Notations, Cynthia Schira

Exhibition Label: "Bobbin' and Weavin'," May-2005, Debra Thimmesch This large, abstract weaving in two panels is from a series that Schira calls Drawing on Tradition. It was made on a computerized Jacquard loom and then woven by hand on a Jacquard handloom at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles. This work and others from the series play with the idea (and the actuality) of drawing, using hand-drawn lines like annotations on a patterned page; the black and white palette seems to refer to graphite or ink as if this were a drawing on paper rather than a tapestry. Schira describes what she is doing here as “focusing on the indigenous textile quality of the repeat and using it as a visual metaphor for varying cyclic and repetitive aspects of life/nature.” Archive Label 2003: When I saw this work at Cynthia Schira’s major exhibition at Sherry Leedy’s gallery in Kansas City in March of 1999, I was immediately taken by it. The use of a grid and the sense of drawing seem to connect it to contemporary painting, and yet it also uses traditional Jacquard weaving. This work explores the relationship between art and technology. It was created on a computerized Jacquard loom and then woven on a Jacquard handloom. The marks, either appliquéd, embroidered, or machine-stitched, play with the traditional repeat of woven textiles, thereby asserting the artist’s presence. Schira is a nationally known artist who was also a professor in the design department at the University of Kansas for 23 years until her retirement last spring. We bought this piece in part to honor her contributions here, as she moved to New York state just a few months ago. Susan Earle Exhibition Label: "Dreams and Portals," Jun-2008, Kris Ercums and Susan Earle Intro Label: This summer display features selections from the Spencer’s permanent collection, including works that may evoke dreams and ideas of place, near and far. The works range in media from painting and watercolor to collage, textile, and video. Some may transport you to other places, such as the lyrical "Blue Door (La Porte Bleue)" by French artist Pierre Lesieur. Reflecting the artist’s travels to North Africa, this painting evokes the sea or an open door in a way that suggests a dream, or a portal. Many works feature abstract imagery, at times suggestive of dreams, or passages to other landscapes, be they of the mind or actual places. Others combine abstraction and figuration, like the William T. Wiley drawing "Feeding Time." Others teeter between realism and abstraction, such as "Foam Chrome II" by Gary Pruner. A portal can be defined as a door or gate or entrance, especially a grand or imposing one. Paintings themselves are like portals. They allow us to enter worlds and spaces like nothing else can. Let your mind wander and see what dreams you might recall, or what new perspectives you might gain. Label: This abstract weaving in two panels is from a series that the artist calls Drawing on Tradition. It was made on a computerized Jacquard loom and then woven by hand on a Jacquard handloom at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles. This work and others from the series play with the idea (and the actuality) of drawing, using hand-drawn lines like annotations on a patterned page; the black and white palette seems to refer to graphite or ink as if this were a drawing on paper rather than a tapestry. Schira describes what she is doing here as “focusing on the indigenous textile quality of the repeat and using it as a visual metaphor for varying cyclic and repetitive aspects of life/nature.”