New Members: Elise Vazelakis

Los Angeles-based textile artist Elise Vazelakis creates experimental textiles, sculptures, and installations that are an exploration of the intersection between color, texture, and pattern. The themes that emerge in her work include nostalgia, memory, and the passage of time—rendering complex, multilayered woven pieces. Her process-based practice began when she learned how to sew from her grandmothers. This textile education is apparent in much of her practice since she employs many mainstream methods learned early on. Although her artwork utilizes the traditional techniques of crocheting, weaving, knitting, and coiling she diverges from the normal application of these methods. In her practice, she is drawn to the limitless possibilities that fiber can push when there is an integration of unorthodox materials.

Altered

The incorporation of photographs, metal wire, found objects, and single-use plastic makes Vazelakis’ content unpredictable from series to series. But the persistent theme in her practice is the contrast between the components; some known for their fortitude and others their fragility. This contradiction is the subject matter that continuously repeats itself in all of her art. This is most evident with her current body of work that integrates fiber elements with construction scrap. This new series is an anthology of materials that have been thrown out during the building of her new home. Revealing the unseen portions of the structure wasn't the only reason Vazelakis was attracted to the materials. Many of the items have a grid pattern familiar to her textile practice. The horizontal and vertical design of the fibers she works with were mirrored in the construction. The framing, deck support, and stucco lathing all have an orthogonal system similar to woven threads. The integration of these components into her art is a visual documentation of the construction and a metaphor for healing. Working with the elements that will soon be her new home is analogous to rebuilding her history that was lost in the wildfire; one small piece at a time. 

Altered (detail)

Vazelakis’ artwork has been exhibited locally and internationally with solo exhibitions in Dubai, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and group shows in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Toronto. Her work is also in private and public collections including Faisaliah Resort in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Elise holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, from San Diego State University and is currently a Master in Fine Arts candidate at California State University Long Beach (Expected 2023). She is a member of TextileArts LA, California Fibers, Surface Design Association, and the current president of the Fiber Club at CSULB. You can view her work on her website or Instagram @elisevazelakis.

Woven Portrait

New Members: Anna Faye Korngute

Anna Faye Korngute is a mixed media artist who uses her experience as a modern dancer to influence her art making process. Whether in her dye-painted cloth, ceramics, large figurative charcoal drawings, watercolors, collage or video - the influence of movement in her work is expressed.

Untitled, 2021

She writes: “During this last year of solitude I have come to realize how integral dance is to my art making process. As an improvisational dancer, movement is where my artistic process begins:

I close my eyes and allow myself to move to that place where we feel intensely vulnerable.

Where our primitive secret feelings live.

That jagged, frenetic, outburst.

An eruption of euphoria, ecstasy.

A secret place because it’s personal.

Revealing.

I translate movements into gestural figurative calligraphy. I do this on cloth using liquid dye. This work is typically two-sided: representing the face of what we present and our inner vulnerable side that we keep hidden. The dye process itself, furthers the relationship of my work to the body. I feel the similarity between how dye merges, uniting with cloth and how experiences bleed into us on a cellular level. I embrace the effects of time and imperfection, celebrating the scratches and frayed edges like wrinkles and silver strands of hair.

For some of us, the memories of this time alone has become imbedded into our skin making us hesitant to touch each other again. It has become vital to me that my work can be taken off the wall, put on a chair or bed or serve as a prayer shawl to wrap around us and bring comfort. Standing in as the embrace we have all been missing from our loved ones, reminding us that there is still beauty in our humanity and frailty.​”

Untitled, 2021

You can view her work at thecanyonstudio.com.

New Members: Sandy Abrams

California Fibers is delighted to announce the first of our new members in 2022: Sandy Abrams.

Siblings

Sandy writes about her work: “Working oftentimes in an unconventional manner, I am an artist that uses a variety of materials to create non-functional sculptural objects that often echo a direct connection between the natural world and to my life’s experiences.”

The Kickoff

“Two major influences for my work have been Joe Hogan and my work in ceramics. Coming from a ceramics background, the vessel form has always been one of my interests, for it suggests containment or concealment and these two words are weighed in much of my work. Joe Hogan, an internationally known willow maker from Ireland, introduced me to willow basket making. During this time I became acutely aware of how I especially enjoyed working with my hands using natural materials that were a renewable resource and environmentally friendly. Process is the key word in the making of my art. Whether it is the frequent motions of twining, felting, stitching, punching holes, or tying knots, a sense of centeredness is created by such repetitious work. In fact, many times these periods become quite meditative – a wholesome break from the busy urban life of Los Angeles, for while I humanize the material, it naturalizes me.”

Abrams’ work can be found on her website: http://sandyabramsartist.com/

Surface, Substance, and Structure at the California Center for the Arts

California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum is pleased to exhibit work by California Fibers in Surface, Substance and Structure: Selections from California Fibers from January 15 through March 6, 2022. This exhibition explores the relationship between the artists and their medium - how concept drives artistic creation and the interplay between concept, material, and process. Utilizing textile processes ranging from quilting, sewing, weaving. and embroidery to crocheting with thin wires and metal, the artworks on view transform strands of fiber into works that are at once recognizable and extraordinarily contemporary.

California Fibers is a supremely gifted group of artists. Their work is resourceful, thought-provoking, and forward-looking. Visitors will be drawn to the surprising nature of their work – for example, a roller-skate – but one woven from pine needles. – Beth Marino, Director of Museum and Visual Arts, California Center for the Arts

Tickets are available for purchase at artcenter.org, by calling (800) 988-4253 or in person at the Museum. 

Surface, Substance and Structure: Selections from California Fibers features the work of  21 members of California Fibers: Linda Anderson, Olivia Batchelder, Charlotte Bird, Ashley V. Blalock, Carrie Burckle, Ben Cuevas, Gail Fraser, Polly Jacobs Giacchina, Lydia Tjioe Hall, Susan Henry, Brecia Kralovic-Logan, Chari Myers, Kathy Nida, Carol Nilsen, Liz Oliver, Michael F. Rohde, Aneesa Shami, Rebecca Smith, Cameron Taylor-Brown, Debby Weiss, and Peggy Wiedemann.

All works in the exhibit address the theme of “Surface, Substance, and Structure” as interpreted by each artist.

For example, Linda Anderson states about her work Dance Break Oaxaca that “textiles of Oaxaca, Mexico are vibrant and intricately woven and stitched…and it seemed only natural to tell this story (of a dance celebration) with fabrics…”.

Lydia Tjioe Hall explains that Wire Study “explores wire techniques, forms, shapes, and structures.”

Michael Rohde says that all his work “has conceptual substance arising out of specific concepts, situations, or a pathway in how the work evolved from idea to object” and that his tapestry Toward Paramita began as a challenge in dyeing a wide range of shades of indigo. 

Peggy Wiedemann says of her piece, Styling, “combining materials continually stimulates the creative process and leads my work in new directions.”

Polly Jacobs Giacchina describes her work Reuniting as a weaving that “meanders and flows within its shape…the theme of reuniting is shown as fibers come back together in one surface.” 

Rebecca Smith states that her choice of materials is integral to her work and that “each element brings its own strength.” Her piece Awakening “portrays that moment when our eyes open to the light…that moment is portrayed…by…brilliantly colored transparent beads.”

Surface, Substance and Structure: Selections from California Fibers
 will run from January 15 - March 6, 2022, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, at 340 North Escondido Blvd, Escondido, CA 92925. Many of the artists will be present at the opening tentatively planned for January 20. Details on the opening reception and events related to the exhibit will be available at artcenter.org closer to the opening dates. Funding for the exhibit has been provided by California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.