Anne Wilson (artist)
Encyclopedia
Anne Wilson is a Chicago
-based visual artist. Wilson creates sculpture, drawings, Internet projects, photography, performance
, and DVD
stop motion animations employing table linens, bed sheets, human hair, lace, thread and wire. Her work extends the traditional processes of Fiber art
(techniques such as stitching, crocheting, and knitting) to other media. Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
in 1949. At 15, she attended George School
, a Quaker
boarding school, in Pennsylvania
, where she received training in feminist theory and the philosophies of passive resistance through the study of Gandhi's teachings on non-violent politics. In her later research, Wilson remarked that her lessons at George School
, especially Gandhi's exhortation to all India
ns that they must practice spinning—for social, political, economic and spiritual reasons—profoundly influenced her life and artistic practice.
Anne Wilson's artwork explores personal and public practices of ritual and social systems
, ideas of de-construction and re-construction in both microcosmic
and macrocosmic
worlds of public and private architecture
as well as themes of time and loss.
Wilson received a B.F.A.
from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a M.F.A.
from the California College of the Arts
(CCA) where she pursued interdisciplinary studies in the visual arts. At CCA, Wilson developed an understanding of art within a cultural context, a way of thinking emphasized by CCA instructor, art historian and anthropologist Dr. Ruth Boyer. Subsequently, Wilson’s graduate research focused on temporary textile architecture such as the Zulu indlu and the Sub-Saharan Africa
n black tent. For Wilson these interests intersected with the popular concerns of generative systems, such as the methods being pioneered by artist Buckminster Fuller
. During this time, Wilson was also influenced by the international art fabric movement, including artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz
, Olga de Amaral
, and Ed Rossbach
.
During the 1970s while living in Berkeley, California
, Wilson argued for the contemporary relevance of fiber and textile processes alongside more conventional fine art materials and techniques. Wilson began using hair as a fiber material in place of thread in 1988. Her works such as Hair Work and A Chronicle of Days consist of daily stitching where the artist "stained" clean white scraps of cloth with small patches of hair-based needlework. Wilson began inviting audience participation with her project Hairinquiry (1996–1999). Hairinquiry collected responses to the questions: How does it feel to lose your hair? What does it mean to cut your hair? The project was later archived through an online website.
In 2002, Wilson began the series Topologies (2002-ongoing) at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial exhibition. In Topologies expansive networks of found black lace are deconstructed to create large horizontal topographies. The structures are formed by Wilson from computer-mediated scans of lace fragments that are manipulated and re-materialized in lace by hand stitching. The form of Topologies is inspired by forms of physical and electronic networks, city structures, immateriality, biology and the urban sprawl.
In 2010, Wilson produced one of her most ambitious installations
at the Knoxville Museum of Art
in East Tennessee
. Local Industry, a central component of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave, was a site-specific
installation as a collaborative "textile factory". From January 22 through April 25, 2010, visitors to the Knoxville Museum of Art worked together to produce a bolt of cloth. Wilson conceived of Wind/Rewind/Weave as a meditation on labor, acknowledging the specific geographic location of the Knoxville Museum of Art in the historical heartland of both hand weaving traditions and textile mill production in the United States. The Local Industry cloth, 75.9 feet (23.1 m) long, will be on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art in 2011.
, Japan; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
; The Art Institute of Chicago; The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
, San Francisco; The Knoxville Museum of Art
; The Detroit Institute of Arts
; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Racine Art Museum
, Racine, Wisconsin; Museum of Glass
, International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, Washington; Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland; The Illinois Collection of the State of Illinois Center, Chicago; and LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York.
, Visual Arts Fellowships: 1988 and in 1982.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based visual artist. Wilson creates sculpture, drawings, Internet projects, photography, performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
, and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
stop motion animations employing table linens, bed sheets, human hair, lace, thread and wire. Her work extends the traditional processes of Fiber art
Fiber art
Fiber art is a style of fine art which uses textiles such as fabric, yarn, and natural and synthetic fibers. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour involved as part of its significance.-Fiber:...
(techniques such as stitching, crocheting, and knitting) to other media. Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Life and work
Anne Wilson was born in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
in 1949. At 15, she attended George School
George School
George School is a private Quaker boarding and day high school located on a rural campus near Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grown from a single building to over 20 academic, athletic, and residential buildings...
