fabric art – Art Spiel

May 12, 2026May 9, 2026, by Etty Yaniv

Carter Burden Gallery: Why Material Matters

Few New York galleries build their programs around the kind of organizing principle that anchors Carter Burden Gallery. Since 2008, the Chelsea space has focused on artists with long careers that haven’t followed conventional commercial arcs. Here, Associate Executive Director Marlena Vaccaro and Assistant Director Sarah Leon discuss the gallery’s mission, the values guiding their curatorial choices, the thinking behind the current exhibition, Material Matters, and what that focus has opened up.

April 9, 2025April 14, 2025, by Yasmeen Abdallah

Metamorphosis at Taplin Gallery, Arts Council of Princeton: Yasmeen Abdallah with Anna Shukeylo

In dialogue

Metamorphosis at the Arts Council of Princeton brings together 4 mid-career artists whose work artist and curator Anna Shukeylo has long admired—and envisioned sharing the same space. Each piece explores transformation or shapeshifting in its own way, reflecting the theme that gives the exhibition its name. Since its initial conception, the show has undergone some changes, with some works so new they haven’t even fully cured. Shukeylo invites the artists to interpret the theme freely and engages them in the selection process, though she makes the final curatorial decisions. I spoke with Shukeylo about her process and how the show has evolved.

April 2, 2025April 1, 2025, by Etty Yaniv

A Longing at Kaliner: Fanny Allié

Fanny Allié, Pairs, 2023, mixed media on textile, 33.5×31.5 in

Fanny Allié’s exhibition A Longing at Kaliner presents a series of works made from the materials of daily life. Using worn clothing, domestic linens, and fabric remnants from her own surroundings, Allié constructs layered compositions that speak to human connection, memory, and what remains after use. Her figures, built from these fragments, feel both familiar and distant—suspended in stillness, shaped by lived experience.

September 12, 2024October 6, 2024, by Art Spiel

The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita at Flinn

Previewing

Kumi Yasmashita, “Strings”, 2016. Wood panel, brads, seven colored threads, 16x12x1 in. Photo by Paul Takeuchi

The Flinn Gallery’s 2024-25 season kicks off on September 19 with the solo exhibition The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita, curated by Leslee Asch. Situated on the second floor of the Greenwich Library, the Flinn Gallery is known for its commitment to high-quality contemporary art, offering a space for both emerging and established artists. The Flinn Gallery’s 2024-25 season opens on September 19 with the solo show The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita, curated by Leslee Asch.

June 10, 2024June 9, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

Michal Gavish: Neuro Land at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Photo Story

Synapsing 2023, mixed media on translucent architectural paper 76-82” H X 200” W (5 panels)

In planning her new exhibition at the AAAS gallery, artist Michal Gavish envisioned painted images of neurons enveloping the spiral-shaped gallery space, extending upward, downward, along, and away from the walls. Following an extensive phase of research and creation, spurred by personal family tragedies, Gavish created Neuro Land, a field guide to neurons. She devoted a piece to representing each type, painting a set of larger-than-life nerve cells images on fabric and paper. Gavish later assembled these pieces layer by layer, echoing the scientific method used in constructing representations of the unseen—similar to how MRI technology captures internal snapshots in segments and reconstructs them in three dimensions. While engaging with this invisible realm, Gavish reflected on her former practice as a scientist, interrogating the expansive vistas revealed through IR, X-ray spectra, or under the electron microscope.

July 18, 2023July 17, 2023, by Matt Moment

Time as Space: Alaina Enslen in The Summer Show at Carrie Haddad Gallery

Artist Profile

A person using a drill to drill a picture

Description automatically generated — Alaina Enslen in her studio in Cornwall-on-Hudson. Image Credit: Matt Moment

Around six in the morning, Alaina Enslen scales the steps of her Hudson Valley home to the attic where she works. Skylights invite brightness into the whitewashed studio. A hotplate rests upon a wax-spattered tabletop; she turns it on, waiting until it reaches about 170°F. After five minutes, the surface is finally hot enough to melt pigmented beeswax, an integral ingredient in her paintings. She collages in an 11-inch by 14-inch sketchbook, teasing out new ideas with pieces of fabric and leftover monotypes. “I set no expectations for the work,” the artist insists. “It’s all about experiment and play.”

February 17, 2023February 17, 2023, by Melissa Stern

Myrlande Constant: Drapo at Fort Gansevoort

:HAITI:Constant Morts piece.jpg — Reincarnation Des Morts 110 x 111 inchex. Beads, sequins, tassels on fabric. 2022.

Fort Gansevoort Gallery in New York’s Meatpacking District has long been one of my favorite galleries. Housed in an old three-story building, they have been presenting some of the freshest and most original shows in the city. The current exhibition, Myrlande Constant: Drapo is one of their best. Constant is a Haitian artist who works in textiles, taking a traditional form called “drapo” and rocketing it into the realm of contemporary art. Drapo is based on a 19^th century embroidery technique developed in France, called tambour. Fabric is stretched tautly over a wooden frame and embroidery, using sequins and beads done from the reverse side.

September 26, 2022October 14, 2022, by Melissa Stern

Vanessa German – SAD RAPPER at Paul Kasmin

VG 15.jpg — Partial installation view of Sad Rapper

So much has happened in six years. It was six years ago that I last wrote about the work of Vanessa German for Hyperallergic. Donald Trump had just been elected, and the country was bracing itself for a trip down a new and dangerous path. Vanessa German, a poet, activist and visual artist, had mounted a powerful show at Pavel Zoubek Gallery entitled I am armed. I am an army. German filled the gallery with a fighting corps of women, armed with weaponry, poetry, history and power. It was a fierce exhibition, and one that both mourned and celebrated the power of women.

September 7, 2022December 6, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas Re-enchanting the World – the Polish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale

A picture containing text, indoor, bedroom, decorated

Description automatically generated — Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Re-enchanting the World, Polish Pavillion, 59^th Venice Art Biennale

As you enter the Polish Pavillion at the Venice Biennale 2022 you are surrounded by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’ stunning floor-to-ceiling hand-stitched tapestry panels, richly depicting mostly female protagonists in everyday life. If you had a lucky chance to visit the Renaissance Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara, Italy, you would most likely soon discover in Mirga-Tas’ images myriad allusions to the Palazzo’s splendid ‘Hall of the Months’ cycle of frescoes portraying Olympian gods, astrological figures, and scenes from court life in Ferrara. The name of the Ferara palazzo derives from the phrase ‘schivar la noia’, meaning ‘escape from boredom’, which accurately defines the purpose of this splendid architectural gem—built for the leisure of the powerful Este family over 500 years ago.

June 8, 2022December 30, 2022, by Art Spiel

Kate Casanova: Gut Feeling at Yi Gallery

Featured Artist

Kate Casanova, photo courtesy of Yi Gallery

Gut Feeling is a solo exhibition of hyper-tactile sculptures by sculptor, Kate Casanova, at Yi Gallery in Brooklyn. This is Casanova’s first solo show with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view May 14 through July 9.