Textiles on the Edge

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I have always kept in mind that every proposed textile exhibition I have organized in this country with the consistent and determined help of the Costa Rican – North American Cultural Center has little by little borne fruit. After four exhibitions on the international scene – in chronological order, the World Textile Art Organization’s IV International Biennial of Textile Art and Design in 2006, the First Encounter of the Ibero-American Textile Network in 2010, the sample in Lithuania where Costa Rica was the special guest of the European Textile Network in their 20th anniversary, and then as special guests of the last International Festival of the Arts (FIA 12) – we believed it was necessary to refresh the process and launch a call for TEXTILES ON THE EDGE 14.

This call was launched, on the one hand, in the spirit of discovering new values within Costa Rican textile art, and on the other, with the idea of fortifying with new opportunities the discipline and investigation that has been systematically evolving in some participants. That is, the idea is to achieve a coherent body of work that can represent an identifying force, with textile creations whose plurality and alternating discourses can be transformed into our letter of introduction for local or international scenarios.

For this it was necessary to achieve stronger, more fluid ties between technique, image and conceptual proposition; the idea is to take risks and dare to think that past achievements can be transcended, taking textile to the edge so that, once converted into an image on the edge it can activate and provoke spectators eager to see objects on different levels than what we are accustomed to appreciate.

Fulfilling our expectations, TEXTILES ON THE EDGE has become a space for a variety of proposals of great museographic unity, with timely critical and technical strategies. The project has become an instrument for maturing the visual language of some textile creators and initiating the creative path of others. It is a sample that, taken as a whole, uses the energy and creative drive of the participants to invite the spectator to leave their comfort zones while individual textile languages are consolidating.

Manuel Arce, the Center’s cultural director, Juan Diego Roldán, Visual Arts Coordinator of the Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, Ma. Enriqueta Guardia and Hugo Pineda from Costa Rica, and Susan Taber Avila and Marci Rae Mc Dade have, with the generous support of the U.S. Embassy, visited as members of the jury and contributed their knowledge, adding many more ideas for the maturing of this process.

There is still a long road ahead…we will witness the joining of paths of friends who were not able to be here and they will be essential for nurturing the corps of local artistic expressions over time, showing us the immense creative and visual potential of Costa Rican textile. This is but one footprint in the road we tread…

Paulina OrtizDirector, TEXTILES ON THE EDGE, 14

TEXTILES ON THE EDGE

Costa Rican artistic textile endeavors today have reached a point of encounter where the efforts of many artists – upon examining Costa Rican textile proposals – give shape to the “Textiles on the Edge” project, a sample that has stirred up new ideas and traditional practices for synthesizing a new way of appreciating objects that aims more at encouraging questions than giving finished results.

It is a true source of satisfaction for the Costa Rican – North American Cultural Center’s Sophia Wanamaker Gallery to add to its hall 26 proposals by resident artists of Costa Rica giving the viewpoint of textile as a form of expression that refines, from day to day, their communication strategies and finished works as a product of aesthetics. To this respect, what that encounter unites are the individualities and concerns of creative style in an aesthetic practice that is new for many and well-known but still challenging for others.

Since the IV International Biennial of Textile Art and Design in 2006 and the First Encounter of the Ibero-American Textile Network in 2010, and then with the experience in 2011 of the M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas, Lithuania, this space for the arts has – accompanied by the advice and direction of Costa Rican artist Paulina Ortiz – made these incursions into textiles to awaken in our artistic community a curiosity for expanding visual languages, for seeing textile as a medium that goes beyond that for which it had basically been designed or interpreted.

Thus it is that this mapping of experiences leads into “Textiles on the Edge”, an initiative once again by Paulina Ortiz, to make contemporary Costa Rican textile art production a topic of not only national but also international discussion. And this general discussion has required the support of several experts whom we would like to single out and thank: María Enriqueta Guardia (art historian and curator) and Hugo Pineda (cultural project designer and manager and curator) from Costa Rica, and Susan Taber Ávila (artist and professor of Design at the University of California in Davis) and Marci Rae MacDade (textile art curator and editor of the Surface Design Association Journal) from the U.S. – these last two who thanks to the support of the U.S. Embassy gave their opinions so that these national textile creators could incorporate new ideas that make their work a cultural product of extensive scope on the artistic scene.

