Nanci Hersh: Five in Fiber

Friday, October 25, 2013

This is Art- Five in Fiber

The Five in Fiber exhibition is up and ready for the the opening reception tomorrow Saturday, October 26, 2013 from 3-5 pm at Gallery 37 in Milford, Delaware.

Five artists working with plant, paper and/or synthetic fibers, each of us with different sensibilities and yet noticing the threads (can't avoid that pun) that connect us to each other aesthetically and conceptually.

Here's a shot of me putting the finishing
touches on my window installation

My work address what we catch, what we release and how this shapes our identity. Wire and netting are shaped and formed, then dipped into vats of over- beaten pulp that dries over the form like a taut skin. These “nets” are used, along with pages from old books, fabric, dried plants, and other found objects- including pantyhose, (growing up with a father in the millinery business,) to catch the “stuff” of our lives. Once castaways, these vessels serve as filters and homage to time and memory.

I love walking along the beach and find beauty and mystery in the odds and ends of humanity and nature intertwined and washed ashore, as much as I appreciate coming across a bird's nets using strands of plants and found scraps of paper.

Deborah Johnson hung her dream like fiber and cast glass spirit boats in the window on the other side of the front door.

Delainey Barclay drove up in her mini cooper (you can even see it in the photo, between Deborah's boat and the wisps of turquoise and violet fiber sails) filled with her string balls. Here she is below installing her airy and celestial sculptures suspended on thin wire on the back wall...

opposite of apparel artist Marilyn Mitchell piece. And then suspended more in the back gallery juxtaposed to Linda Celestian's cascading green work that feels like waves of an elegant algea.

And whether you can make it tomorrow or not- just remember...

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Five in Fiber- An Up Close and Personal View

I am excited to have my work included in a show opening this Saturday, October 26 at Gallery 37 in the artsy/river/bay town of Milford, DE.

Notice the soft textural background in this poster? It is a detail from one of my sculptural works. The photo was taken by Amy Tucker Photography. I met Amy at a women's networking event. Primarily a wedding photographer, I asked her to come by and see what kind of interesting shots she could take of my sculptural nets.

I use paper pulp, wire, and collage are used to connect life experiences such as women’s work, family, trauma and loss, aging and my love, fear- and connection to water.

Shadows cast on the wall by the nets are an integral part of how the work is experienced. Shadows, like cancer, or other trauma, can offer us a new perspective on things- depending upon where we stand.

These filtering nets reference the body which houses our spirits as well as our baggage.