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Images, clockwise from top left: Mark Newport, Batman 2, 2005; Mary Van Cline, Cycles of Relationship of Time, 2000; Christyl Boger, Waterwings, 2007; SunKoo Yuh, Can You Hear Me?, 2007 Courtesy Renwick Gallery.
Boger creates ceramic figurines that incorporate contemporary props such as inflatable swimming pool toys. The surface of the figures are white, creamy and smooth. A perfect texture for layering the decorative touches and flourishes that adorn each of her sculptures. They are gilded, stamped and embellished with flourishes and spots of color that are brushed on the tips of fingers, hair and the seams of the pool toys.
The figures are reminiscent of classical sculpture but verge on superficial decorative figurines. They are posed low to the ground, crouching with their props of dolphins, sea horses and inner tubes that add a strange juxtaposition to their countenance. In Sea Toy, the figure protectively holds a sea horse to her side, partly using it as a shield. Pink spots of color bloom almost randomly over the figure and the sea horse, fulfilling their decorative purpose.
Glass artist Mary Van Cline presents a photographic emulsion technique within medium to large decorative glass pieces. The photographs contain mysterious characters often shrouded in hoods and capes settled in amongst glass pieces in the shape of a vase or vessel. The glass work in and of itself is well done but the glass found in the smaller of the pieces distracts from the photographic detail, which it seeks to highlight. In The Ocean of Memory Within a photograph of a figure on a pebble beach is sandwiched between vibrant green glass. So vibrant, that the glass draws your eye away from the photograph which is quickly forgotten.
Light plays a large role in Cline's pieces. Her larger pieces set up scenes that play with light. Healing Passage of Time shows a dyptic of a nature scene and lonely figure. Light filters through the panel and projects the same image behind on the wall. The double image is superimposed slightly higher to create an interesting depth of field.
The highlight of the Invitational is the work by SunKoo Yuh and Mark Newport. Yuh is a ceramic artist and presents complex sculptural compositions derived from his drawings. Each piece is fired two times and glaze is applied with a heavy hand so it runs, pools and mixes together for a mottled look that lends itself to a chaotic feel.
To have a better understanding of his process, a wall of Yuh's drawings are presented. Like their culminating ceramic counterparts, they are dark, chaotic and the compositions are crammed with hurried characters. It is easy to follow the progression from ink to clay as similar characters are found in both the drawings and the sculptures.
His sculptures contain these characters that are stacked in the round, facing outward, and on top of one another. Small details such as the shape of hands and the pupils of eyes quickly become lost in the packed compositions. Along with the various characters, a bird and seed pod are other such images that find their way into his work and repeat throughout. Memory of Pikesville was inspired by a trip which recalls Yun's travels. The piece contains similar characters found in other work but also shows buildings and cars stacked on top of one another that create towers. The unexpected geometry provides a nice break from the otherwise elongated, bulging and organic figures that typically crowd Yuh's compositions.
Large and ill fitting knit superhero costumes hang limply and slowly turn on their hangers. These are the work of Mark Newport, who's work in fiber explores gender roles with his knitted superhero costumes. A common material, acrylic yarn, is used to make these extraordinary costumes that are meant to be worn to emulate a superhero. The resulting costume does not give confidence that the person wearing it would be of any help in a crisis situation.
Newport will often don one of his costumes and proceed to knit another costume in public. You can see a taste of this in Heroic Efforts a loop video of Newport knitting in costume to an excerpt of Ride of the Valkyries. The perfect title refers to the act of knitting itself as well as the product.
The superhero imagery continues with Freedom Bedcover for Zachary, which is a quilt laid on a bed made up of comic book pages sewn together and trimmed in satin. Embroidery highlights various panels of Captain America and other characters found on the quilt. Newport's signature is also embroidered across the middle, ensuring its owner won't forget who lovingly stitched the quilt.
Additional programing in conjunction with the Craft Invitational will take place throughout its run at the Renwick including gallery talks, artist round tables and "Sit 'n' Knits." For a schedule of events you can visit the calendar here.
Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009 is on view through January 3, 2010. The Renwick Gallery is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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