I must end by saying that this event constitutes part of a new Costa Rican creative proposal that opens up opportunities so that others may follow processes of construction in textile art and design that might well be strengthened as processes of our country’s cultural identity. Today the world can see Costa Rica taking major steps towards forming a textile proposal that is growing, reinventing itself and innovating as the perceptions of these participants become refined – participants who have watched over their line of work in the interest of an alternative that can legitimize and modernize the way local textile aesthetics are read. Today is not the end of a story. It is the start of a process, and we are sure that it will have not one, but many stories in which the leading role of textile will be evident through the honesty, quality and industriousness of its creators.

Juan Diego Roldán President of the Jury

and Coordinator of Visual Arts of the Sophia Wanamaker Gallery,

Costa Rica - North American Cultural Center

Hugo Pineda, Juan Diego Roldán, Paulina Ortiz,Susan Taber Avila, Marci Rae Mc Dade, Ma. Enriqueta Guardia

Oscar Carmona, Margreet Wielemaker,Emily Gassenheimer, Xavier Villafranca

Marianela Salgado, Celita Ulate, Gloriana Sánchez

Iris Terán, Karla Herencia, Daniela Meneses,Mary Guzmán, Carolina Parra

Lorena Villalobos, Maricel Alvarado,Silvia E. Monge, Dunia Molina

M a r i c e l A l va ra d o“ U N N A M E D S E L F P O RT R A I T ”

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Fu s e d G l a s s : E n a m e l , a b s o l u t e f u s i o n , b o n d i n g

f u s i o n , t h e r m ofo r m i n g a n d a c r y l i cs .

1 1 ” x 1 1 ”

“THIS SPEAKS OF SITUATIONS THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED TO LIVE THROUGH, BUT

EVEN THOUGH I DON’T WANT IT TO, THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITHIN ME.”

H et t y B a a k“ R E D L I N E ( K AV A D O M – H E B R EO) ”

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P l a i t e d q u i l t , e m b ro i d e r y , m a d e e nt i r e l y w i t h c l ot h e s of a v i c t i m of v i o l e n c e i n G u at e m a l a .

2 5 . 5 ” x 5 3 .1 ”

“FIGURATIVE PHRASE, THE POINT OF WHICH IS THAT THERE IS NO RETURN, OR LINE IN THE SAND, OR A LIMIT AFTER WHICH SECURITY

CANNOT BE GUARANTEED.”

H e b e r t h B o l a ñ o s R .“ A r t i s t a i nv i t a d o ”

“ Q U I M E R A C U LT U R A L ( 1 ) ”

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Ta l l a e n m a d e ra d e b a l s a co n a p l i ca c i ó n d e t ex t i l e s y a c r í l i co .


“ Q U I M E R A C U LT U R A L ( 2 ) ”

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“ Q U I M E R A C U LT U R A L (4 ) ”

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Os ca r C a r m o n a“ R E E D BA S K E T ”

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Fu s e d g l a s s u s i n g p r e - Co l u m b i a n g o l d wo r k i n g

t e c h n i q u e s .

3 . 9 ” x 3 . 9 ” x 2 .7 ”

“THE BASKET WOVEN BY HAND FROM REED FIBERS AND USED BY OUR COFFEE PICKERS IS AN UNEQUIVOCAL REFERENCE TO OUR

COUNTRY’S CULTURE, TRADITION AND ECONOMY.”

E m i l y G a s s e n h e i m e r“ S U P R E M E F L I G H T O F T H E R O B I N ”

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3 - D H a n d Co n s t r u c t i o n w i t h j u t e , ra f f i a , h e m p ,

e m b ro i d e r y t h r e a d s , s h e e p wo o l , l e at h e r a n d fa b r i c .

