this market-leading text focuses on contemporary art ... · stoneware is the preferred medium of...

This market-leading text focuses on contemporary art,global artists, and cutting edge technology.

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Miriam Schapiro’s work Personal Appearance #3 islarge enough to cover a small bed. Its compositionincludes a large orange rectangle at its center thatdescribes a bedlike shape, and the black squarenear the top is placed like a pillow. The work is ex-uberant and vibrant, and made partly from clothscraps like a quilt. This was certainly part of theartist’s intent: to pay homage to quilt makers pastand present, by making a work that resembles a quilt in many ways but is not one. The workthus hovers on the brink of usefulness; it takes onthe appearance of a useful object without exactlybeing one.

Many artists throughout history have foundstimulation in working along the boundarybetween art and useful objects. They create worksthat challenge our notion of function, either bymaking artworks that resemble useful things, asMiriam Schapiro did, or by creating useful ob-jects of such beauty that to actually use themwould seem a crime. In fact, most of the world’scultures have always regarded an excellent pieceof pottery as highly as a painting, and a book

11FLIRTING WITH FUNCTION

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CLAY?

WHAT ARE THE TWO MAJOR CLASSIFICATIONS OF FIBER ART?

WHO PERFECTED METAL INLAYS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY?

11

11.1 Miriam SchapiroPersonal Appearance #3. 1973.Acrylic and fabric on canvas. 60˝ 3 50˝. Collection Marilyn Stokstad, Lawrence, Kansas. Courtesy of Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL. Photo: Robert Hickerson.

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F L I R T I N G W I T H F U N C T I O N C H A P T E R 1 12

illustration as equal in merit to a piece of sculp-ture; in this chapter we will consider such works.They are made from various media, includingclay, glass, metal, wood, and fiber; and most arethree-dimensional.

In a previous era, we might have regarded theworks in this chapter as “craft works.” But in thisday and age (and in this book!) they are all artforms.

CLAYClay comes from soil with a heavily volcanicmakeup, mixed with water. Since humans began tolive in settled communities, clay has been a valu-able art material. It is extremely flexible in theartist’s hands, yet it hardens into a permanentshape when exposed to heat.

The art and science of making objects fromclay is called ceramics. A person who works withclay is a ceramist; one who specializes in makingdishes is a potter. A wide range of objects, in-cluding tableware, dishes, sculpture, bricks, andmany kinds of tiles, are made from clay. Most ofthe basic ceramic materials were discovered, andprocesses developed, thousands of years ago. Allclays are flexible until baked in a dedicated high-temperature oven called a kiln, a process knownas firing.

Clays are generally categorized in one ofthree broad types. Earthenware is typically firedat a relatively low temperature (approximately700°C to 1,200°C) and is porous after firing. Itmay vary in color from red to brown to tan.Earthenware is the most common of the threetypes, and a great many of the world’s pots havebeen made from it. Stoneware is heavier, is firedat a higher temperature (1,200°C to 1,350°C),and is not porous. It is usually grayish or brown.Combining strength with easy workability,stoneware is the preferred medium of most of to-day’s ceramists and potters. Porcelain is the rarestand most expensive of the three types. Madefrom deposits of decomposed granite, it becomeswhite and nonporous after firing at a typically

high temperature (1,250°C to 1,450°C). It istranslucent and rings when struck, both signs ofits unique quality. Porcelain was first perfected inChina, and even today in England and Americathe finest white dishes are called “china,” no mat-ter where they are made.

With any type of clay, the ceramic process isrelatively simple. Ceramists create functional potsor purely sculptural forms from soft, damp clayusing hand-building methods such as modeling,or by throwing—that is, by shaping clay on a rap-idly revolving wheel. Invented in Mesopotamiaabout six thousand years ago, the potter’s wheel al-lows potters to produce circular forms with greatspeed and uniformity. In the hands of a skilledworker, the process looks effortless, even magical,but it takes time and practice to perfect the tech-nique. After shaping, a piece is air dried before fir-ing in a kiln.

Two kinds of liquids are commonly used todecorate ceramics, though rarely on the same piece.A slip is a mixture of clay and water about the con-sistency of cream, sometimes colored with earthenpowders. With this relatively simple technique,only a limited range of colors is possible, but manyancient cultures made a specialty of this type ofpottery decoration.

