PAST EXHIBITION

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Interlace

Works by Jeannie Thib

January 30, 2002 – April 28, 2002

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Interlace features the work of conceptual artist Jeannie Thib of Canada, and is the first time her work has appeared in Washington, DC. Produced between 1995 and 2001, these works represent a wide range of her scope both aesthetically and conceptually.

For instance, in the work “Flutter” (1997, screenprinton blackArches paper, above) there are 20 elements, each screenprinted in white ink with a different image of a woman’s handkerchief. Each one incorporates a floral motif embroidered, printed, or crocheted. The handkerchiefs, like the gloves used in another work in this exhibit,” Geographia” (1995, screenprint on leather gloves, wooden display case), act as surrogates for the absent body and are associated with coded behaviors which had to be learned, read, and interpreted. The piece also refers to the preservation of artifacts in collections, as well as in nature in the form of fossils.

In “Dissections” (2001, screenprint on gampi paper), Thib draws inspiration from 19th century allover designs, like those used in the production of textiles, carpets, mosaics, metalwork, and manuscripts of the time, producing five paired screenprints on paper. Each suggests insects and butterflies, while the title implies their dissection in order to study and understand them.

Also completed last year, “Divide” (2001, cut felt and pins) consists of 45 elements arranged in a grid covering one wall of the museum. Its design represents stylized forms of nature, as some 500 pins only become visible as the viewer approaches the work, suggesting the actual botanical specimens which may have been the source for the flora of the design.

Another piece, “Archive” (1995, screenprint on frosted mylar, left), is made of drawings of textile designs, again based on floral motifs, integrated with drawings of body fragments that, installed sequentially, read as a series of glyphs.

Jeannie Thib was born in Ontario, Canada. She has exhibited in solo shows across Canada, including Body Works (1995, Art Gallery of Mississauga). She has participated in group shows in Mexico and Canada, and has done artist residencies in the Netherlands and France. She has recently completed a commissioned permanent artwork at the Japanese Cultural Centre in Toronto, and her work is represented in many public, private, and corporate collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ernst and Young, and Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt.