Opening Keynote: Bruce Pepich, Executive Director and Curator of Collections, Racine Art Museum
Museums and Contemporary Fiber Art: Where Are We Today?
 Bruce Pepich discusses the place fiber art has in the collections and exhibition programs of American art museums—both those dedicated to craft and to encyclopedic collections. Since museums train and inform artists, while producing education programs for the general public, they can significantly contribute to the ways fiber artists see themselves and the manner in which their work is viewed. Recent achievements in the fiber arena can help establish a public context thatframes fiber art, and helps artists create their own images of themselves as professionals. |
Bruce W. Pepich is the Executive Director of the Racine Art Museum and Curator of Collections at the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts.
In the 1990s, he assembled one of the most significant contemporary craft collections found in any art museum in North America. He opened RAM in 2003 in downtown Racine as a second campus that is home to this collection.
Pepich curates exhibitions from RAM’s 7,000-piece collection and regularly presents lectures on contemporary crafts around the country. He is a published writer and has served as a juror for more than 100 national and international art competitions and fellowship awards.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR2jVKlY59M
www.ramart.org/
www.wiffa.org/?p=70
Closing Keynote: Bruce Hoffman, independent curator and writer
Identity: Context and Reflection
Bruce Hoffman breaks down the three components of the conference theme: Identity/Context/Reflection by focusing on how he views the significance of  individuality as it relates to community and place. He also examines the artist’s personal viewpoint as it relates to the largerscope of regional, national, and world views and how the choice and use of a medium and technique plays a role in communicating specific views or ideas. He focuses on an exhibition he is curating at the Art Alliance in Philadelphia titled A Sense of Place. |
Bruce Hoffman is an independent curator, artist, writer, and educator. He has a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art where he serves on the Alumni Board. He was the Director of the Snyderman–Works Gallery for twenty years where he established and curated the International Fiber Biennial from 1998–2010. He served as adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design where he taught the first undergraduate course on Curatorial Studies and has lectured throughout the country. He is on the Executive Board of FiberPhiladelphia, serves as curatorial consultant, and co-chairs the Distinguished Educators Exhibition at the Crane Arts Building for FiberPhiladelphia 2012.
Alexandra Rella, PT, DPT, Injury Prevention Specialist, University of Pennsylvania Health System
The Art of Working Safely—Ergonomics
Alexandra Rella will introduce participants to the basics of ergonomics and injury prevention. As artists and designers create their work and build their businesses, they are exposed to risk factors such as repetitive motion and awkward postures that can cause musculoskeletal discomfort and injury. This presentation will review solutions to minimize risk including safe working positions, tricks for surviving less than ideal working positions, computer ergonomics, and the importance of overall wellness in protecting your most important tool—your body!
Alexandra Rella is the Injury Prevention Specialist for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. As a Physical Therapist, she educates and establishes programs to prevent injuries caused by manual labor. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia.
Dianne Koppisch Hricko, printmaker and educator
Amy Orr, Executive Director of FiberPhiladelphia
Unfolding FiberPhiladelphia
 FiberPhiladelphia, an international showcase of innovative fiber/textile art, began in the late 90s and is a collaboration promoting the best in the expansive textile and fiber arts fields. The presentation covers the background of the event, the juried competition Outside/Inside the Box, and the invitational Distinguished Educators, and previews other shows and venues comprising the 2012 festival. |
Dianne Koppisch Hricko is a printmaker/painter working with fiber-reactive dyes on silk. She employs deconstructed silk screening, direct painting, and discharge to produce yardage and images. Her work exploits the layered transparency possible in this medium building rich and ambiguous surfaces. Color has always been a driving force behind her work. She maintains a studio in the Crane Arts Building, lives in Philadelphia with the printmaker Richard Hricko, and she teaches at the University of the Arts.
Amy Orr is the Executive Director of FiberPhiladelphia and Adjunct Professor at Moore College of Art and Design. She is a visual artist now working on credit card mosaics. Orr has a BFA in Fine Arts from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, Israel; an MA in Education from the University of the Arts; and an MFA in Fibers/Crafts from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. She lives with her husband, photographer John Woodin and son, Hal in Philadelphia and Southold, NY.
