Laurie Shapiro is a mixed media artist and currently the artist in residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.
Just in time for the 50-year anniversary of the Summer of Love, Shapiro takes us back to the psychedelic environment of the 1960s in a piece called, "Before You Were Born." It was inspired by themes of interconnectedness, and embracing universal truths of our common humanity in the dark days of Trumpcare, ICE deportations, and scapegoating, explained Shapiro. Although Shapiro is not a quilter most of her pieces on display are hand-sewn. This installation took over 1,000 hours to create, while she hand-sewed mixed-media paintings, creating details and texture with repetitive screen-printed drawings.
In this video she describes her site-specific installation, featuring performer Courtney Hartman's choreographed interpretation of the same piece. Walk through the experience yourself before June 25th.
SJMQT provides studio and exhibition space to a different artist that incorporates the use of fiber and/or textiles every three months. Shapiro's residency continues through the end of June, and she has open studios every Thursday and Friday from 11-3:30pm, and Sunday 11:00 – 2:30pm.
Courtney Hartman dances to music inside Laurie Shapiro's installation. Photo by Octavio Martinez.
June 18th Shapiro leads a screen printing workshop at SJMQT
Find out more about the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and its ongoing programs and exhibitions:
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/current-exhibitions/
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/workshops-fiber-talks/
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/artist-residency/
Images by Octavio Martinez
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