COLLECTION NAME:
University Art Galleries (UMassD)
mediaCollectionId
UMASSDVRCVRC~43~43
University Art Galleries (UMassD)
Collection
true
exhibition_title:
Quilt Art Invitational
exhibition_title
Quilt Art Invitational
exhibition_title
false
exhibition_dates:
October 1984
exhibition_dates
October 1984
exhibition_dates
false
exhibition_year:
1984
exhibition_year
1984
exhibition_year
false
exhibition_location:
SMU Art Gallery
exhibition_location
SMU Art Gallery
exhibition_location
false
exhibition_note:
Photographs documenting the Quilt Art exhibition.
exhibition_note_
Photographs documenting the Quilt Art exhibition.
exhibition_note
false
exhibition_genre:
fiber art
exhibition_genre
fiber art
exhibition_genre
false
exhibition URL:
exhibition_url
http://www.lib.umassd.edu/archives/
exhibition URL
false
resourceID:
14002_011_0054
resource_id
14002_011_0054
resourceID
false
resource_type:
slides
resource_type
slides
resource_type
false
copyright notice:
COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION: Under the direction of the Visual Resource Center digital collections are made available to the UMass Dartmouth campus community for the sole purpose of classroom instruction and study in accordance U.S. Copyright Laws . All other uses are prohibited and are subject to copyright infringements.
copyright_notice
COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION: Under the direction of the Visual Resource Center digital collections are made available to the UMass Dartmouth campus community for the sole purpose of classroom instruction and study in accordance U.S. Copyright Laws . All other uses are prohibited and are subject to copyright infringements.
copyright notice
false
credit line:
Claire T. Carney Library - Archives and Special Collections
credit_line
Claire T. Carney Library - Archives and Special Collections
credit line
false
artist name:
von Weise, Wenda F.
artist_name
von Weise, Wenda F.
artist name
false
artist_nationality:
American
artist_nationality
American
artist_nationality
false
artist_vital dates:
1943 - 1984
artist_vital_dates
1943 - 1984
artist_vital dates
false
artist_vital dates:
19431984
artist_vital_dates
19431984
artist_vital dates
false
artist_biographical note:
1984 CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE FOR Visual Arts Throughout her whole life, Wenda von Weise was a pioneer. In 1959 she left her aristocratic New Jersey home to get married and move to Ohio, although she was only 17 at the time. At 26, she created a self-directed, part-time program at the Cleveland Institute of Art so that she could continue her education while raising her two young sons. She was to become a trailblazer in the incorporation of other media into the art of quilting. And, when she eventually returned to the CIA to teach, her innovation and exploration of new methods in quilting would inspire the next generation of fiber artists. In his book The Art Quilt, American folk art expert Robert Shaw observes that the art quilt "grew out of the great quilt revival that began in the 1960s and continues undiminished to the present day. Interest in handcrafts of all kinds," he writes, "was a strong element of youth rebellion of the 1960s. . . . [People] sought meaning in the simpler lifestyles of early America, and taught themselves the traditional nineteenth-century arts that had been rejected by their parents and grandparents as hopelessly old-fashioned." This new interest in quilting was anything but old-fashioned. As "artists explored forgotten techniques and incorporated the new technologies available to them," says Ohio quilt historian Gayle Pritchard, what would come to be known as the "surface design" movement fairly "exploded onto the scene." Von Weise had always been interested in two things: fabric and photography. For her, the marriage of the two was a natural: as a student at the Cleveland Institute, she majored in textile design with a minor in photography. She also studied under Robert Rauschenberg, who was already combining multiple nontraditional media with great success. By the time she completed the requirements for her B.F.A. in 1975, von Weise's work had already been featured in many shows in museums across Ohio as well as around the nation. One of the most important of these was the 1971 exhibition Abstract Design in American Quilts presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This show played a huge role in bringing national attention to the art quilt movement. Even as a reenergized art of quilting gained new popularity, von Weise's work continued to lead the way for her fellow quilters. "Wenda von Weise's silk-screened images were so radical for that time," says quilter Elaine Plogman of encountering the exhibition Ohio Patchwork '76, which featured some of von Weise's cutting-edge work. " I didn't know what to make of those." Von Weise was offered a scholarship to pursue her MFA at the renowned Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. She continued her study of fiber arts under Cranbrook's eminent director Gerhardt Knodel, who was head of the fiber program at the time. Von Weise's determination to follow her path as an artist may have contributed, alas, to the destruction of her marriage. After completing her M.F.A. in 1978, she moved to Cleveland Heights and supported herself by teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art. In the early 1980s she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her death in 1984 at the age of 42 ended a promising career in the arts. To honor her memory and her great passion for her art form, a memorial scholarship in her name was established at the Institute; it is awarded each year to an upperclassman or -woman majoring in fiber arts. Her vision lives on in the wonderful pieces she left behind.