, a Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
boarding school, in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, where she received training in feminist theory and the philosophies of passive resistance through the study of Gandhi's teachings on non-violent politics. In her later research, Wilson remarked that her lessons at George School
George School
George School is a private Quaker boarding and day high school located on a rural campus near Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grown from a single building to over 20 academic, athletic, and residential buildings...
, especially Gandhi's exhortation to all India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns that they must practice spinning—for social, political, economic and spiritual reasons—profoundly influenced her life and artistic practice.
Anne Wilson's artwork explores personal and public practices of ritual and social systems
Social systems
Social system is a central term in sociological systems theory. The term draws a line to ecosystem, biological organisms, psychical systems and technical systems. They all form the environment of social systems. Minimum requirements for a social system is interaction of at least two personal...
, ideas of de-construction and re-construction in both microcosmic
Macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
and macrocosmic
Macrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
worlds of public and private architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
as well as themes of time and loss.
Wilson received a B.F.A.
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from the California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
(CCA) where she pursued interdisciplinary studies in the visual arts. At CCA, Wilson developed an understanding of art within a cultural context, a way of thinking emphasized by CCA instructor, art historian and anthropologist Dr. Ruth Boyer. Subsequently, Wilson’s graduate research focused on temporary textile architecture such as the Zulu indlu and the Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
n black tent. For Wilson these interests intersected with the popular concerns of generative systems, such as the methods being pioneered by artist Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
. During this time, Wilson was also influenced by the international art fabric movement, including artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Magdalena Abakanowicz is a Polish sculptor. She is notable for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium. She was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań, Poland from 1965 to 1990 and a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles in 1984...
, Olga de Amaral
Olga de Amaral
Olga de Amaral is a Colombian textile artist. Her works, which are internationally known, often take the form of large tapestries covered with gold or silver leaf....
, and Ed Rossbach
Ed Rossbach
Ed Rossbach was an American fiber artist who was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1914.He earned a BA in Painting and Design at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 1940, an MA in art education from Columbia University in New York City in 1941, and an MFA in ceramics and weaving from...
.
During the 1970s while living in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, Wilson argued for the contemporary relevance of fiber and textile processes alongside more conventional fine art materials and techniques. Wilson began using hair as a fiber material in place of thread in 1988. Her works such as Hair Work and A Chronicle of Days consist of daily stitching where the artist "stained" clean white scraps of cloth with small patches of hair-based needlework. Wilson began inviting audience participation with her project Hairinquiry (1996–1999). Hairinquiry collected responses to the questions: How does it feel to lose your hair? What does it mean to cut your hair? The project was later archived through an online website.
In 2002, Wilson began the series Topologies (2002-ongoing) at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial exhibition. In Topologies expansive networks of found black lace are deconstructed to create large horizontal topographies. The structures are formed by Wilson from computer-mediated scans of lace fragments that are manipulated and re-materialized in lace by hand stitching. The form of Topologies is inspired by forms of physical and electronic networks, city structures, immateriality, biology and the urban sprawl.
In 2010, Wilson produced one of her most ambitious installations
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
at the Knoxville Museum of Art
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...
in East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
. Local Industry, a central component of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave, was a site-specific
Site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
installation as a collaborative "textile factory". From January 22 through April 25, 2010, visitors to the Knoxville Museum of Art worked together to produce a bolt of cloth. Wilson conceived of Wind/Rewind/Weave as a meditation on labor, acknowledging the specific geographic location of the Knoxville Museum of Art in the historical heartland of both hand weaving traditions and textile mill production in the United States. The Local Industry cloth, 75.9 feet (23.1 m) long, will be on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art in 2011.
2011
- 7th Triennale Internationale des Arts Textiles Contemporains de Tournai, Tournai, Belgium
- A New Hook, Museum of Design ZürichMuseum of Design ZürichThe Museum of Design, Zurich is a museum for industrial design, visual communication, architecture, and craft in Zurich, Switzerland.- Overview :...
, Zürich, Switzerland - Silent Echoes, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, KanazawaThe 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is a museum of contemporary art located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.It was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architect office SANAA in 2004...
, Japan
2010
- Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave, Knoxville Museum of ArtKnoxville Museum of ArtThe Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...
, Knoxville TN (solo) - Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
2009
- Shift - Field of Fluctuation, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, KanazawaThe 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is a museum of contemporary art located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.It was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architect office SANAA in 2004...