1 1 ” x 1 1 ” x 4 1 . 5 3 ”

“MY WORK HONORS THE INGENIOUS ABILITY OF BIRDS. I AM FASCINATED BY

THE SYMBOLISM THAT NESTS AND VESSELS EVOKE BOTH ON THE “PHYSICAL AND

METAPHYSICAL LEVEL.”

E m i l y G a s s e n h e i m e r“ S T R O N G W I N G A N D F I E R C E LO O K ”

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3 - D H a n d Co n s t r u c t i o n w i t h j u t e , ra f f i a , h e m p ,

e m b ro i d e r y t h r e a d s , s h e e p wo o l , l e at h e r a n d fa b r i c .

1 1 ” x 1 1 ” x 9 . 4 ”

“MY WORK HONORS THE INGENIOUS ABILITY OF BIRDS. I AM FASCINATED BY

THE SYMBOLISM THAT NESTS AND VESSELS EVOKE BOTH ON THE “PHYSICAL AND

METAPHYSICAL LEVEL.”

M a r í a G u z m á n“ P E R F I D I O U S J E L LY F I S H ”

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C ro c h et , t h e r m ofo r m e d ex p e r i m e nt a l l a c e w i t h

f u s e d f i b e r s .

7. 8 ” x 1 9 .6 ”

“LACE INTERTWINED FORMING SKELETONS OF WHAT ONE DAY INHABITED THE SEA, NO

MORE LIFE IN IT ... JUST FLOATING PLASTICS.”

Ka r l a H e r e n c i a“ A RT I F I C I A L B I O LO GY 1 ”

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S of t s c u l p t u r e ( P l a s t i c , fa b r i c , t h r e a d a n d p a i nt ) .

2 4 ” x 5 . 5 ” x 3 . 5 4 ”

“THE LIVING AND THE INERT MERGE TO EXPLORE THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP OF

THE BODY AND OBJECTS.”


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5 9 ” x 1 5 ” x 1 5 ”




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5 9 ” x 1 5 ” x 1 5 ”



D a n i e l a M e n e s e s“ S E A R C H F O R T H E S U N ”

2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4

St e n c i l e d p r i nt e d l o o m w e av i n g .

3 5 . 4 ” x 2 7. 5 ”

“TEXTILE TRANSFORMATION AND CAMOUFLAGE.”

D u n i a M o l i n a“ C H AO S ”

F r e e w e av i n g w i t h s i s a l t h r e a d a n d d r y l e afs .

2 4 . 4 ” x 2 4 . 4 ”

“NATURE’S CHAOS IS OF A HIGHER ORDER.”

D u n i a M o l i n a “ A RT I SA N F I S H E RY ”

2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4

M a c ra m e .

1 2 . 5 9 ” x 47. 2 ”

“RAISE AWARENESS OF ARTISAN FISHERY’S ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS AND ITS DANGER

OF EXTINCTION.”

S i l v i a M o n g e“ CO F F E E F I E L D ”

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M i x e d m e d i a , c e ra m i c , cot to n fa b r i c , s i s a l

t h r e a d s .

1 9 .6 ” X 3 3 . 8 ”

“THE BURLAP SACKS, THE RED COFFEE BEANS, THE KERCHIEF ON THE HEAD. ALL

THESE THINGS BRING THE COFFEE FIELD TO MY MIND.”

C a ro l i n a Pa r ra“ H A B I T H A B I TAT ”

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Ru s t d y e i n g ov e r rot t e n cot to n fa b r i cs , raw wo o l a n d ot h e r n at u ra l f i b r e s a p p l i cat i o n s .

1 1 . 4 ” x 1 1 . 8 ” x 1 0 ”

“METAMORPHOSIS THAT CONFRONTS THE HABITAT THAT WE DRESS AS A PIECE OF CLOTHING , VULNERABLE TO TIME.

TRANSFORMATION THAT GIVES RISE TO A HABITAT FOR NEW FORMS OF LIFE.”

“¿HOW MANY BORDERS SURROUND OUR EXISTENCE?

ARE THEY IMPOSED OR SUBJECTIVE CREATIONS?

