"Interweavings"
Stuart Harwood and Karin Moggridge
Weaving is among the most ancient and universal of technologies,
utilized to produce everything from mundane and practical items to
highly esoteric and aesthetic works of art.
These two Bay Area artists, Stuart Harwood and Karin Moggridge, have
taken the concept of weaving and applied it in new ways, working with
fibers of all kinds to create sculpture (Harwood) and wall hangings
(Moggridge). For example, Moggridge dyes many of the fabrics she works
with herself, then tears them into strips and constructs woven panels
within fabric frames. One of Harwood s sculptures is a head with
trailing hair, woven from strands of nasturtium vines which he cooked
for four days.
Karin Moggridge
Moggridge makes art pieces for walls: tapestries, folding screens, and
small wall hangings out of hand-dyed, crushed, slashed, torn, and
otherwise manipulated fabrics and fibers. Each piece is designed and
created to form a richly textured surface, some vibrant, some subtle.
Moggridge clearly responds to the psychological ambiance of the spaces
we work and live in, and offers visually stimulating or soothing
textures and colors as required.
Moggridge grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark, and studied at Tunbridge
Wells School of Art and Homsey College of Art and Design in England as well
as in Denmark, Mexico, and the United States. Her wall hangings have been
exhibited widely in Northern California and England.
Moggridge also designs and creates wearable art, jackets, kimonos,
shawls, and scarves in luxurious and exotic fabrics. If you would like
to see that part of her work, come to her open studio event from 11
to 4 on Saturday, Aug. 12, in her studio (#24 at the 1870 Art Center, 1870
Ralston Ave. in Belmont).
Stuart Harwood
Harwood has been exhibiting his sculpture since 1951: more than 200
exhibitions in California, more than four dozen in New York, six dozen
in other states, and eleven internationally. His resume includes 41
solo exhibitions, more than 100 awards, and a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy
1956 57.
Harwood describes himself as a Psychological Expressionist with touches
of Surrealism. Large sculptures are in the permanent collections of the
Whitney Museum of Art and the Rochester Art Museum (New York), as well
as many private collections.
This exhibition can be viewed as a mini-retrospective. A number of the
sculptures are thirty years (or more) old, others are fairly recent.
All reflect Harwood s incessant curiosity about methods and materials and
his disinterest in tradition and the academic canon. Titles vary, but
many of the pieces can and should be interpreted as self-portraits.
Two Bay Area artists, Stuart Harwood and Karin Moggridge, have taken the concept of weaving and applied it in new ways, working with fibers of all kinds to create sculpture (Harwood) and wall hangings (Moggridge). For example, one of Harwood's sculptures is a head with trailing hair, all woven from strands of nasturtium vines. Moggridge dyes many of the fabrics she works with herself, cutting strips and constructing woven panels within fabric frames.
July 30, 2006 -- "Interweavings" Reception
Stuart Harwood answers questions about Sad Lady . He cooked nasturtium
vines for four days, then wove them into an elaborate coiffure for this
sculpture.
Photo by Kay Podolsky
Karin Moggridge,(center), explains her methods to visitors during the
July 30 reception for Interweavings. The wall hangings shown include
Parallel Lines,Broken Lines, and Interwoven Lines, a triptych
in silk
Photo by Kay Podolsky
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