My latest work focuses on the tragic losses of the 21st century, specifically the extinction of bird species and the death of indigenous languages around the world. The pieces also echo the forced migration of humans, who are similarly victims of war, poverty, famine, climate change, and habitat fragmentation.
I create feathered textile paintings, sculptures and installations inspired by murmuration, the fantastic shapes formed by the coordinated flight patterns of starling flocks. Many pieces also follow the outlines of countries and states where there are endangered bird species.
The feathers are cut from fused recycled plastic bags and then silk-screened with images from my drawings of endangered birds. The feathers are overprinted with text in endangered languages such as Tzotzil, Yakme, Shorthand and Yiddish, whose last living speakers/users are in steep decline.
The plastic feathers embed a layered narrative that addresses the global consumerism driving the loss of both bird and human habitat. I have thus been able to use my prior experience in wallpaper and textile design in the service of broad ecological and cultural concerns.
My team-based studio employs women from the local community for silk screening, production and assembly, image development, grants writing, filmmaking, social media, and web design. My hope is that our collaboration fosters professional development in creative arts, ecological awareness and personal empowerment.
BIOGRAPHY
Wallpaper design and patterning have influenced Kruger’s work since her training in textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She has taught, lectured and exhibited her artwork in museums, galleries and universities throughout the US, Mexico, Europe and Australia since the 1980s.
Recent career highlights include a 2022 solo exhibition titled Avianto at the Train Station Museum Chapala, Mexico. Parts of this exhibition plus new work will be featured at a solo exhibition at the Joan Derry Berry Gallery at Tennessee Tech University in 2023.
Two of Kruger’s large-scale environmental artworks have been acquired by the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City and will be on view beginning in May 2024.
Her prize-winning work was featured at the Bernard Heller Museum, NYC, the Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC, the Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, GA, the Diego Rivera Museum, Mexico City, and the Saco Art Museum, Saco, ME.
She has attended residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY, La Porte Peinte Centre, Noyers-sur-Serein, FRANCE and a residency at Hypatia-in-the-Woods, Shelton, WA.
Kruger maintains studios in the vibrant art community of Durham, NC and in the lakeside village of Chapala, Mexico.
Her art practice balances making objects of beauty that convey layered meaning about habitat fragmentation, bird migration, species extinction and loss of indigenous languages.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Block Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, “Text & Textiles”, Curated by Stacy Bloom-Rexrode, 2024
Joan Derryberry Art Gallery, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee, USA, “Avianto”, Curated by Charlene Lachicotte, 2023
Tennessee Tech University, Smithville, TN “Avianto” 2023
Palacio de Gobierno, Guadalajara, Mexico, “Avianto” Curated by Miriam Villasenorm, 2023
Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo, Chapala, Mexico, “Avianto”, 2022
PRPG.mx, Mexico City, Mexico “Plumas”, 2021
Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia, Chapala, Mexico “Turbulence: Birds, Beauty, Language & Loss”, 2018
Haus Der Kunst, San Pancho, Mexico, “Halcyon”, 2010
Translations Gallery, Denver, CO, “New Work: Fiber & Encaustic”, 2008
Western New England College, Springfield, MA “Plumage”, 2008
Fiber Art Center, Amherst, MA, “Attention to Detail”, 2003
Springfield College, Springfield, MA, “Attention to Detail”, Curated by Holly Murray, 2003
Ceres Gallery, New York, NY, “Tribe of Dina”, 1986
Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, “Tribe of Dina”, 1985
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, “Tribe of Dina”, 1986
The Woman’s Building, Los Angeles, CA, “Anatomy of Worship”, 1985
Zone, Springfield, MA “Anatomy of Worship”, 1984
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
World of Threads Festival, Queen Elizabeth Park Cultural Center, Oakville, Ontario, Canada, 2023 – 2024
