MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at 847-491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

December 21, 2004

Dittmar Fiber Exhibition Explores Femininity

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The multiple facets of femininity will be explored during the Dittmar Memorial Gallery’s Winter 2005 contemporary fiber art exhibition “The Feminine Face of Fiber” (Jan. 6 to Feb. 14) featuring the works of Chicago-area artists Barbara Wynn Bansley and Kathy Weaver. An opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, is free and open to the public.

The Dittmar Gallery is located on the main floor of Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus.

South side of Chicago artist Barbara Bansley's installation, "the blue of her past, the perfect shade of BLUE," consists of 22 indigo-dyed pulp paintings depicting the houses of women on her Beverly neighborhood block who influenced her as she raised her 12 children. A different style chair is positioned directly in front of each house painting. Displayed atop each chair seat is a hand bound book of quotes and a narrative about the woman, her family and her personality. On Jan. 13 (or by special group request) Bansley will tell stories related to her installation and her past and present neighbors. The interactive nature of the installation creates an air of “private" domesticity within the anonymity of the public exhibition space.

Artist Kathy Weaver’s quilted collages lead the viewer to the mysterious and sometimes dark side of human nature. They are richly textured, colorful, surreal and often humorous. Weaver, who lives in Highland Park, uses the quilt medium and the robot persona in her "Female Cyborg Series" to invite the viewer into a complex and intriguing alternative world. In her seven handcrafted large-scale pieces, the viewer is invited into the picture plane to see the drama of the robot's personality as it reflects the complexity of human nature.

Both Bansley's and Weaver's works embody an innovative energy that expands far past the sphere of domestic femininity which their mediums may conventionally invoke. The artists and their art challenge the viewer to reconsider the multiple facets of femininity expressed and experienced in today's changing fiber arts.

Admission to the gallery is free. For more information, call the Dittmar Gallery at (847) 491-2348 or Norris University Center at (847) 491-2300, or go to www.northwestern.edu/Norris/dittmar.html.