FEELINGS OR REALITIES? “

M a r i a n e l a S a l g a d o“ W H E N T H E B O R D E R S U F F O C AT E S ”

2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4

H a n d f e l t e d

5 1 ” x 3 3 . 4 ” x 1 . 9 ”

G l o r i a n a S á n c h e z“ I M M U TA B I L I T Y ”

2 0 1 3

Ty e d y e i n g , s c r e e n p r i nt i n g , e m b ro i d e r y w i t h

s y nt h et i c a n d cot to n t h r e a d s , d i r e c t a p p l i cat i o n of p i g m e nt s a n d p a i nt s .

3 5 . 4 ” x 3 0 .7 ”

“CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE ESSENCE AND THE PRESENCE OF SOMETHING OR SOMEONE WHO IS NO LONGER THERE,

THROUGH A RIFT BETWEEN THE PLANES OR PROCESSES OF LIFE.”

I r i s T e r á n “ M AT H I L D E ”

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Fu s e d g l a s s , r e c y c l e d w i n e b ot t l e p i e c e s j o i n e d

w i t h w i r e s .

9 ” x 5 . 5 ”

“ “MATILDA “ MEANS STRENGTH AND POWER. THIS FORCE WE MUST GET FROM

OUR DEEPEST AND INNERMOST BEINGS TO BE ABLE TO GIVE LIFE TO OUR PLANET BY RECYCLING, REUSING, AND, ABOVE ALL,

CARING FOR IT. “

C e l i t a U l at e“ B E T W E E N D R E A M A N D D R E A M ”

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S a o r i l o o m w e av i n g w i t h r i b b o n s a n d fa b r i cs .

1 0 ” x 3 7 ”

“THE COMING AND GOING OF DREAMS IS REPRESENTED BY THE REPEATED WEAVES OF

THE FABRIC ON THE LOOM.”

St e l l a Va l e n c i a“ T H E WO U N D ”

2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3

S i l v e r a n d g o l d t h r e a d s ov e r s i l v e r f ra m e a n d

m o u nt e d ov e r a j u t e w e av i n g .

7. 4 ” x 2 .7 ” x . 3 9 ”

“THERE ARE WOUNDS THAT LAST OVER TIME AND INTERWEAVE THEMSELVES IN OUR

FEELINGS.”

St e l l a Va l e n c i a“ T H E S H A D OW O F T H E PA S T ”

2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 3

S i l v e r t h r e a d s wov e n ov e r a s i l v e r f ra m e cov e r e d

w i t h g o l d . Ru t i l a t e d q u a r t z m o u nt e d o n j u t e fa b r i c

4 . 5 ” x 1 . 5 ”

“WHEN THE FRAGILITY AND WARMTH OF SILK THREADS ARE JOINED WITH COLD METAL A RELATIONSHIP OF PASSION AND PAIN

ENSUES IN OUR FEELINGS.”

St e l l a Va l e n c i a“ TO U C H I N G I S F O R B I D D E N ”

2 0 1 1

S i l k co r d k n i t t a n d s i l v e r a c c e s o r i e s .

8 . 2 ” x 1 . 5 ”

“SHADOWS, NOTHING MORE, BETWEEN THE WARP AND WOOF; SHADOWS, NOTHING MORE, BETWEEN YOUR LIFE AND MINE.”

Xav i e r V i l l a f ra n ca“ S P I N N I N G A C LO U D FA C TO RY I N M Y M I N D ”

2 0 1 3

W e av i n g , p o l y e s t e r a n d wo o l h u i c h o l ,

p e r fo rat e d a c r y l i c b ox g l a s s t u b e s .

9 . 4 ” x 9 . 4 ” x 1 9 .6 8 ”

“MY WORK EXPRESSES MATERIAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND MENTAL STATES

THAT PASS THROUGH FILTERED PROCESSES, FROM THE RAW TO THE PROCESSED, FROM WHAT IS NATURAL TO WHAT IS INDUSTRIAL.”

