Jul 28 (Sat) - Sep 8 (Sat), 2018
Museum Sursilvan, Via Principala 90, Caum postal 76, CH 7166 TRUN (View Map)
Opening reception: Saturday, July 28, 2018, 17:00PM
A textile experience to see in the historical village of Trun at the Museum Sursilvan.
Yoshiko Wada, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Mary Jaeger, Mascha Mioni and Jorie Johnson.
With special thanks to Mascha Mioni and Heiner Graafhuis
Jorie Johnson: Born into a New England wool merchant family in Boston, Jorie studied Textile Design for industry at Rhode Island School of Design (USA) and further, studied abroad attending two institutes in Finland, the Kuopio Institute of Industrial Design (Textile Design) and Helsinki University of Art (Interior and Furniture Design). She returned to Boston to open her textile design studio, JoiRae Textiles, which, for the last thirty years has been running in Kyoto, Japan. Her textile art work focuses on the unique expression of the felting medium in our modern no(+/or)madic times.
Jorie likes to inform people that her occupation involves “keeping people from catching cold!” The innate characteristic of the wool fiber is her departure ticket for all the work she embarks on.
She is the author of two books and articles on the subject of historical and contemporary feltmaking. Her felt work has been published in various textile magazines as such as Surface Design Association Journal (US), Fiber Art Now (US), and FELT Matters (UK) and she travels worldwide to teach and research the history, craft and art of the medium.
Selected for these exhibitions, “Artwear, Fashion and Anti-fashion”, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, “HATS: an Anthology by Stephen Jones”, Victoria & Albert Museum, “Fashioning Felt”, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, NYC, “Celestial Threads”, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other institutions which also include her work in their collections.
Artist Statement:
Observation of three elements: tradition (based on survival,) production (incorporating repetition,) and art (surface embellishment) has led me to examine the significance of textiles as the major living expression of all peoples, cultures, and ages around the world.
While working with the oldest of the hand manipulated fiber techniques, I continually strive to push the traditional technique of feltmaking in new ways.
The enhancement of its appreciation as a visual art form and its integration into the modern world of fashion fabrics and interiors is my focus.
As the oldest body covering produced by man, the potential of felt continues to be outstanding as a vital fabric to serve and adorn contemporary, as well as nomadic, societies today.