A glaze is a liquid paint with a silica base, spe-cially formulated for clay. During firing, the glazevitrifies (turns to a glasslike substance) and fuseswith the clay body, creating a nonporous surface.Glazes can be colored or clear, translucent oropaque, glossy or dull, depending on their chemi-cal composition. Firing changes the color of mostglazes so radically that the liquid that the potter ap-plies to the vessel comes out of the kiln an entirelydifferent color.

Recent works by two of today’s leading ce-ramists will help to show the possibilities of thismedium; both are vessels with handles, but theyshow widely divergent styles. Betty Woodman’s

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3C H A P T E R 1 1 F L I R T I N G W I T H F U N C T I O N

Divided Vases (Christmas) have an exuberant,free-form look that preserves the expressivenessof spontaneous glaze application. The handlesare actually flat perforated panels that still showtraces of the working process. She used earthen-ware, a relatively coarse clay that is conducive tonatural shapes like the bamboo segments thatthe vase bodies suggest. She threw each in threepieces on the wheel, and then joined thembefore adding the handles. The Divided Vaseshave a fresh look, as if they just came out of thefiring kiln.

Adrian Saxe’s Les Rois du Monde Futur (Rulersof the Future World) seems precious and exquisiteby comparison. He used porcelain for the mainbody, working it into a gourdlike shape beforetipping it slightly off-axis. The overly elegant han-dles recall antique picture frames, while the roughbase quotes the style of traditional Chinese pot-tery. The work’s title shows the artist’s sarcasticmind-set: The Rulers of the Future World are in-sects, two of which crawl up the cap.

The acceptance of clay as an art medium(rather than something to shape into dishes)owes a great deal to the California sculptor PeterVoulkos. He was trained as a potter and had astudio that sold dishes in upscale stores until themiddle 1950s. Then he began to explore abstractart, and he found ways to incorporate some of itstechniques into his ceramic work. At first he tooka fresh approach to plates: He flexed them out ofshape and scratched their surface as if they werepaintings, thereby rendering them useless in thetraditional sense. We see the results of this

11.2 Betty Woodman.Divided Vases (Christmas): View B. 2004.Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint. 341⁄2 ˝ 3 39˝ 3 7˝.Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica. Courtesy of the artist and Max Protetch Gallery, New York.

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11.3 Adrian Saxe.Les Rois du Monde Futur (Rulers of the Future World). 2004.Porcelain, stoneware, overglaze enamel, lusters, mixed media. 261⁄4˝ 3 131⁄4˝ 3 10˝.Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica.



11.4 Peter Voulkos.Untitled Plate CR952. 1989.Wood-fired stoneware. 201⁄2˝ 3 41⁄2˝.Courtesy Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City.

treatment in his Untitled Plate CR952. His firstexhibition of these works in 1959 caused a greatdeal of controversy because most people did notthink of stoneware as an art medium. Yet nonecould deny the boldness of his inventions.

Both Peter Voulkos and Toshiko Takaezu wereinfluenced by the earthiness and spontaneity ofsome traditional Japanese ceramics, as well as byExpressionist painting, yet they have taken very dif-ferent directions. Voulkos’s pieces are rough and ag-gressively dynamic, but Takaezu’s Makaha Blue IIoffers subtle, restrained strength. By closing the topof container forms, she turns vessels into sculptures,thus providing surfaces for rich paintings of glazeand oxide. She reflected on her love of the claymedium:

When working with clay I take pleasure from theprocess as well as from the finished piece. Every oncein a while I am in tune with the clay, and I hear mu-sic, and it’s like poetry. Those are the moments thatmake pottery truly beautiful for me.1

Ceramic processes evolved very slowly untilthe mid-twentieth century, when new formulationsand even synthetic clays became available. Other

11.5 Toshiko Takaezu.Makaha Blue II. 2002.Stoneware. 181⁄2˝ 3 48˝.Courtesy of the artist and Charles Cowles Gallery, New York.

GLASSGlass has been used for at least four thousand yearsas a material for practical containers of all shapesand sizes. Stained glass has been a favorite inchurches in cathedrals since the Middle Ages. Elab-orate, blown-glass pieces have been made in Venicesince the Renaissance. Glass is also a fine mediumfor decorative inlays in a variety of objects, includ-ing jewelry.