Una Linea en el Agua, Revisión de la Coleccion Diaz Corona Centeno Museo Raúl Anguiano MURA, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, 2023 Laguna Art Prize Finalists, Arsenale Nord of Venice, Venice, Italy, 2023
Rufino Tamayo Bienal IX, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2022
X International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art: 25 Years WTA, Miami International Fine Art (MIFA), Miami, Florida, USA, 2022
World Textile Association Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art Nuevo Aire, Galeria de las Esculturas, Xalapa Veracruz, Mexico 2022-2023
Earth Matters, Watermark Art Center, Bimigi, MN, Curated by Nnenna Okore, 2021
Collective Artists, Van Gogh Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain, 2021
Abstraction, Manifold Global, On-line, Curated by Emily Strong & Matthew Pring, 2021
North Carolina Artist Exhibition, Raleigh Fine Art Society, On-line, 2021
Wildlife Artist Of The Year, Artists for Conservation, International Virtual Exhibition, 2021
Art Textile Biennale, East Gippsland Regional Gallery, Victoria and Toowoomba Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia, Curated by Glenys Mann, 2021
Rufino Tamayo Bienal IX, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2021
NC Artists Exhibition, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC, 2020
Materiality/Process, Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC, 2019
Fiberart International, Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA, 2019
Beyond The Surface, St. Louis Artists Guild, St. Louis, MO, 2019
International Fiber Arts IX, Sebastopol Art Center, Sebastopol, CA, 2019
Terra Infirma, Bernard Heller Museum, New York, NY, 2018
Pattern Paradigm, Mountainview College, Dallas, TX, 2015
Ceres@30, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY, 2014
Flight Patterns, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 2014
Vessels, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA, 2014
Flight Patterns, Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport, Atlanta, GA, 2013
VI Bienal Internacional de Arte Textil Contemporáneo Installations de Aire, Diego Rivera Museum, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011
VI Bienal Internacional de Arte Textil Contemporáneo, Reciclado, Cultural Center, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2011
Katherine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2011
Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY, 2011
Artworks, New Bedford, MA, 2011
CCCA Gallery, Hudson, NY, 2011
Laguna Artes Plasticas Art Fair, Ajijic, Mexico, 2010
Paper City Project Space, Holyoke, MA, 2010
Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Heat Wave, Saco Art Museum, Saco, ME, 2009
Artisan Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2009
Haydon Art Center, Lincoln, NE, 2009
Cain Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2008
Brian Marki Gallery, Portland, OR, 2008
Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME, 2008
Montserrat College, Beverly, MA, 2008
Convergence Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, 2008
Steamboat Springs Arts Council, Steamboat Springs, CO, 2008
Bunker Hill College Gallery, Boston, MA, 2008
Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2007
Brown Gallery, Baltimore, MD, 2007
Visual Art Center Of New Jersey, Summit, NJ, 2006
Ceres Gallery, New York, NY, 2004
Loveland Museum, Loveland, CO, 2004
New Mexico Highlands University Gallery, Las Vegas, NM, 2004
Mills Pond House Gallery, St. James, NY, 2004
Hebrew Union College Museum, New York, NY, 2003
Lynn Foundation Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 2003
621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL, 1998
FAVA,Oberlin, OH, 1998
Elms College, Chicopee, MA, 1998
Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, 1997
Peninsula Arts, Belmont, CA, 1996
Convergence, Minneapolis, MN, 1994
Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 1993
The Goddess Show, Michelson Gallery, Amherst, MA, 1992
The Arts Center, Southbridge, MA, 1992
Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA, 1991
Kentuck Museum, Northport, AL, 1989
Southwestern State University, Marshall, MN, 1988
Museum Of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, 1987
Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA, 1987
Deland Museum, Deland, FL, 1986
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 1986
The Third Floor, Oakland, CA, 1984
