John Garrett

Confetti Dragon, Contemporary Sculpture with Hand Made and Commercial Papers

2006

John Garrett was raised in southern New Mexico by parents who were both educators. They instilled in him an appreciation for the handmade with their collections of Native American a...

Mary Giles (1944-2018) received her BS in Art Education from Mankato State University in Minnesota. After receiving her degree she began exploring various textile processes. She honed her fiber techniques through workshops with such fiber artists as Fern Jacobs, Lissa Hunter, Diane Itter, Jane Sauer...

John Garrett was raised in southern New Mexico by parents who were both educators. They instilled in him an appreciation for the handmade with their collections of Native American arts and crafts. He moved to Claremont, California, to attend college at Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College.) Following his desire to make things by hand, he enrolled in a weaving class taught by Marion Stewart at Scripps College in 1970. His intrigue with the tools, systems and materials involved in weaving and other textile constructions led him to take other courses with Neda Al-Hilali a year later, also at Scripps. He did graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with Bernard Kester and Vasa. Garrett has exhibited throughout the United States for over thirty years in hundreds of exhibitions, as well as in Europe, Africa and Asia. Garrett has worked simultaneously with two and three-dimensional formats to create his textile forms with a variety of materials. Visually unpredictable, his work may be woven, wrapped, plaited, riveted, painted, rusted, twined, nailed, stitched or tied. With an expansive repertoire of materials, each work of art is meticulously crafted, while achieving an energetic complexity; he moves gracefully from constructing wall pieces to baskets, breathing new life into discarded objects. Currently a full time studio artist, he teaches workshops on creativity and experimental basketry at schools nationwide. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in 1983 and 1995 as well as elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2010. Selected Museum Collections Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY Arkansas Museum of Art, Little Rock, AR Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI Erie Museum, Erie, PA High Museum, Atlanta, GA Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM Museum of California, Oakland, CA Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI Contemporary Installation Sculpture...

John Garrett was raised in southern New Mexico by parents who were both educators. They instilled in him an appreciation for the handmade with their collections of Native American a...

Lesley Richmond was born in Cornwall, England. Lesley now lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She received her art teachers training in London, England and her MEd in the USA. She taught...

Lesley Richmond was born in Cornwall, England. Lesley now lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She received her art teachers training in London, England and her MEd in the USA. She taught...

"Last Light" Mary Merkel-Hess, paper, paper chord, 14” x 31” x 15”, 2018. This colorful contemporary textile sculpture was done by American fiber artist, Mary Merkel-Hess. Merkel-Hess' work is often reflective of the natural landscapes from her childhood in the Midwest. Her work, "Last Light", was specifically inspired by a line from Willa Cather...

Russet, Mary Merkel-Hess, paper, paper chord, 16" x 14" x 10", 2017. This colorful contemporary fiber-based sculpture was done by American textile artist, Mary Merkel-Hess (b. 1949). Her work is often reflective of the natural landscapes from her childhood in the Midwest. Merkel-Hess was born and raised in Iowa where the landscape is dominated by fields of grass and corn. Her sculptural vessels and wall pieces, which she refers to as “landscape reports” are inspired by these natural surroundings. Using paper, reeds and other materials, Merkel-Hess’ work conjures images of slender grasses and cultivated fields, shaped and tamed like Iowa’s landscape...

"Chunjeein-1, 2 & 3", 33” x 7 1/8” x 6 3/4” (total installed dimensions), 2019 This three-piece work of abaca fiber, pure gold leaf and eco-soluble resin is by Chang Yeonsoon (b. 1950), a Korean...

“Salon (13)“ is a collection of 13 small-scale works by artist Heather Nicol. The installation of 13 assemblages is variable. The artist will personally consult with the buyer and can be on site for the installation. The 13 mixed media pieces include delicate lighting elements that shift and change via arduino electronic devices, or utilize picture lights throwing a soft roll of light across the artwork. These works are linked through their wiring, which is enveloped in a white umbilical cord-like fabric casing, creating an organic, unifying code of display. Heather Nicol is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes immersive sound installation, small-scale discrete object making, and independent curating. Her large site-specific interventions explore the architectural, sonic, historic and operational conditions across a wide range of locations. These include concourse atriums, rail terminus, lobbies, a theatre, a public school building, a theme park...

Artist Commentary: Spira Fiore comes from a body of work based on a tying system I created which draws inspiration from sea shells. It is made of three layers of bamboo. One layer u...

Linen, Japanese tatami paper (black and hand dyed with rust)