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| Spiral Memory, Ayako Abe Miller |
August 8 - September 19, 2014
Galleries I & II
Opening Reception:
Friday, August 8, 2014
6:00pm - 8:00pm
FREE & Open to the Public
Gallery Talk: 5:30-6pm
Juror: MARK NEWPORT is an artist & educator living in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Newport’s work has been exhibited in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including solo exhibitions at The Chicago Cultural Center, and Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, MO. His work is included in the collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art; The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Cranbrook Art Museum; The Arizona State University Art Museum, Microsoft, and Progressive Insurance. Newport’s work will be exhibited in the Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis this April 2014. Newport is the Artist-in-Residence and Head of Fiber at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He earned his BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1986 & his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991.
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| Gathering Shards of Luminescence, Ayako Abe Miller |
EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Ayako Abe-Miller, Andrea Alonge, Heidi Field-Alvarez, Scott Andresen, Diana Baumbach, Joni Van Bockel, Caroline Byrne, Lindsay Cashews, Peter Clouse, Braxton Congrove, Fei Disbrow, J. Casey Doyle, Jennifer Drinkwater, Emily Dunlap, Nathan Emanuel, Suzy Farren, Jenne Giles, Louise Halsey, Candace Hicks, Ruby Horansky, Amy Keefer, Nichola Kinch, Nancy Koenigsberg, Kelly Kozma, Susan Lenz, Debra Lewis, Elaine Longtemps, Gabrielle Pescador, Diane Ramos, Michael Rhode, Priscilla Roggenkamp & Keith McMahon, Deann Rubin, Ariel Ruvinsky, Kathryn Shriver, Lauren Sinner, Lauren Turk, Clare Verstegen, Irene Walker
Artist's Statement: Spiral Memory
I frequently wonder about the ethereal nature of old memories. During our lifetimes, we collect a tremendous amount of memories and information which is stored in our brains. New memories pile up, so that the old memories are buried deep inside the labyrinth of our brain until someone or something awakens them. It is like the memories and feeling that come flooding back when you stumble across a long-forgotten but favorite piece of clothing. I am interested in reviving an individual’s forgotten memory, and so I created a transformative sculpture that embodies people’s memories. After tying knots in hundreds of pieces of used clothing, I placed them in a large spiral pathway like a sacred labyrinth, so people can follow the path as if making a pilgrimage. As my media, I chose used clothes to represent fragments of individual memory, because used clothing holds an individual’s residue. I collected them from my friends from this area, Clemson University’s faculty and students, and local donation centers in order to create a sculpture that connects to this locality. The use of fabric also emphasizes its importance in South Carolina, once home to a former thriving textile industry that has shifted to foreign countries. We can see the evidence of this former prosperity in the many abandoned textile buildings in this area. Therefore, the fabric of clothes implies a memory in South Carolina. Handling these used clothes became an almost ritualistic action as if I were purifying or baptizing individual memories. I formed a large-scale spiral pathway to emphasize the movement of a pilgrimage. Sorting the used clothes by color, I created an atmosphere of changing seasons or passing time as a backdrop to this memory pilgrimage.
Artist's Statement: Spiral Memory
I frequently wonder about the ethereal nature of old memories. During our lifetimes, we collect a tremendous amount of memories and information which is stored in our brains. New memories pile up, so that the old memories are buried deep inside the labyrinth of our brain until someone or something awakens them. It is like the memories and feeling that come flooding back when you stumble across a long-forgotten but favorite piece of clothing. I am interested in reviving an individual’s forgotten memory, and so I created a transformative sculpture that embodies people’s memories. After tying knots in hundreds of pieces of used clothing, I placed them in a large spiral pathway like a sacred labyrinth, so people can follow the path as if making a pilgrimage. As my media, I chose used clothes to represent fragments of individual memory, because used clothing holds an individual’s residue. I collected them from my friends from this area, Clemson University’s faculty and students, and local donation centers in order to create a sculpture that connects to this locality. The use of fabric also emphasizes its importance in South Carolina, once home to a former thriving textile industry that has shifted to foreign countries. We can see the evidence of this former prosperity in the many abandoned textile buildings in this area. Therefore, the fabric of clothes implies a memory in South Carolina. Handling these used clothes became an almost ritualistic action as if I were purifying or baptizing individual memories. I formed a large-scale spiral pathway to emphasize the movement of a pilgrimage. Sorting the used clothes by color, I created an atmosphere of changing seasons or passing time as a backdrop to this memory pilgrimage.
Foundry Art Centre, 520 North Main Center, Saint Charles, Missouri 63301