Glass is an exotic and enticing art medium.One art critic wrote, “Among sculptural materi-als, nothing equals the sheer eloquence of glass.

changes have included more accurate methods offiring and less toxic techniques and equipment.



AT THE EDGE OF ART

Boolean ValleyMANY PEOPLE MIGHT think that ceramic arts, with all oftheir earthiness, would be incompatible with computermathematics, but a 2009 exhibition proved them wrong.The potter Adam Silverman collaborated with architectNader Tehrani on an installation called Boolean Valleythat used mathematical logic to create an abstractlandscape of pots in a gallery. The potter made 195 tallcones and then split each of them in two, creating

195 cylinders and 195 cones of varying heights—ordomes and hoops, as the artists called them. The architectthen applied Boolean mathematics to arrange these partsin waves along the gallery floor. Boolean logic tracks thegeometry of intersecting forms, and is used in computersearches. It yielded a mysterious-looking array thatsuggested organic growth, as if pots were rising andfalling through the surface of the floor.

11.6 Boolean Valley. 2009.Installation by Adam Silverman and Nader Tehrani. 390 glazed ceramic pieces. Maximum height 24˝.Installation view at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

It can assume any form, take many textures,dance with color, bask in clear crystallinity, makelyrics of light.”2

Chemically, glass is closely related to ceramicglaze. As a medium, however, it offers a widerange of unique possibilities. Hot or molten glassis a sensitive, amorphous material that is shapedby blowing, casting, or pressing into molds. As itcools, glass solidifies from its molten statewithout crystallizing. After it is blown or cast,glass may be cut, etched, fused, laminated, lay-ered, leaded, painted, polished, sandblasted, or

slumped (softened for a controlled sag). The fluidnature of glass produces qualities of mass flowinginto line, as well as translucent volumes of airythinness.

The character of any material determines thecharacter of the expression; this statement is partic-ularly true of glass. Molten glass requires consider-able speed and skill in handling. The glassblowercombines the centering skills of a potter, the agilityand stamina of an athlete, and the grace of a dancerto bring qualities of breath and movement intocrystalline form.



11.7 Dale Chihuly.Mauve Seaform Set with Black Lip Wraps from the “Seaforms” Series. 1985.Blown glass.Courtesy of Dale Chihuly. Photograph: Dick Busher.

11.8 Mona Hatoum.Still Life with Hand Grenades (Nature Morte aux Grenades). 2006–2007.Crystal, steel, rubber. 38˝ 3 82˝ 3 27˝.Alexander and Bonin, New York.

The fluid and translucent qualities of glass areused to the fullest in Dale Chihuly’s SeaformSeries. He produces such pieces with a team ofglass artists working under his direction. In thisseries, he arranged groups of pieces and carefullydirected the lighting to suggest delicate underseaenvironments.

Chihuly is one of many artists today whotreat glass as a sculptural medium, but MonaHatoum returns us to the contemplation of use-fulness with her provocative work Still Life withHand Grenades. She researched the design of vari-ous sorts of small explosive devices that theworld’s armies use, and re-created them in color-ful pieces of solid crystal. She placed these precious-looking objects on a gurney as if theywere specimens of some kind, which they are:specimens of humanity’s tendency to violence.She used the beauty of glass to represent “useful”objects of a lethal sort.



METALMetal’s primary characteristics are strength andformability. The various types of metal most oftenused for crafts and sculpture can be hammered,cut, drawn out, welded, joined with rivets, or cast.Early metalsmiths created tools, vessels, armor, andweapons.

In Muslim regions of the Middle East in thethirteenth and fourteenth centuries, artists prac-ticed shaping and inlaying with unparalleledsophistication. The d’Arenberg Basin, named after a French collector who owned it for manyyears, was made for the last ruler of the Ayyubiddynasty in Syria in the mid-thirteenth century.The body of the basin was first cast in brass; itsextremely intricate design included lowered areasinto which precisely cut pieces of silver wereplaced. Although most of the silver pieces areonly a fraction of an inch in size, they enliven acarefully patterned design that occupies severalfinely proportioned horizontal bands. The lowestband is a decorative pattern based on repeatedplant shapes. Above is a row of real and imagi-nary animals that decorates a relatively narrowband. The next band depicts a scene of princelypleasure, as well-attired people play polo. Theuppermost contains more plant shapes betweenthe uprights of highly stylized Arabic script thatexpresses good wishes to the owner of the piece.A central panel in this upper row depicts a scene

from the life of Christ, who is regarded as animportant teacher in Islam.

