Curator's statement

By Christina Larson

"Pondering Patterns" features work in fiber, photography, painting, printmaking, and installation by artists from the Cleveland Institute of Art who employ patterns as significant components of their work. This exhibition considers patterns in the traditional sense as comprised of ordered, repeated, rhythmic motifs; and more broadly, through the act of patterning, where works involve repetitive or quotational processes.

Pattern has been an important factor for Western art throughout the past century. Around 1900, Western artists drew from East and North African patterns of nature to inform their work in the Art Nouveau mode. In the early 20th century, straight photography by artists Paul Strand and Edward Weston focused on the rhythmic geometry found in everyday objects and scenes. Beginning in the later 1950s, hard-edge painters used flat bands of solid color in their designs.  In the 1960s, Andy Warhol began repeating icons of consumer and celebrity culture. During the 1970s, the Pattern and Decoration movement’s feminist leaders Miriam Schapiro and Judy Chicago drew from Eastern designs and American folk patterns. By exhibiting quilts, ceramics, embroidery, and other "women’s work," they aspired to expose gender inequality. Faith Ringgold continued this tradition by creating story quilts, which address gender and racial inequality through imagery and text.

Artists in the exhibition build upon this rich history of patterns and patterning. For Elizabeth Orchard, Lisa Fovozzo, and Alexander Lorenzen, pattern organizes an overall design and evokes interest in the work. Pattern can also become quotational, where one patterns contemporary compositions after work by other artists, as in the abstract paintings by Will Laughlin. Jordan Perme’s repeat patterns emphasize narrative, while Rebekah Wilhelm and Lauren Yeager use patterns as relational devices. Brittany Campbell endures repetitive, patterned actions in her performances, then produces related documents to complete the work. Overall, artists in "Pondering Patterns" provide both breadth and depth to our understanding of patterns as employed through process and design.

Christina Larson’s bio:

Christina Larson is a third-year doctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University who studies 19th- and 20th-century American art and early 20th-century European art. In 2007, she received a Master's degree in art history and museum studies from Case Western Reserve. She was awarded a Certificate of Museum Studies in 2005 from the University of Iowa, where she also received a bachelor's degree in art history and English in 2000. Larson has worked as a researcher, educator, curatorial assistant, and collection manager for art collections at Case Western Reserve, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and the University of Iowa Museum of Art  She has also interned at the Cleveland Museum of Art's Education Department and for an exhibition held there last fall, titled "Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique."  Larson currently works for the department of Educational Services for Students at Case Western Reserve.

Special thanks to Pamela Jaffe, Kathleen Cerveny, and Scott Tennant at the Cleveland Foundation; Dr. Olszewksi, Dr. Adams, and Debby Tenenbaum at Case Western Reserve University; Bruce Checefsky, Susan Iler, Casey Burry, and Mark Inglis at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Shawn Godwin for his guidance and expert installation of the show; and to each of the artists for sharing their talent through this exhibition.

 

Click below for artists’ bios, statements, and sample works: