World Textile Association 25th Anniversary Exhibitions
During the first year I lived in Mexico, I work accepted into two exhibitions celebrating the World Textile Association (WTA) Biennial with the theme of Air. Butterfly Effect was accepted into the large format exhibition at the Diego Rivera Museum in Mexico City and Remnants 18 was included in the exhibition on Recyclability at the Cultural Center in Oaxaca.
This year, I was invited to exhibit in two exhibitions celebrating the 25th anniversary of WTA. The first exhibition is for small works 25 x 25 x 25cm, in keeping with the 25th anniversary theme. I decided to make a small basket for this show in Miami. Red Feather Basket 2 is reminiscent of an earlier basket form and I enjoyed returning to this format. The original basket Red Feather Basket 1 (now in a private collection) was made with fiber, encaustic and waxed linen and wire threads.
The new basket uses my signature feathers made with recycled plastic bags and also incorporates the waxed linen thread around the mouth of the piece. The feathers on the new basket have images of endangered birds of Mexico and Colombia and also endangered indigenous languages such as Yakme, Totzil, Cho’lol and Purépecha.
The second exhibition will be held at the Galeria de las Esculturas in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. This mid-size work exhibition will include Remnants 18, the piece that was originally in the Recyclability show in Oaxaca 12 years ago. I donated this piece to the WTA collection and am excited to see the work on view again.
The celebrations for 25 years of WTA will take place in 23 Venues in 13 countries including Chile, Spain, Costa Rica, India, Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia and the US.
The World Textile Association (WTA) is the brainchild of Pilar Tobón, a Colombian artist who now resides in Miami, FL. The goal of the organization is to support textile artists around the world by giving them international visibility and opportunities to exhibit in museums and fiber-friendly institutions.
https://wta-online.org/blog/x-biennial-of-contemporary-textile-art-wta-25-years/