Fiber Art Gives New Latitude to Decorators

If they didn’t know better, visitors to “Fiber: Revealing Artistic Textures” at the Irvine Fine Arts Center might think they had stumbled into one of the city’s pricier model homes.

Fiber art, with its range of styles and textures, is a favorite among local decorators to enhance the cathedral ceilings, lofts and “art nooks” that dominate most new, top-end housing. So it’s not surprising that many of the pieces in the arts center show--by members of the California Fibers artists group, and continuing through April 29--read like an interior designer’s textbook: dramatic, but not intimidating; refined, but not boring. And you can find lots of throw pillows to match ‘em.

But that’s not all bad. As decorative art, such pieces as Donna Joslyn’s “Bed of Roses” can provide a pleasurable experience for the viewer. Billowing gently in an air-conditioned breeze, the twin rose-colored silk chiffon and crepe de Chine banners are patterned with trailing primroses and evoke a sense of graciousness and tranquility. You easily can see them cascading down a double-height wall, or softening the sharp angles of a staircase.

Joan Firster’s large-scale “Meander” would add texture to a slick, contemporary decor. On a pair of angled turquoise steel grids, Firster has interwoven dozens of plaited aluminum mesh tendrils that meet in the center and spill to the floor in dusty pastels, silver and bronze.

Still, there are those, such as California Fibers member Laurel King, who would like to see the boundaries of fiber art stretched.

“Many of our artists do work closely with decorators and art consultants,” King said. “Each of us has his or her own objective. But some of us want to take it further and give it more content.”

King, who lives and works in San Clemente, clearly puts herself in the second group. In “The Quest,” she hangs a golden, tattered swath of linen and Mylar between two rough wooden posts. The idea, she said, came from a Greek legend in which a young man sets out on a voyage to find the truth, symbolized by the golden fleece of a ram; he finds it and hangs it on an oak tree. King explained that “The Quest’s” threadbare state represents that while truth can be abused and ultimately may wear thin, it will survive.

Founded in 1972, the San Diego-based California Fibers group includes 25 Southern California artists working with a variety of materials and techniques. Other pieces on view at the Irvine center range from wall hangings in woven date palm seed frond by Polly Jacobs Giacchina to Georgia Laris’ collars of knotted cotton cording.

At the gallery’s entrance, visitors are given a brief history of fiber art in an essay by San Francisco textile writer Charles Talley. According to Talley, the styles and techniques demonstrated by today’s fiber artists can be traced “as much to the efforts of . . . Peace Corps volunteers as to European tapestry traditions.”

As Talley sees it, the returning volunteers carried home the rich traditions of spinning, dyeing and weaving practiced in the developing countries they visited, which inspired the American fiber art movement of the late 1960s (remember macrame?). The art form has become increasingly more sophisticated, reports Talley, and has been embraced by a growing number of galleries and museums.

Each of the pieces in this show is accompanied by an exhibit card explaining the artist’s background, process and inspirations, and samples of the materials used in each work are available for visitors to touch. Most pieces are for sale.

Other notables include works by Diane Gage and Susan Hart Henegar. Gage uses “resist-dyed” silk (dye is prevented from entering an area of fabric through the use of wax or some other substance) to comment on contemporary society. Her “Friday Afternoon” is a hectic scene of congestion and corruption in the big city, portrayed in day-glo colors. Henegar’s “Where’s Frazer?” combines elements of traditional tapestry with a palette of ‘90s colors and graphic imagery.

Two complementary exhibits, “The Art of Weaving in Ancient Peru” and a selection of quilts from Irvine’s Flying Geese Quilt Guild, continue at the center through April 8.

“Weaving” features artifacts from the Bowers Museum Textile Collection, ranging from a woven sling used as a weapon sometime between 50 BC and AD 1500, to an unku, or woolen shirt-like garment worn on Peru’s central coast between AD 900 and 1500. The quilt display features seven samples of quilting patterns and styles, from early American to contemporary. Using materials provided, visitors can contribute to a “community quilt” to be exhibited at the center April 11 to 15.

Workshops and demonstrations during these exhibits include a March 31 tour of a Costa Mesa crafts studio, and in-studio discussion with California Fibers artists; a two-part fiber arts workshop for the visually impaired April 3 and 10, and a lunchtime lecture series April 6 through 27. A children’s spinning, weaving and basketry class runs April 23 through May 28. Weekly quilting demonstrations are offered through April 11, and a beginning quilt-making class runs April 19 through May 10.

“Fiber: Revealing Artistic Textures” continues through April 29 at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. “The Art of Weaving in Ancient Peru” and the Flying Geese Quilt Guild Exhibit close April 8. The center is at 14321 Yale Ave. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free, but fees are charged for some classes. Information: (714) 552-1018.