www.fiberphiladelphia.org
www.dkoppisch.com/
www.amyorr.net/
Kathryn Pannepacker, artist
Sex, Drugs & Stigma: Reflections on Making Art & Social Change
 Both solo-studio and community-based work are critical to Kathryn Pannepacker’s personal vitality and mission as a visual/textile artist. In this talk, she will share who, what, where, when, how, and why—the process of creating identity and meaning in the context of a complicated world. Art-for-all; have and have-nots are welcome. A barrage of pictures will complement the journey! Kathryn Pannepacker is a textile/visual artist living in Philadelphia. Years ago, she apprenticed with third generation French tapestry weaver, Jean Pierre Larochette and his partner, Yael Lurie, a painter and designer for tapestry. She also went to Aubusson, France to continue weaving as an artist-in-residence, as well as Hachioji, Japan, through the Japan Foundation. Though still weaving pictorial tapestry, she also weaves with unusual materials, on and off the loom, in and out of the studio. She has created several textile-themed murals in Philadelphia via the Mural Arts Program. She is committed to the transformative power of art in people's lives and the sustainability of such transformation by involving the community. Pannepacker exhibits locally, nationally, and internationally.
www.inliquid.org/complete-artist-list/pannepacker-kathryn/ |
Sandra Sider, President of Studio Art Quilt Associates, art history professor, studio quilt artist, curator, and critic
And What Do YOU Do?
 Sandra Sider bases her presentation on a survey of SDA and SAQA members completed in 2010, in which she asked how they identify what they do professionally. This topic originated with the speaker's own ambivalence at New York social events when she answered, “I'm an artist,” then felt immediately compelled to qualify that statement with various descriptive phrases. Her lecture, which invites audience participation, will explore the significance of self-identity, and how we might better inform the world at large about ourselves. Sandra Sider, a New York studio quilt artist, curator, and critic, has published articles and reviews concerning fiber art and other aspects of visual culture for three decades. Her graduate degrees include an MA in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She teaches online for the Department of Art History at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and is President of Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Consulting Curator for the Texas Quilt Museum. Having launched a new monograph series, The Studio Quilt, in 2010, Sider is focusing on the art in quilt studies.
www.sandrasider.com/ |
PANELS
Cindy Friedman, moderator; Elizabeth Barton, David Revere McFadden, and Sandra Sider
The Jurying of Art Quilt Elements 2012
 Friedman, an organizer of the long-running Art Quilt Elements exhibition, moderates a discussion between the 2012 jurors on the jurying process and the resulting exhibition, using examples from the 2012 pool to discuss how they evaluate and decide the merits of anentry. The panel presentation previews the exhibition that conference participants will visit later in the evening.
www.artquiltelements.com/
www.sandrasider.com/ |
Cindy Friedman is an organizer of Art Quilt Elements and has guided its development since its inception in 1994. She is a widely exhibited studio quilter and is involved in developing exhibition opportunities for artists from Botswana.
Elizabeth Barton is a hybrid creature having lived half her life in the UK and half in the US. She spent many years as a clinical psychologist before discovering the joys of the quilting life! She has been educating herself in art and fiber for the last 20 years and feels many more years of enjoyable study are ahead. She has been included in most of the major quilt shows and has taught at most quilt-show workshops.
www.elizabethbarton.com
www.elizabethbarton.blogspot.com
David Revere McFadden is the William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator and Vice President for Programs and Collections at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he has had a long and productive career in the museum world, and has curated more than 100 exhibitions. He has published and lectured extensively and has been honored widely for his work.
www.madmuseum.org/
Sandra Sider, a New York studio quilt artist, curator, and critic, has published articles and reviews concerning fiber art and other aspects of visual culture for three decades. Her graduate degrees include an MA in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She teaches online for the Department of Art History at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and is President of Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Consulting Curator for the Texas Quilt Museum. She recently launched a new monograph series, The Studio Quilt, in 2010, which focuses on the art in quilt studies.
Elizabeth Barton, moderator; Lorraine Glessner, Dominie Nash, and Emily Richardson
Where Have I Come From and Where Am I Going?
