DIVA offers five galleries of exciting new works January 2nd - February 28th.
Main Gallery: Bruce Klepinger - Arc of a Life: An Exhibit of Himalayan Photographs and Textiles. Artist Statement: Arc of a Life reveals Eugene resident, and explorer, Bruce Klepinger's rare life. The show title refers both to Klepinger's remarkable life's work, and the trans-Himalayan world represented in personal photos and textile collection spanning the reach of Afghanistan, Tibet, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and China. The show draws from nearly four decades of Himalayan exploration into a once secretive and still largely unknown world. Gallery 1: Wendy Hill – Not Always Linear. Textiles/ Quilting Artist Statement: Form, not function, is at the heart of Wendy’s quilt and fiber art creations. One medium is the quilt as a form: two or more layers held together with some kind of stitching. Another medium is thread, which is stitched into three dimensional thread-web constructions, such as bowls and vases. Wendy also works with three dimensional fabric or paper forms. Working with fiber and fabric, Wendy explores and expresses aesthetic concerns common to any of the visual arts. Gallery 2: April Hill and Wendy Hill: Speaking Collaboratively Artist Statement: This exhibition. String Things at the Multi-Plex, presents the collaborative work of two artists, April Hill and Wendy Hill. April is a painter and collage artist. Wendy is a fiber artist. Their special “in-law” relationship has led to a number of collaborations, including this installation. Their individual works share a common theme, although the materials may be different. They both explore visual and physical texture through line, shape, color and value while assembling parts to make a complete composition. Nearly 1000 mini-paintings, encased in painted/embossed photographic slide covers, are attached to various yarns and suspended from five transparent discs. Painted or papier-mâché wooden balls, wheels, drinking straws and glass beads complete the effect. Gallery 5: Rebecca (Becky) Lubas – Drawings in installation form Artist Statement: I enjoy working with paper because of the simplicity and flexibility of the material. It requires very little preparation and has an inspiring immediacy. It is two- dimensional yet it can become so much more. This work reflects my desire to pull drawings into a three dimensional space. I want the viewer to have to move their body to follow and explore the folding and unfolding of the piece of art. I am also curious about the tension between image and object. At what point does a drawing or painting become a sculpture? Members Gallery: January 2 - February 1 - Barbara Benner. Up Close and Far Away Artist Statement: I have been into fibers and fiber art since that first time I helped my mother and grandma make cloths for my sister and me. I started off with the simple things...sewing, self-taught knitting and quilting under grandma’s watchful eyes. As time went by I expanded into weaving, spinning, and designing my own sweaters. There have been graduate classes in textiles at several universities over the years and then about 14 years ago, I was introduced to traditional rug hooking and I was hooked! I have studied the many variations in rug hooking here in the USA, Canada and England and taught the technique for 12 years. Members Gallery: February 3 - February 28. Kira Burge: Deflated Memories Artist Statement: This work is exploring memory and how the act of recalling influences our memory. My focus is on the memory of childhood objects belonging to children of the early 1990's. I interview different people asking them to recall, in great detail, their favorite childhood toy. I then take that information and construct that object exactly how they remember it using crocheted acrylic yarn and embroidery. Through this process I am exploring cultural nostalgia; how and why we memorialize specific events, people and objects, and how the act of memorial affects our memory of these things.
