COMMON THREAD INVITATIONAL

Contemporary artists working in fiber and textiles

Melissa Conroy / Saundra Goodman / Sarah Gotowka / Ani Hoover / Susan Lukachko

On view June 25 - Aug 26

MELISSA CONROY

Artist’s Statement

My recent work is a dialogue between two disciplines, drawing and textiles. Approaching my 50th birthday, I began a series of drawings meditating upon choices and changes. Many of the drawings were about the body, others were more ephemeral. All were abstract in form. With each drawing, I carved away at the page until I could see what the drawing was attempting to communicate. I then began interpreting my drawings as textiles, filtering their stories through the lens of knit structure. Each garment, or textile explored the act of drawing in tactile form.

The two pieces exhibited at Corners Gallery are entitled “Origin Story” They are an exploration into the moment before something becomes something. The drawing is pen and ink, while the textile is a tubular jacquard knit derived from the drawing. 

Biography

Melissa Conroy is an Artist and Textile Designer living in Ithaca, NY. Melissa was born in Beaufort, SC, and grew up in Atlanta, GA. She has a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA in painting form the University of Georgia, and a MS in Textile Design from Philadelphia University. She is currently a Sr. Lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University.

SAUNDRA ELIZABETH GOODMAN

As an artist, I enjoy the tactile nature involved in stitch work. My goal is to use the crochet stitches themselves to inform the work. For example, in “Protecting What’s Within” the snake figure is created by incorporating a series of raised stitches as the jar is being formed, while allowing a section of the stitchwork to be unconnected from the body of the jar.

At a time when digitization and virtual reality are fast becoming common forms of communication, I feel it’s important to maintain opportunities through which people can reengage with the richness of texture in 3-dimensional form. Through my crochet art I try to offer that experience. Crochet is one of the earliest handcrafts in history, with no known exact origins. Remnants of crochet cloth have been found on nearly every continent. I continue to find joy in creating work that raises the level of crochet as an art form.

Biography

Born in New York City, Saundra Elizabeth Goodman has, as many artists before her, drawn on the frenetic pace of city life as an inspiration for artistic expression. As a child of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, Goodman always had a fascination with, and a desire to learn, crochet. At first, crochet was a hobby, a pastime, sometimes even a form of therapy during periods of stress. “Through the years, no matter what was going on in my life, when I would crochet, I was totally focused on the stitch work and there was nothing else on mind. I would feel completely at peace.” College classes in drawing, sculpting and painting helped her to envision using and expanding crochet as an art form. While Goodman didn’t pursue a traditional art career, for the past 29 years she has taught herself and challenged herself to wield her crochet hook much as “a paintbrush or chisel”.

After a brief visit to Finger Lakes region in 2007, Goodman was so charmed by the natural beauty of the area that seven years later, she relocated to Ithaca, New York. She became a member of State of the Art Gallery cooperative from 2018-2020. Her work has been reviewed in a number of periodicals including the Ithaca Times in October 2020.

SARAH GOTOWKA

Biography

Sarah Gotowka is a practicing textile artist and instructor. She has been weaving since 2005, and has been growing natural dyes since 2010. She received her BFA in Fibers and Material Studies from The Cleveland Institute of Art in 2007, and her MFA in Fibers and Material Practices from Concordia University in Montreal in 2013. She currently owns and operates Luna Fiber Studio, a textile studio located in Trumansburg NY, rooted in sustainability and social justice.

ANI HOOVER

Ani Hoover is a Buffalo Based interdisciplinary artist who creates artworks connecting the personal and the universal. Hoover studied art at Missouri State University and received a graduate degree in painting from American University in Washington DC. She credits her interest in fiber art to the close connection she had to her grandmother, who taught her how to crochet and embroider. No matter what materials she uses, Hoover's work is characterized through the use of color, repeating elements, and through the use of common everyday materials.

Hoover’s work has been exhibited widely both in Buffalo and beyond and is in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the University at Buffalo Art Galleries and many public and private collections around the country.

SUSAN LUKACHKO

This work is an homage to my mother. She had the ability to visualize and execute anything in cloth with precision and care. Her decline focused my attention to what I hadn’t done. I hadn’t given her her due as a meticulous craft person. I realized that I had been a terrible student of hers. Her example of patience and unwavering kindness was something I resisted. Returning to my studio after her illness I decided to cut into a large painting and restructure it into a sewn work. A painted quilt. It took another four years before I made my first fabric quilt. Since then my practice has focused mostly on quilt making.

The work in this show, Common Thread Invitational, began two years ago.

White Knots, the large white quilt in the show, was made from yards of white cotton damask bought by my mother in Prague. This fabric, I am sure was intended to made into tablecloths for her children; however, it never came to fruition and the fabric came to me.

White Knots is sewn with tucks across the width and length. Although the tucking appears random, each line was intentionally sewn. This work came together as a quilt which I finished with tied white cotton knots in the centre of each grid like square across the body of the quilt over two years. The smaller works were made more recently.

These works have become another tribute to my mother, Stephanie. As well as meditations on the history of family and the history of the generations that have shaped us. Often during this time I have turned to the task of knotting as an escape, when needed, from the chaotic lives of those whom I love. I have pondered the continuum of the work of women over the ages; the repetitive work that needs doing to move each generation forward, no matter how humble the task.

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Susan Lukachko lives and works in Toronto, Canada.