Who would’ve thunk that a t-shirt artist would be featured in a nearby gallery? Thanks to friend and guild-mate Nancy, I thunk thought it and was able to see the exhibit before it closes come March 23. Thanks so much, Nancy!
If you’re interested in fiber art at all and are near Santa Fe before March 23, I urge you to take an hour or so and head to form & concept, a gallery you can easily find on South Guadalupe Street in the Railyard District. Warning: You’re gonna love the gallery and will need more time.
The t-shirt artist in question is Nika Feldman. BTW, she not only considers herself to be a fiber artist, but a rag picker as well. Bless her heart; I know where she’s coming from. (Have you seen my rugs hooked out of recycled t-shirts? Bed sheets?) I had a great time looking at the various pieces, which are made of recycled t-shirts, pop tabs, and embroidery (which she’s very good at).
While Feldman calls t-shirts the most ubiquitous – and cheapest – universal clothing made by Western culture, and that’s true, I’m not sure that I agree with her that the shirts are always recognizable even when cut up and taken apart. I know that I regularly have to tell folks that many of my rugs are hooked from old t-shirts. And the disbelief that they mouth. Granted, my strips are looped; some of hers hang free. Still, given what Feldman does with hers… The embellishments, especially when one sees her prowess with a needle and thread, are fantastic.
I fully concur with her message and only wish that I could state what I’m trying to do with my own art so succinctly:
The message…she said, has to do with modern North America’s mass production systems.
“It’s disposability, it’s like how we can make life more convenient, and more convenient, and more convenient?” she said of the narratives that this continent’s clothing conveys. “It comes at an unsustainable cost to the Earth.”
-excerpted from Megan Bennett’s article “The language of clothing” in the Albuquerque Journal North
If you weren’t aware, the fashion industry is one of the world’s larger polluters. Here’s an interesting article on that.
Fast fashion that often falls apart – have you ever wondered why that trendy tank top developed a hole after only one wash? – is a big part of the fashion industry’s unsustainability. That and our culture’s fickle fashion sense are why Feldman and I can both find so many t-shirts to use in our artwork. Savers, Goodwill, friends and relatives can supply us with all we need.
The pieces in the exhibit are “garment-like” rather than actual garments. This, according to Feldman, allows us to look deeper at them and to see them as art rather than just wearable fashion to be purchased and then put on. (For how long?) Indeed, she spent time in the fashion industry earlier in her career(s). I find that an interesting idea especially since my own goal when hooking a rug with t-shirts and other recycled materials is that it also be usable – as a rug, a table runner, or what-have-you. Regardless, I very much enjoyed looking at Feldman’s art, and I encourage you to make a run to Santa Fe before it disappears.
The exhibit by Nike Feldman is called Spirits in the Material World. It’s at form & concept on South Guadalupe in Santa Fe till March 23.
PS: Since Taos: Contraction of Mass, Concision of Thought, by Lisa Klakulak, another exhibit going on at the gallery till April 22, is also terrific. You just have to see the piece called “Transplant”! (Which you can do by following the above link.)
“I was so into fiber, because of its comforting and protective qualities, but at the same time it is a medium associated with struggle and women’s work,” she says. “Then I got into the whole concept of felt, because it’s incredibly strong but it presents in this soft, vulnerable way.” The artist’s mastery of the medium and her emotional language-building express the deeply personal in a way that holds broader relevance to humanity, voicing ideas about growth, human connection and personhood.
