meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

My picks from the RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition (on view at the Rhode Island Convention Center until June 1st) will be posted over the next several days, due to the fact that the show is enormous and I must return to give proper attention to each department's top talent.

This morning's post is focused on the Textile department's 2008 MFA candidates. Weaver Michael Radyk explores the revelatory and veiling properties of the woven textile form through experimentation with a variety of modern fibers. His large wall hanging, "Swan Point", best exemplifies this direction.

Unlike the flanking pieces, underwhelming efforts with the plastic cord commonly known as "gimp" (ubiquitous to summer camp craft projects), that brought to mind the now widely popular Chilewich placemats, "Swan Point" expertly utilizes materials to express information on several levels, both physically and conceptually. Finely woven from recycled polyester, coat vinyl and nylon, the underlying structure resembles an ancient scroll, coded in modern braille. As if to signify an organic transition from written record to ancient relic, hairy fiber tufts sprout from the grid in a cascading pallete of papyrus neutrals and stony grey.

On the representational and functional side of textiles, Natalie Wright displayed an 8'x11' section of digitally printed wallpaper depicting a complex family portrait originally compiled from 80 individual drawings.

The stylized portraits retain an informal, snapshot quality, while the high-contrast black and white design pushes back at the viewer, negating the staid, environmental comfort of wallpaper. As much as I enjoy this type of work, I wished to see this design realized in different colorways, either more daring or diffuse.

Stay tuned for more mini reviews as I swing through the departmental roster...