Textile art by Cynthia Schira

Description

Cynthia Schira is an internationally recognized artist, weaver and educator. Known for her exploration of complex image and texture, she has created innovative methods of multi-layered weaving, knotting, wrapping and jacquard weaving in her textile art. Her aim is to produce abstract and ?referential? designs that are integrated into the woven fabric in a dialog between art and structure. A fascinating interview with Cynthia on video by Laurie House and Colin Powers of Headlamp Pictures will be shown during the exhibition.

Whitcomb?s Arts in Whallonsburg, NY described the art of their Westport neighbor for her recent show there. ?Cynthia approaches her work with serious playfulness ? often turning the accepted rules of her craft upside down. Throughout her weaving career she has explored unusual methods and materials - discarded aluminum strips, rayon trim, surplus cotton bandages and buttony notions from the garment world. She was at the forefront of creating art using the industrial Jacquard and computerized looms to experiment with complex imagery.?

In Cynthia?s words, ?I?ve always worked with the intersection of a vertical and a horizontal. Whether it's a backstrap loom in Guatemala or a computerized loom, that gives me a freedom then to let my mind open more when I'm trying to do something aesthetic.?

She first studied weaving at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned her BFA in 1956. Intending to study art, she accepted a scholarship only available to textile majors to pay her tuition. That was her serendipitous introduction to the loom and the art form that would engage her for the rest of her life. She spent the next several years travelling and studying the textiles of many regions including Aubusson in France, India and the ancient textiles of Peru as she earned her MFA from the University of Kansas. She then stayed at KU to teach until 1999.

Cynthia Schira has been exhibiting internationally for over 50 years. Her work is represented in major public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art and the Museum Bellerive in Zurich. She is the recipient of two NEA grants, a Tiffany Grant and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2000 she was awarded a Gold Medal from the College of Fellows of the American Craft Council.

The exhibit runs from September 19 through November 1 in the Jackson Gallery on the lower level of Town Hall Theater on Merchants Row in downtown Middlebury, VT. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, noon to five, and when performances are taking place.