Tim Burton, “Batman Returns,” 1992, video still. Courtesy Warner Bros Pictures

When I was a little kid I was obsessed with comic books. I consumed anything super hero related with a sense of urgency. I imagined that some day I would move to a big city to take up fighting crime. Instead I’ve become a fiber artist, which in many ways is as close as I can get without being bitten by a radioactive spider.

Mark Newport, “Spiderman,” 2003, hand knit acrylic and buttons. Courtesy of the Artist

Comic books and fiber arts share a history of composing of identity through the use of cloth. Take Mark Newport’s 2009 exhibition at the Cranbrook Art Museum Super Heroes in Action, for example. Acrylic yarn is clearly not the best fabric choice for dodging bullets or, like in Newport’s “Aquaman” (2004), swimming through the depths of the ocean. Yet evoking images such as these (and perhaps some childhood aspirations), Newport suspends acrylic yarn costumes from coat hangers in order to reflect a modern sense of ironic vulnerability. Continue reading »

Harmony Hammond, "Bag XI," 1971, mixed media. Courtesy the Brooklyn Museum of Art

Contemporary fiber artists have a lot of baggage to handle. They have so much baggage in fact that they had to knit a bigger bag to fit everything in. Fiber artists are rarely seen as the cool art kids who sit in the back of the bus and write “SLAYER” on the seat. Instead they are painted as the queer crafty kids who sit in front the bus, are friends with the driver, make friendship bracelets, and knit scarves. I’m sure performance or new media artists could argue for a similar unpopular position on the bus but their baggage would look less homespun.

Many contemporary fiber artists have made their fair share of friendship bracelets and knitted a few misshapen scarves but contemporary fiber practices are becoming more complex and draw from a history of labor, queer identity, craft, and feminism.  This history includes rebel artists like Harmony Hammond, whose work is now considered important but in its time was too domestic for art critics and too gay for some feminists. In an article for the Journal of Modern Craft, Julia Bryan-Wilson points to some of Harmony Hammond’s conflicts with early feminist artist groups. She was an outsider among outsiders. Her work never shied away from crew-cut levels of lesbianism and was often viewed by some as threat to the goals of the Woman-made art movement of the early 70’s.

Josh Faught “Triage,” 2009. Hemp, nail polish, spray paint, indigo, logwood, toilet paper, greeting cards, pins, books, plaster, yarn, hand made wooden sign, denim, and gloves. Courtesy Lisa Cooley Fine Art

Some of Hammond’s work from that period used found textiles, rug braiding techniques, and acrylic paint to create often suggestive or blatantly queer objects. In her art, the domestic and low implications of fiber-based work created a space between painting and sculpture. The space she helped forge has grown and is now being utilized by contemporary fiber artists. This includes artists like Josh Faught, who approaches the impediments of feminism, hobby craft, and queer history with a sense of reverence and anxiety. In his piece Triage, Faught layers found objects like gay pride buttons and self-help books with hand woven and dyed textiles. His work reflects the present struggle for both fiber artists and queer people to assimilate yet maintain outsider status.

Continue reading »