, Japan - Dritto Rovescio, Triennale Design Museum, Milan, Italy
- Selected Works from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, ChicagoMuseum of Contemporary Art, ChicagoThe Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
- All Over the Map, Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
2008
- Portable City, Notations, Wind-Up, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (solo)
- Anne Wilson: Errant Behaviors, Bowdoin College Museum of ArtBowdoin College Museum of ArtThe Bowdoin College Museum of Art is an art museum located in Brunswick, Maine. Included on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum is located in a building on the campus of Bowdoin College designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White.-History:The museum's collection...
, Brunswick, ME (solo) - Mess, Denler Art Gallery, St. Paul, MN (Wilson/Decker collaboration)
- Gestures of Resistance, Gray Matters, Dallas
- Micro/Macro, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
2007
- Out of the Ordinary, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
- Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting, Museum of Arts & Design, New York
- The Worst is / Not to Die in Summer, Nassauischer Kunstverein WiesbadenMuseum WiesbadenMuseum Wiesbaden is a museum in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden, Germany. Besides the museums in Kassel and Darmstadt, it is one of the three Hessian state museums. The museum comprises an art collection, a natural history collection and a collection of Nassauian antiquities.-External links:***...
, Germany - Connections: Experimental Design, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Hot House, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
- Hump, Paul Kotula Projects, Detroit
2005
- Alternative Paradise, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (commission)
2002
- Whitney BiennialWhitney BiennialThe Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
, Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York; Anne Wilson: Unfoldings, Bakalar Gallery, MassArtMassartMassart is a Belgian family name. Massart is the surname of several notable people:*Lambert Massart , Belgian violinist.*Dave Massart , English professional footballer*Lucien Massart , Belgian scientist...
, Boston (solo)
Collections
Wilson's work is included in the collections of: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa is a museum of contemporary art located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.It was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architect office SANAA in 2004...
, Japan; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
; The Art Institute of Chicago; The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, commonly called simply the de Young Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H...
, San Francisco; The Knoxville Museum of Art
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...
; The Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Racine Art Museum
Racine Art Museum
The Racine Art Museum and RAM’s Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts are located in Racine, Wisconsin.-History:The Charles A. Wustum Museum was founded in 1941. Jennie E. Wustum, widow of Charles A. Wustum, donated their house, property and small trust fund to the City of Racine, Wisconsin...
, Racine, Wisconsin; Museum of Glass
Museum of Glass
The Museum of Glass is a museum dedicated to the medium of glass art located in Tacoma, Washington. It is not to be confused with the various other Museums of Glass, such as the one in Corning, New York, as the museum focuses on Contemporary and Pacific Northwest glass-art.The museum, the...
, International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, Washington; Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland; The Illinois Collection of the State of Illinois Center, Chicago; and LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York.
Awards
In 2008 Wilson received the Individual Artist Award from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Wilson has also received the following awards: Artadia, The Fund for Art and Dialogue, Individual Artist Grant, 2001, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award: 1989 and the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, Visual Arts Fellowships: 1988 and in 1982.
Sources
- Waxman, Lori. ARTFORUM Jan 31, 2008, (review).
- Ullrich, Polly. Sculpture May, 2008, Vol. 27, No. 4, "Anne Wilson: New Labor" (essay), pp. 38 – 43
- Elms, Anthonoy E. Art Papers May/June. 2008, "Anne Wilson" at Rhona Hoffman (review), pp. 55–56
- Klein, Paul. Art Letter, January 25, 2008, Anne Wilson at Rhona Hoffman, Chicago
- Newell, Laurie Britton. "Anne Wilson in conversation with Laurie Britton Newell: Chicago, November 2006." Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft. Ed. Laurie Britton Newell. London: V&A Publications and the Crafts Council. pp. 112-123.
- "Organic Landscapes: Morphologies and Topologies in the Art of Anne Wilson" by Michael Batty, London: Victoria & Albert Museum, pp. 112–123
- The New York Times, Jan 27, 2007 Photo p. B9, The Arts
- (inside) Australian Design Review, Issue 48, 2007 photo p. 39
- Livingstone, Joan and John Ploof, eds. The Object of Labor: Art, Cloth, and Cultural Production. Chicago and Cambridge: School of the Art Institute of Chicago and MIT Press, 2007. pp. 386,387; artist project pp. 105–112.