Changing Landscapes: Contemporary Chinese Fiber Art February 3, 2009

Changing Landscapes: Contemporary Chinese Fiber Art is the first exhibition of contemporary Chinese fiber art in the United States. Presented in partnership with the Fiber Arts Institute of the Academy of the Arts & Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing, this exhibition includes 45 works by 48 artists.

Co-curated by Ni Yue-Hong, a professor at the Fiber Arts Institute and Museum curator Deborah Corsini, Changing Landscapes showcases works selected from five biennial international fiber art exhibits that Tsinghua University has organized and hosted since 2000.

Included in the exhibition are two-dimensional tapestries and sculptural works by emerging, mid-career, and master artists who study or teach at institutions of higher education throughout China. The exhibition provides a snapshot of how three generations of artists working in fiber media are documenting, navigating, and responding to the tremendous economic, political, and social changes that have literally and metaphorically transformed the Chinese landscape over the past decade.

The artwork is wide-ranging in term of scale, materials incorporated, art-making techniques used, and visual content. The smallest piece in the show is Balminess by Baixin, a three-dimensional 19" wood-framed cube of densely packed, green, golden and orange woolen yarns that conjure a micro-environment or eco-system. The largest work-Choice by Qui Wei-Li-is also a sculptural piece composed of wood and wool-but very different in its impact because of its large scale and its suggestion of nature gone amuck. At 118"x157"x59", Choice forces us to consider what appears to be a cellular organism on steroids, enlarged such that it appears threatening despite the transparency and seeming fragility of its structure.

$8 adults; $6.50 seniors and students; children 12 and under free.

Official Website: http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/exhibitions