artist_biographical_note
1984 CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE FOR Visual Arts Throughout her whole life, Wenda von Weise was a pioneer. In 1959 she left her aristocratic New Jersey home to get married and move to Ohio, although she was only 17 at the time. At 26, she created a self-directed, part-time program at the Cleveland Institute of Art so that she could continue her education while raising her two young sons. She was to become a trailblazer in the incorporation of other media into the art of quilting. And, when she eventually returned to the CIA to teach, her innovation and exploration of new methods in quilting would inspire the next generation of fiber artists. In his book The Art Quilt, American folk art expert Robert Shaw observes that the art quilt "grew out of the great quilt revival that began in the 1960s and continues undiminished to the present day. Interest in handcrafts of all kinds," he writes, "was a strong element of youth rebellion of the 1960s. . . . [People] sought meaning in the simpler lifestyles of early America, and taught themselves the traditional nineteenth-century arts that had been rejected by their parents and grandparents as hopelessly old-fashioned." This new interest in quilting was anything but old-fashioned. As "artists explored forgotten techniques and incorporated the new technologies available to them," says Ohio quilt historian Gayle Pritchard, what would come to be known as the "surface design" movement fairly "exploded onto the scene." Von Weise had always been interested in two things: fabric and photography. For her, the marriage of the two was a natural: as a student at the Cleveland Institute, she majored in textile design with a minor in photography. She also studied under Robert Rauschenberg, who was already combining multiple nontraditional media with great success. By the time she completed the requirements for her B.F.A. in 1975, von Weise's work had already been featured in many shows in museums across Ohio as well as around the nation. One of the most important of these was the 1971 exhibition Abstract Design in American Quilts presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This show played a huge role in bringing national attention to the art quilt movement. Even as a reenergized art of quilting gained new popularity, von Weise's work continued to lead the way for her fellow quilters. "Wenda von Weise's silk-screened images were so radical for that time," says quilter Elaine Plogman of encountering the exhibition Ohio Patchwork '76, which featured some of von Weise's cutting-edge work. " I didn't know what to make of those." Von Weise was offered a scholarship to pursue her MFA at the renowned Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. She continued her study of fiber arts under Cranbrook's eminent director Gerhardt Knodel, who was head of the fiber program at the time. Von Weise's determination to follow her path as an artist may have contributed, alas, to the destruction of her marriage. After completing her M.F.A. in 1978, she moved to Cleveland Heights and supported herself by teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art. In the early 1980s she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her death in 1984 at the age of 42 ended a promising career in the arts. To honor her memory and her great passion for her art form, a memorial scholarship in her name was established at the Institute; it is awarded each year to an upperclassman or -woman majoring in fiber arts. Her vision lives on in the wonderful pieces she left behind.
artist_biographical note
false
artist_reference:
artist_reference
http://www.clevelandartsprize.org/awardees/wenda_von_weise.html
artist_reference
false
work_title:
Fabricated Cityscape: The Stadium 4-Patch Night
work_title
Fabricated Cityscape: The Stadium 4-Patch Night
work_title
false
work_medium:
fiber
work_medium
fiber
work_medium
false
work_technique:
fiber art - quilted
work_technique
fiber art - quilted
work_technique
false
work_date:
1982
work_date
1982
work_date
false
work_date:
1984
work_date
1984
work_date
false
date_of_ record:
2015
date_of__record
2015
date_of_ record
false
name_cataloger:
ac
name_cataloger
ac
name_cataloger
false