Ercoupe plane with my father or brother as pilots, we explore the natural wonders unaltered by man Satellite images and maps are used to plan expansive compositions," adds Fraser. "During an excursion, as many as five hundred images will be photographed which will then be reduced to the best twenty possible designs. An organization of the land emerges revealed only by altitude."
After flying, Fraser does a series of monotypes on paper to further develop her subject. (Our Earth and Beyond will include a selection of Fraser's monotypes which will be on exhibit in the Entrance Gallery of the Museum.) After thorough study, Fraser begins a batik, a laborious process in itself. She writes about the medium of batik in the Preface of A Celebration of Barrier Islands by Columbia University Press: "Batik is a process in which removable wax is applied to fabric, creating areas that will resist dye, while unwaxed areas absorb dye. This technique of dyeing cloth predates recorded history. Though its origins are unknown, evidence of its early practice has been found in the Far East, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and India. The word Batik originates from the islands of Java in Indonesia, where the art form flourishes".
"Each application of wax protects the areas colored by the previous dye bath, leaving exposed colors to react with the new bath. It is necessary to know color theory and to think of negative space upside down and backward".
"Heat removes the wax and sets the dyes. I sandwich the heavily waxed and dyed batik between two layers of white paper and place it on a pad of newspaper. A common household iron melts the wax, which soaks into the paper. After several ironings when the paper absorbs no more wax, I iron the batik once more to further heat-set the dyes".
"Although my medium is labor-intensive, I enjoy every part of the art from the leap in my heart when I see an amazing shot through the camera lens to the final batik that makes the mind's eye a reality. The slowness of the process encourages a contemplative approach. I think about the research papers I have read, the scientist to whom I have spoken and the discussions that [Orrin] Pilkey and I have had on the subject. When books on the site's culture are available, I refer to them, studying the art and listening to music indigenous to the people who live on the islands".
"My intent is to convey the essence of place"
A native of Fayetteville, NC, Fraser is a widely recognized textile artist with a growing international reputation having lectured in Indonesia and Taiwan. In 1994, she was the first woman to be honored with a one-person exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Her works are in notable private and public collections including the American Embassy in Thailand, New England Aquarium in Boston, Smithsonian Institution, and NASA.
The exhibition is sponsored by HBF and the United Arts Council of Catawba County. The Hickory Museum of Art is a United Arts Funded Affiliate of the United Arts Council of Catawba County.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 828/327-8576 or visit (www.HickoryMuseumofArt.org).
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