 This panel examines the growth of three artists’ careers in light of their educations, life experiences, and visions. Each comes from a different background but has followed a clear path and developed a distinct and genuine voice. The panel will explore how each discovered who she wanted to be as an artist, identify key experiences in her artistic growth, and speculate about where her future lies. |
Elizabeth Barton is a hybrid creature having lived half her life in the UK and half in the US. She spent many years as a clinical psychologist before discovering the joys of the quilting life! She has been educating herself in art and fiber for the last 20 years and feels many more years of enjoyable study are ahead. She has been included in most of the major quilt shows and has taught at most quilt-show workshops.
www.elizabethbarton.com
www.elizabethbarton.blogspot.com
 Lorraine Glessner earned an MFA in Fibers from Tyler School of Art and is currently an Assistant Professor in Fibers there. She also earned a BS, Textile Design, Philadelphia University, and an Associate’s Degree, Computer Graphics, Moore College of Art. Recent awards include two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship grants and the Anne K. Allison Award,Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Watchung Art Center, Watchung, New Lorraine Glessner, New Jersey, and Cabrini College, Radnor Pennsylvania. She has participated in group exhibitions at Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, New Jersey; Artspace, Richmond, Virginia; and Clay Scot Gallery, Birmingham, Alabama. Her work is included in Encaustic With a Textile Sensibility by Daniella Woolf.
www.lorraineglessner.net
www.lorraineglessner.blogspot.com |
 Dominie Nash is a full-time fiber artist working in Washington DC. Her work is included in the collection of the Renwick Gallery, the International Monetary Fund, Braintree District Museum (England), Kaiser Permanente, and DC Art Bank. A recipient of a 2001 Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council and a 2010 Creative Projects grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (MD), she received several awards in juried exhibits in 2007-2011. She has exhibited widely in soloand group exhibits nationally and in Europe and Japan. Her work has been published in Quilting Art by Spike Gillespie, 500 Art Quilts, Surface Design, American Craft, Embroidery, Quilt Art by Kate Lenkowsky, The Art Quilt by Robert Shaw , and Fiberarts Design Books 2-7.
www.dominienash.com/ |
 Emily Richardson’s work is recognized for its painterly and expressive qualities. She received the 1997 Leeway Award for Excellence in Fiberarts, and the 2004 Nihon Vogue Quilts Japan Award. She has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, including several solo exhibitions at Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia and the Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe. Her work is included in the collections of Emily Richardson, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Nihon Vogue Company in Tokyo. It has been widely published and she is a featured artist in Masters: Art Quilts, Vol. 2, published by Lark Books in 2011. Richardson is represented by the Gross McCleaf Gallery.
www.grossmccleaf.com/artistpages/richardsonpage.htm |
Events
Artist Speed Dating Icebreaker
Meet your fellow conference attendees during this event. Bring a sample of your work and/or 50 postcards or business cards, and be prepared to speak for two minutes about what you do and how you do it.
Friday Luncheon
Conference participants will enjoy networking during a luncheon at the conference hotel on Friday, March 30. The luncheon will provide a refreshing break to rejuvenate for stimulating presentations on Friday afternoon. The luncheon is sponsored in part by C&T Publishing.
Art Quilt Elements
Friday evening (March 30), participants will attend the opening of the juried exhibition, Art Quilt Elements (AQE), at the Wayne Art Center. AQE 2012 is the tenth exhibition of this internationally acclaimed show set in suburban Philadelphia. Organizers state, “One of the distinctions of our show is our professional presentation of art quilts. The exhibition has been widely praised by reviewers and artists not only for exhibiting the quilts in a gallery setting but also for promoting the art quilt as an art form.”
www.artquiltelements.com/ |
FiberPhiladelphia 2012
Saturday, March 31, will be Tour Day for the conference. Conference participants will board tour buses for a trip into the city to enjoy the wealth of exhibitions offered by major institutions and independent venues during this biennial celebration of the art form.
The mission of FiberPhiladelphia is to enrich the Philadelphia region by exhibiting innovative textile art, supporting the advancement of education and awareness within the field of fiber and textile studies, and promoting community participation through the citywide projects, workshops, and lectures.
The price of the tour is included in conference registration. Tours will follow planned routes to visit clustered exhibition venues. Lunch and afternoon breaks will be scheduled, and will be the responsibility of the individual participant. The tours will end at the Crane Arts Building for the opening of the juried exhibition Outside/Inside the Box.
www.fiberphiladelphia.org/2012Events.html.
Optional Event: Critique Session
Sunday, April 1. 2:00 p.m.
FULL. All slots for critique participants and observers have been filled.
Sandra Sider will offer a two-hour art critique session the afternoon of Sunday, April 1. She will critique one completed fiber piece or work-in-progress of any conference attendee who has preregistered for the critique. Maximum size of the works is 5’x5’.Critques are limited to ten pieces (one per participant). Attendance by observers is limited to fifteen, who must also preregister. Participation fees are applied to the cost of renting the space for this event: • $25 for those with pieces to critique • $15 for observers.
Space will be reserved on a first-come first-served basis. |