Lo r e n a V i l l a l o b o s“ LO O K I N G F O R JA I R O ”

2 0 1 4

Cu t a n d s e w n fa b r i cs , va r i a b l e d i m e n s i o n s .

3 7. 4 ” x 2 9 . 5 ”

“MEMORIAL FOR JAIRO (ASSASSINATED PARK RANGER)”

M a g r e et W i e l e m a k e r“ R A I N COAT ”

2 0 1 3

3 – D H a n d co n s t r u c t i o n w i t h a l u m i n u m fo i l ,

fa b r i c , b u t to n s a n d s c r e e n s .

9 . 8 ” x 9 . 8 ” x 1 8 . 8 ”

“OUR FIRST PARTNERSHIP WITH CLOTHES IS SHELTER, ELEGANCE AND EVEN IDENTITY

AND STATUS. HOWEVER, WITH JUST CHANGING THE MATERIAL, IT CAN BE

CONVERTED INTO PERSONAL ARMOR.....”

M a g r e et W i e l e m a k e r“ I M P E N E T R A B L E ”

2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4

3 - D H a n d co n s t r u c t i o n w i t h co p p e r w i r e a n d

b ro n z e r e c y c l e d m e s h .

9 . 8 ” x 9 . 8 ” x 1 8 . 8 ”



CONVERTED INTO PERSONAL ARMOR..... ”

M a g r e et W i e l e m a k e r“ I m p e r t u r b a b l e ”

2 0 1 4

3 - D H a n d co n s t r u c t i o n w i t h b ro n c e , i ro n a n d

p h o n e w i r e s . A r t i f i c i a l t u r q u o i s e a n d p i e c e s of b i s c u i t ca n s .

9 . 8 ” x 9 . 8 ” x 1 8 . 8 ”



CONVERTED INTO PERSONAL ARMOR.....”

The group of artists from the exhibition “Textiles on the Edge” wants to thank the Cultural Affairs Officer (CAO) of the Embassy of the United States of America, Ms. Beverly Thacker, her assistant Gabriela Bolanos, and Manuel Arce, Cultural Director of the Costa Rica- Northamerican Cultural Center for their efforts in bringing the the jurors, Susan Taber Avila and Marci Rae McDade to Costa Rica .Ms. Avila and Ms. McDade were the special guests of this activity and we are grateful to them for their participation in this project. The artists also want to extend their thanks to the other jurors, Ma Enriqueta Guard, Hugo Pineda, and Juan Diego Roldán, Visual Arts Coordinator for the Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, for their support and confidence in the project.

The artists are very appreciative of Juan Diego’s dedication and meticulous attention to detail during the installation process, Jose Maria Calvo and Francisco Ramirez of the Marketing Department for their efforts in national publicity for the event, and finally Johana Avendaño from administration for her support.

CREDITS AND CONTACTSPAULINA ORTIZ, Project Director [email protected]

MIEMBROS DEL JURADO: JUAN DIEGO ROLDÁN, President Of The Jury(CR)HUGO PINEDA ( CR)MA. ENRIQUETA GUARDIA (CR) MARCI RAE MC DADE ( USA)SUSAN TABER AVILA ( USA)

ARTISTSMARICEL ALVARADO [email protected] BAACK [email protected] CARMONA [email protected] GASSEMHEIMER [email protected] GUZMAN [email protected] HERENCIA [email protected] MENESES [email protected] MOLINA [email protected] ELENA MONGE [email protected] PARRA [email protected] SALGADO [email protected] SANCHEZ [email protected] TERAN [email protected] ULATE [email protected] VALENCIA [email protected] VILLAFRANCA [email protected] VILLALOBOS [email protected] MARGREET WIELEMAKER [email protected]

MUSEOGRAPHY: JUAN DIEGO ROLDÁN [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHYPhotographs of Herbert Bolaños done by RODRIGO RUBÍ [email protected]

Photographs of art pieces of the participant artists done by JULIO CESAR SEQUEIRA [email protected]

DESIGN AND DIAGRAMATION: FABIO CASTRO [email protected]

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Textiles on the Edge