Cal Lane combines some of the intricate met-alwork of Middle Eastern pieces with ideas rippedfrom today’s headlines, in works such as Untitled(Map 3). She worked for years as a welder, awoman in a traditionally male occupation, andshe used those skills on a 55-gallon oil drum tocreate this work. First she flattened it, and thenshe cut it to show a map of the world, with the lidand base of the drum forming the poles. The oildrum has tremendous symbolic significance as asource of much of the world’s energy, wealth, con-flicts, and pollution. This work, with its sun-shaped form at the upper right, suggests the globaldominance of oil in our economy and our energy.It also creatively transforms a useful object into anartwork that comments on its own significance.

11.9 d’Arenberg Basin.Syria. Mid-13th century. Brass with silver inlay. 9˝ 3 20˝. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. F1955.10.

11.10 Cal Lane.Untitled (Map 3). 2007.Plasma cut steel. 781⁄2˝ 3 713⁄4˝.Samuel Freeman Gallery, Santa Monica.



WOODThe living spirit of wood is given a second life inhandmade objects. Growth characteristics of indi-vidual trees remain visible in the grain of woodlong after trees are cut, giving wood a vitality notfound in other materials. Its abundance, versatility,and warm tactile qualities have made wood a fa-vored material for human use and for art pieces.Like many natural products, wood can be har-vested in a sustainable manner or a wasteful one.Many woodworkers today have moved toward sus-tainability by using wood that is already down orharvested in certified forests.

Henry Gilpin generally makes furniture oncommission, but when he heard about a huge elmtree near his studio that had died because of en-croaching construction, he secured a piece of it. Hefound that the crowded conditions caused thewood grains in the tree to cross and twist, so thatwhen he dried the piece it emerged contorted. Hedecided to make this casualty of progress into atable by mounting the warped plank atop a frame.The surface is so uneven that this work titledCuriously Red is barely usable. To honor the tree’s

11.11 Henry Gilpin.Curiously Red. 2006.Elm, pigment, magnets. 36˝ 3 76˝ 3 18˝.Museum of Arts and Design, New York.Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum. ISP001 Photo: Dean Powell.

sacrifice of its life, he poured red stain over it, andleft the drips to show at the bottom of the legs toresemble bloodstains. What might at first glanceappear to be a side table thus becomes a meditationon life and death.

The Nature Conservancy in 2009 commis-sioned Maya Lin to create a piece of furniture froma forest that is certified by the Forest StewardshipCouncil, and she responded with the Terra Table. Itis actually a bench built of red maple. She made it bypiecing together lateral slices of the wood, and leav-ing their tops mostly uneven to remind users thatthey are sitting on a tree. The grain of the wood isvisible at the ends, and she used a transparent stainto further show the richness of the maple planks.

FIBERFiber arts include such processes as weaving, stitch-ing, basketmaking, surface design (dyed and printedtextiles), wearable art, and handmade papermaking.These fiber processes use natural and synthetic fibersin both traditional and innovative ways. Artistsworking with fiber (like artists working in anymedium) draw on the heritage of traditional prac-tices and also explore new avenues of expression.

11.12 Maya Lin.Terra Table. 2009.Red Maple.Commissioned by the Nature Conservancy.



in the sixteenth century. Here, weavers employed byroyal workshops knotted carefully dyed wool over anetwork of silk warps and wefts. The Ardabil Carpet,long recognized as one of the greatest Persian car-pets, contains about three hundred such knots, overfine silk threads, per square inch. Thus, this carpetrequired approximately 25 million knots!

The design of the carpet is centered on a sun-burst surrounded by sixteen oval shapes. Twomosque lamps of unequal size share space with anintricate pattern of flowers. At the corners of themain field, quarters of the central design are re-peated. A small panel at the right gives the date andthe name of an artist, who must have been the de-signer. Another inscription is a couplet by Hafiz, thebest known lyrical poet in Iran: “I have no refuge inthis world other than thy threshold. My head has noresting-place other than this doorway.” The carpetoriginally covered the floor of a prayer chapel.

Fiber arts divide into two general classes: Workmade with a loom, and work made without one.

