Featured Artist: Linda Laird

I received a postcard announcing a new solo exhibit by fiber artist Linda Laird.  Luckily, there was a virtual exhibit on their website where I could zoom in and see every piece close up.  The gallery is open by appointment only and you can see the actual pieces and how they are wonderfully hung to show off all both sides of these wonderful pieces.
 
I loved the alphabet theme of these works.  And I loved the sayings on each of the pieces.  I asked Linda to tell me more and here is what she had to say…
 
“I made the first 2 pieces, A and B, for the SAQA poster call for entry in late 2016.  They were declined for that show, but I had so much fun making them I thought, “Why not the whole alphabet?”, and was off and running.  I had been using text in my work for a few years before, but choosing aphorisms that featured a letter of the alphabet as a key word gave me a focused direction for the 26-piece series.  I also used the size from the SAQA call for entry, 32”w x 48”hl as the standard format, as I was wanting to work bigger and bolder.  From my costuming career, I work very clean, tight, and “stage worthy”, so I purposely made these pieces as loose as I could, with raw edges, torn pieces, large hand stitching, and the minimal quilting to hold the layers together.  More like a man artist, than a female seamstress! 
 
There was not an overall context for the aphorisms.  I collected them from several books, websites, and general reading.  “Real Simple” magazine prints a pithy saying each month on the spine of each print copy.  I chose sayings that spoke to me about real life in the present day world, even though they were written by men and women from around the world and often from distant times.  Each piece has a manila hang tag with the author’s name, dates, nationality, and occupation.  My object was to connect ideas from the past to the present, and encourage viewers to think about those connections.
 
“The virtual gallery is completely imaginary, but it looks huge and beautiful.  In the actual gallery, the pieces are hung from single wires attached to slender metal brackets fastened perpendicular to the walls in a way that allows them to move at angles to the walls.  It’s quite a festive collection of 26 posters that overlap each other, permitting the viewer to walk in between and around the pieces, seeing both fronts and backs.  The fabric posters also move around from the hanging wires as viewers move past them.  This hanging system comes with the show; the works can also be hung flat against the wall, or hung from a dropped grid ceiling to form aisles and passageways, thru which viewers can roam.”
 
If you cannot visit the actual gallery, be sure to visit the virtual one.  Links below.
 
Linda Laird
https://lindalaird-studio.webs.com/
 
Manitou Art Center
Hagnauer Gallery
https://www.manitouartcenter.org/
Now through March 14, 2021

​