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, 1984
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 1984
GRANTS/HONORS/RESIDENCIES
Art Styles, Eco-Art, Noteworthy Inspiration, Saatchi Art, 2024
People’s Choice Award, World of Threads FEstival, Oakville, Canada, 2024
One-Month Residency, Icelandic Textile Center, Blönduós, Iceland, 2024
Grand Prize Winner, Keller Prize, Aspen, Co, 2023
People’s Choice Award, World of Threads, Oakville, Toronto 2023
Laguna Arte Prize, Finalist in Sculpture & Installation, Venice, Italy, 2023
North Carolina Artist Support Grant, Durham, North Carolina, 2022
Hypatia-In-The-Woods, Residency, Shelton, WA, 2021
Honorable Mention, International Fiber Arts IX, Sebastopol Art Center, Sebastopol, CA, 2019
La Porte Peinte Centre, Residency, Noyers-sur-Serein, France, 2016
First Prize, Ajijic Cultural Center, Ajijic, Mexico, 2011
Second Prize, Saco Museum, Saco, ME, 2009
Gottlieb Foundation, New York, NY, Emergency Assistance Artist Grant, 2008
First Prize, Convergence Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, 2008
Best 3-Dimensional Piece, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM, 2004
Honorable Mention, International Surface Design Association, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2003
Millay Colony For The Arts, Residency, Austerlitz, NY, 1991
Guest Curator, University of Arizona, Tempe, AZ, 1990
Sculpture Prize, Southwest State University, Marshall, MN, 1989
Guest Curator, Artists Foundation, Boston, MA, 1989
Artist Grant, Money for Women Fund, Brooklyn, NY, 1987
Sculpture Prize, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, 1986
LECTURES/WORKSHOPS
Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN, “Gallery Talk”, 2023
San Diego College of Continuing Education, San Diego, CA, “Keynote on Sustainability and Repair, 2023
San Diego College of Continuing Education, San Diego, CA, “Making Art with Recycled Materials”, 2023
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC “Making Art with Recycled Materials”, 2019
Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC “Making Art with Recycled Materials”, 2019
Ajijic Society Of The Arts, Ajijic, Mexico “My Art and Process”, 2010
Translations Gallery, Denver, CO “Fiber & Feminism”, 2008
Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA “Bookkeeping for Artists”, 2006
Professional Association Of Custom Clothiers, Framingham, MA “Business Marketing, 2006
Professional Association Of Custom Clothiers, Framingham, MA “Bookkeeping for Custom Clothiers”, 2005
Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA “Fiber and Feminism”, 2005
Rowe Conference Center, Rowe, MA, 2003, 1997, 1995
Fiber Art Center, Amherst, MA, 2003
Springfield College, Springfield, MA,2003
Maine College Of Art, Portland, ME, 2000 & 1997
Art Quilt Network Of New York, New York, NY, 1998
A Company Of Women, Peterborough, NH, 1998
Femme D’ Atelier, Ithaca, NY, 1997, 1996
Westfield State College, Westfield, MA, 1997
North Country Studio Workshop, Hanover, NH, 1997
Siren’s Workshop Center, Provincetown, MA, 1996
Sharon Art Center, Sharon, NH, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991
Jewish Women’s Resource Center, New York, NY, 1994
National Council Of Jewish Women, New York, NY, 1993
Museum Of Fine Art, Springfield, MA, 1992
University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1991
Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA, 1991
Smithtown Arts Council, Smithtown, NY, 1991
Windham County Arts Council, Brattleboro, VT, 1990
South Broadway Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM, 1989
Brockton Art Museum, Brockton, MA, 1988
STILE Showroom, Viale Veneza 96, 25123 Brescia https://www.stileoriginaldesign.it
REFERENCES
Elissa Auther, Chief Curator at the Museum of Art & Design, New York, NY Elissa. Auther@madmuseum.org
Shirley Pierson, Program Chair in Clothing and Textiles at the San Diego College of Continuing Education, San Diego, CA spierson@sdccd.edu
Barbara Pavan, Independent Curator and Editor of Arte Morbida Magazine barbarapavan469@gmail.com
Rebecca Ritzell, Art Critic for the New York Times, Washington Post and American Craft, 443.617.6545, rjritzel@gmail.com
Gabriela Serrano Suzán, Curator of Museo y Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo, Chapala, Mexico sergabriela@gmail.com +52 333.677.6006 WhatsApp
Sergio Unzueta, Independent Curator based in Jalisco, Mexico, sergiounzueta81@hotmail.com +52 331.464.3900 WhatsApp