All weaving is based on the interlacing of fibers.Weavers generally begin with long fibers in place,called the warp fibers, which determine the lengthof the piece they will create. Often the warp fibersare installed on a loom, a device that holds them inplace and may pull them apart for weaving. Theycross the warp fibers at right angles with weft fibers(from which we get the word weave). Weavers createpatterns by changing the numbers and placementsof interwoven threads, and they can choose from avariety of looms and techniques. Simple hand loomscan produce very sophisticated, complex weaves. A large tapestry loom, capable of weaving hundredsof colors into intricate forms, may require severaldays of preparation before work begins.

Some of the world’s most spectacular carpetscame from Islamic Persia during the Safavid dynasty

11.13 The Ardabil Carpet. Tabriz. 1540.Wool pile on silk warps and wefts. 349 3 1796˝. V & A Picture Library.



11.14 Nick Cave.Soundsuit. 2009.Mixed media. Height 79.Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

Fiber can be worked in infinite ways, andChicago-based Nick Cave has likely used them all atone time or another to create his ongoing series ofSoundsuits. These extravagant costumes are all wear-able, and over the years they have included such off-beat materials as human hair, twigs, toys, garbage,buttons, dryer felt, stuffed animals, fake fur, feathers,and flowers, besides sequins and beads of all kinds. In the Soundsuit shown here, a cloud of ceramic birdssurrounds a body suit of crocheted yarn pieces. Cave



(who is not related to the Australian musician of thesame name) grew up in a large family where he per-sonalized the hand-me-down clothing he often wore.However, the Soundsuits do the opposite: most ofthem completely hide the wearer, thus conferring analternate identity. The roots of these pieces are inNew Orleans Mardi Gras costumes and African cere-monial garments, but in Cave’s hands they becomeboth exuberant and mysterious.

In some African-American communities, womenhave carried on a traditional of quilt making for gener-ations. One of the most active groups has been meet-ing in Gees Bend, Alabama for over a hundred years,where the quilters gather to share fabric, discuss neigh-borhood news, and encourage creativity. Jessie Pettwaymade Bars and String-Piece Columns from leftoverpieces of cloth. This quilt, like many produced at GeesBend, resembles some kinds of African textiles (seeChapter 19). Many Gees Bend quilters create theirwork with only a minimum of advance planning, and

this lends their work a look of spontaneity and exuber-ance. The coincidental resemblance to modern art alsoattracts the attention of collectors.

Faith Ringgold uses the quiltmaking tradition tospeak eloquently of her life and ideas. Memories ofher childhood in Harlem in the 1930s provide muchof her subject matter. Commitments to women, thefamily, and cross-cultural consciousness are at theheart of Ringgold’s work. With playful exuberanceand insight, she draws on history and recent eventsto tie her own history to wider struggles about gen-der, race, and class. Her sophisticated use of naivetégives her work the appeal of the best folk art, but herwork has also dealt with more urgent themes such asunemployment and discrimination. In the biograph-ical essay on the following page, we consider one ofher most famous quilts, Tar Beach.

11.15 Jessie Pettway.Bars and String-Piece Columns. ca. 1950s.Cotton. 95˝ 3 76˝.©2003 Tinwood Alliance collection, Atlanta.Photo: Steve Pitkin/Pitkin Studios.

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11.16 Faith Ringgold.Tar Beach. 1988.Acrylic pieced and printed fabric. 74˝ 3 69˝.Collection: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. © Faith Ringgold Inc.



FAITH RINGGOLD

A PROLIFIC CREATOR of manyart forms, from paintings toquilts to children’s books,Faith Ringgold has taken thereality of racial discrimina-tion and made from ituplifting stories aboutfinding sustenance andovercoming adversity.

Born in Harlem to working-class parents, she was en-couraged as a child tosucceed by their example.Acknowledging the doubledisadvantage of being anAfrican-American woman,her parents taught her that“you have to be twice asgood to go half as far.”3

Her mother was aseamstress and fashion de-signer, her father a sanita-tion truck driver. Afterreceiving bachelor’s andmaster’s degrees in art fromCity College of New York,she taught in New York Citypublic schools from 1955 to 1972. She later recalledthat the experience of teach-ing children encouraged her own creativity: “Theyshowed me what it is to befree, to be able to expressyourself directly.”

During the early years ofher teaching career, shepainted landscapes. But thecivil rights movement of the1960s encouraged her toaddress directly in her artthe issues of inequality thatseemed then to be presenteverywhere. She sought ad-vice from the elder African-American artist Romare

Bearden (see page 8), who included her work in a group show in Harlem in1966. She also took part in several protest actions atNew York museums, urginggreater inclusion of African-American artists and moreoutreach to ethnic minorityneighborhoods.

Leaving her teaching posi-tion in 1972, she began todevote full time to art. Shealso began a ten-year col-laboration with her motherin the creation of works oncloth. Quilt making hadbeen a family tradition asfar back as her great-great-grandmother, who hadmade them as a slave in Florida. Now themother–daughter teamcollaborated on a new type of textile art thatincluded images and storieson the sewn fragments. Inaddition to continuingancient African textile arttraditions, these cloth workswere also portable.

Her themes are highly var-ied. Some are personal andautobiographical, such asChange: Faith Ringgold’sOver 100 Pound WeightLoss Performance StoryQuilt. Others expose injus-tice, such as The Slave RapeSeries, which dealt with themistreatment of Africanwomen in the slave trade.Some are about importantAfrican-American culturalfigures, such as Sonny’sQuilt, which depicts the jazz

saxophonist Sonny Rollins,performing as he soars overthe Brooklyn Bridge.

A standout among theartist’s “story quilts” is TarBeach, which tells the storyof the fictional Cassie, aneight-year-old character whois based on Ringgold’s ownchildhood memories. Shewould go up to the asphaltroof of her apartment build-ing (“Tar Beach”) with herfamily on hot nights,because there was no air-conditioning in the home.Cassie describes Tar Beachas a magical place, with a360-degree view of tallbuildings and the GeorgeWashington Bridge in thedistance. She dreams thatshe can fly, that she can doanything she imagines, asshe lies on a blanket withher little brother. Shedreams that she can giveher father the union cardthat he has been deniedbecause of his race. Shedreams that she can let hermother sleep late, and eatice cream every day fordessert. She even dreamsthat she can buy the build-ing her father works in, andthat her mother won’t crywhen her father can’t findwork. The quilt depicts thetwo children on the blanket,and her parents playingcards with the neighborsnext to a table set withsnacks and drinks. TarBeach was later made into a children’s book, one of

four that Ringgold haswritten.

The combination of fantasyand hard reality in thiswork, with imagination the key to overcomingobstacles, is typical ofRinggold’s work as well as her life. Near the end of her memoir, she said, “I don’t want the story of my life to be about racism,though that has played amajor role. I want my storyto be about attainment, love of family, art, helpingothers, courage, values,dreams coming true.”

Stitched into History

11.17 Faith Ringgold. With detail of ThePurple Quilt. 1986.© Faith Ringgold, Inc. Photographer: C’Love.

1930–



Most fiber art is divided between worksmade on a loom, such as the Ardabil Carpet, andoff-loom pieces such as quilts. Over the last gen-eration or so, fiber arts have gone very far off theloom, as Nick Cave’s Soundsuits show. Note alsoHer Secret Is Patience, the large piece illustrated atthe beginning of Chapter 1.

Polly Apfelbaum dyes off-loom fabrics tocreate installations that show the influence ofboth modern abstract art and feminism. She saidthat she wanted to do a contemporary version ofthe traditional crazy quilt, in which random frag-ments of leftover cloth are stitched together indazzling patterns. In this way she claims descentfrom the women who have traditionally wovenand sewn most textiles. In Blossom, she usedbright colors to stain oval-shaped pieces of velvet.

She attached them together to heighten theresemblance to quilts, and then installed them onthe floor of a gallery. The resulting work resemblesa quilt, a carpet, and a luxurious bed of flowerpetals. She applied fabric dye to each part with asqueeze bottle. For this piece, she prevented the dyefrom reaching the edge of each oval, leaving a whiteborder that sets each color apart. Her dyeing processresembles painting, but the works she creates arecloser to sculpture and textile art. She sometimescalls her works “fallen paintings,” because placingthe work on the floor allows viewers to interact withthe work from more angles.

11.18 Polly Apfelbaum.Blossom. 2000.Velvet and dye. Diameter 189.Photography: Adam Reich. Courtesy of the artist and D’Amelio Terras Gallery, New York.

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