Fiber artwork highlights BAYarts' curved wall

Jessica Pinsky's fiber art show "Equal" is on display at BAYarts now through Sept. 23.

The walls of the Sullivan Family Gallery at BAYarts are currently host to the fiber art of Waterloo artist Jessica Pinsky. The effect of the large textile pieces is both cozy and powerful, with subtle color variations in pleasing palettes such as pale spring yellows that blend with sage and blackberry.

The title, "Equal," explains the show in one word. "This has been a continuous process of exploration in what and how fiber can react within the process of weaving," explains Pinsky. "I've been experimenting a lot with the cloth expanding and contracting, and I realized that if I used the same exact material it can still behave in really different ways. So, it started to make me think about how things are treated equally or differently depending on how they behave." This theme informed the entire show.

Different effects are based on Pinsky's manipulation and experimentation. Though it looks quite organic and free, Pinsky confirms she is actually a perfectionist and it's all quite a scientific process that her left brain manages. As is often the case, the creator's greatest exhibition of mastery and skill is in making something look effortless when the process is detailed.

Pinsky teaches at Cleveland Institute of Art, and is executive director of the Praxis Fiber Workshop. But fiber isn't what she had focused on in earlier years for her undergraduate degree at NYU and her master's at Boston University. "I started weaving in 2009 after I finished graduate school in painting. I realized that fiber was my one true love."

BAYarts Artistic Director Karen Petkovic is very excited to have this artist in the Sullivan Family Gallery this August. "We are honored to be showing Jessica Pinsky of Praxis at BAYarts. Jessica is currently represented at Hedge Gallery, where I was first exposed to her work. The loose woven nature of the pieces is complimented by the more geometric patterns of the weaving, which is very interesting."

Perhaps the most interesting point in particular involves a marriage with the architecture of the gallery. There is a curved wall in the Sullivan Family Gallery that is not often utilized as it is not practical for hanging typical framed art. But Pinsky's work is a perfect fit. She says, "I'm especially excited about the piece on the curved wall. I made it with the wall in mind, and I used a cool loom I had never used before that will change my work moving forward. It's a pivotal piece for me, and the last to be finished in this body of work."
 
A gallery talk will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m. The exhibition will be on display through Sept. 23.