“Shadow Tangle” by Andrea Myers hangs in the Riffe Gallery. Credit: Photo courtesy of Riffe Gallery
Riffe Gallery is diving into dimensionality with its upcoming Artist Talk.
Fiber artist Andrea Myers will be hosting a virtual Artist Talk, a regular program hosted by Riffe Gallery, Thursday in which she will discuss her journey and creative process as an artist.
Fiber artists work with natural or synthetic fiber, fabric or yarn to create fine art. Myers’ art is mostly quilting, but not in the way that people generally think of when they hear the word quilt; instead, she said her work has more of a sculpture-like quality, that is somewhere between two- and three-dimensional.
Instead of forming a specific pattern like traditional quilts, Myers said her work is very abstract and uses a lot of focused color. Although she does have sketchbooks in which she plans out her pieces, she said sections of her work are created intuitively to create organic, freeform shapes.
“I see it more as kind of like gesture quiltmaking, like gesture drawing, where I’m cutting — kind of quickly cutting rectangular strips of fabric and then sewing them, compiling them together, kind of repeatedly sewing them onto a backing surface,” Myers said. “They grow in accumulation and through that process there’s a lot of tactility and kind of sculptural quality that comes from the surface of joining the pieces of fabric together.”
Cat Sheridan, director of Riffe Gallery, said it’s interesting how Myers uses color and dimensionality to create an active visual space. Having seen Myers’ PowerPoint for the presentation, Sheridan said she is excited about what Myers will be discussing.
“When I look at Andrea’s work, I see someone that is exploring the idea of dimensionality to a color and space,” Sheridan said. “She is challenging perception with not only the materials she’s using, but how she is piecing together many small pieces to make enormous work.”
Myers said she is looking forward to giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at the “play and magic and fun” in her art-making process in spite of other challenges.
“There’s a lot of work and not fun aspects that we have to kind of fight through,” Myers said.
Sheridan said Artist Talks such as these are a chance to live somewhat vicariously through the artist and understand how they’ve been inspired and what they’re trying to communicate through their work.
“If you boil it (art) down to its truest form, it is communication. And what I mean by that is artists are continually observing, absorbing and then iterating and sharing out their understanding in new contexts,” Sheridan said. “It’s a different form of communication, but it’s a necessary form of communication that we all — all of society really requires for us to function well in.”
Myers’ Artist Talk will take place Thursday from 6:30-7:30 p.m. over Zoom. The event is free and registration can be done through Eventbrite. A recording of the talk will be available for later viewing through Riffe Gallery’s Facebook page, according to its website.
