Mary Bero Featured in Racine Art Museum's, "Fibers" Collection Spotlight

*To see more details on the Racine art Museum’s website, please click HERE

Fibers

One of the largest in the US, RAM's contemporary basket collection forms a major portion of its works of fiber art. A substantial gift from Karen Johnson Boyd helped RAM establish this comprehensive body of modern baskets. It represents at least 25 major artists who work with fibers, including Lillian Elliot, John McQueen, Leon Niehues and Kay Sekimachi. These artists used both natural and industrial materials to create the works in RAM's collection, in addition to techniques such as looping, knotting, and papermaking.

RAM is also seeking to document leading figures and techniques in the Art Fabric movement, incorporating tapestries, wall hangings, quilts, and wearable art in its collection.

Collection Spotlight - Mary Bero

Learn more about the work of fiber artist Mary Bero with Racine Art Museum Executive Director and Curator of Collections Bruce W. Pepich. Second in a series ...

Mary Bero To Be Featured In Two Exhibitions This Summer At The Racine Art Museum

The first exhibition, which is currently on display and will run until August 27, 2017 is called The Box Project: Uncommon Threads. 

Taken from the Racine Art Museum website:

Organized by the Cotsen Foundation for Academic Research (CFAR) with RAM, this traveling exhibition presents works commissioned by Lloyd Cotsen between 2004 and 2013 together with 22 large-scale fiber art pieces on loan.

Combining the box project commissions—all works that fit within a 14 x 14 or 14 x 23 inch box—and large-scale works with interviews, material samples, maquettes, correspondence, and concept sketches, the exhibition offers insight about the artists and their processes. It showcases their exploration of material and concept, their willingness to push the definitions of fiber, and the dynamics of the collector/artist relationship.

MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
A related hardcover book titled The Box Project: Works from the Lloyd
Cotsen Collection
 is available now in the RAM Museum Store

EXHIBITION EVENTS
MEMBERS MATTER Special Tour and Reception Event
with RAM Executive Director and Curator of Collections Bruce W. Pepich
Thursday, July 27
5:30 - 8:00 pm, Tour at 6:30 pm
$20 admission, RAM members free

ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION
Masae Bamba, Jim Bassler, Mary Bero, Zane Berzina, N. Dash, Virginia Davis, Carson Fox, Shigeki Fukumoto, John Garrett, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Helena Hernmarck, Agneta Hobin, Pat Hodson, Kiyomi Iwata, Gere Kavanaugh, Ai Kijima, Hideaki Kizaki, Lewis Knauss, Gerhardt Knodel, Naomi Kobayashi, Nancy Koenigsberg, Gyöngy Laky, Jun Mitsuhashi, Paola Moreno, Barbara Murak, Kyoko Nitta, Heidrun Schimmel, Cynthia Schira, Hisako Sekijima, Carol Shinn, Sherri Smith, Aune Taamal, Hadi Tabatabai, Koji Takaki, Richard Tuttle, Peter Weber


The second exhibition, which is also currently on display and will run through September 24, 2017 is called Small Gifts from Big Donors.

Taken from the Racine Art Museum website:

When opening boxes from donors, RAM staff have often expressed the time-honored phrase, “good things come in small packages.” Taking that saying at face value, this exhibition series focuses on the small-scale gifts of twelve significant donors to RAM’s collection. These supporters have given large numbers of artworks over the years. Thanks to their gifts combined with those from other donors, the museum now owns over 9,000 pieces, making it America’s largest contemporary craft collection.

The collectors honored in this exhibition series include Dale and Doug Anderson, Devra Breslow, Gail M. Brown, David and Jacqueline Charak, Camille and Alex Cook, Lloyd Cotsen, Robert W. Ebendorf and Aleta Braun, Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, Jane and Arthur Mason, Donna Moog, Donna Schneier and Leonard Goldberg, and Donald and Carol Wiiken.

Throughout 2017, selections from their gifts will be featured, with four donors represented at a time. Some have also given larger size and/or two-dimensional works that do not fit the parameters of the gallery space. This gallery was chosen to offer visitors an intimate viewing and to see “at a glance” what types of work have appealed to these collectors.

ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION
Junichi Arai, Mary Bero, Brother Thomas Bezanson, Rose Cabat, Kat Cole, Ramón Puig Cuyàs, Wouter Dam, Virginia Davis, Daniel DiCaprio, Robert W. Ebendorf, Teresa Faris, Elsa Bates Freund, Albrecht Greiner-Mai, Chris Heilman, David Hopper, David R. Huchthausen, Jack Ink, Nancy Koenigsberg, Zachery Lechtenberg, K. William LeQuier, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, Rosemarie Lierke, Tara Locklear, Tom McGlauchlin, Harrison McIntosh, Gary Noffke, John Nygren, Bryan Petersen, Joyce Roessler, Michael F. Rohde, Jolanta Rudzka-Habisiak, Jo Anne Russo, Preston Singletary, Gizella Solti, Lisabeth Sterling, Lino Tagliapietra, J. Fred Woell and Jim Cotter, Beatrice Wood, and Laura Wood

You can learn more about seeing these exhibitions by clicking HERE.