Fiber artist Wendy Carpenter and mixed-media artist Ruth Philipon looked far to the East for inspiration for their fifth collaborative exhibit. The two longtime associates and friends open the new two-for-one exhibit, “China” and “Book of Changes,” with a reception Aug. 15 at Linden Gallery in Ellison Bay, known for its impressive Asian art collection.

The show features Carpenter’s handwoven, infant-carrier wall hangings with symbolic patterns, colors and forms traditional to China; and 10 mixed-media works by Philipon with painted imagery, language translations, found objects and handmade papers from China.

Carpenter, owner of Interfibers Design Gallery in Fish Creek, and Philipon, who operated Tria Gallery in Ellison Bay for 2 3 years before mov-ing to Florida in 1996, have looked afar for inspiration before. Their most recent joint exhibit, 2007’s “Circle of Women” at Interfibers, combined Philipon’s travels throughout Europe, Kenya, Egypt, Greece and Peru with Carpenter’s travels throughout Mexico and Guatemala.

This time out, a 21-day trip to China moved Philipon toward this exhibit. She said she wanted to join a group taking art and culture workshops at Linden Centre, gallery owners Brian and Jeanee Linden’s cultural center in Yunnan Province in Southwest China, but there wasn’t room.

“So, I went with a tour (to China),” Philipon said. “I took off on my own on the second day, went to museums I wanted to go to, spent two hours in buildings the tour was in for only 45 minutes, absorbed a lot around me. I do an incredible amount of research.” She studied Taoism and the art of Chinese calligraphy, among other subjects, to prepare for her work. Philipon said her inspiration came from the blend of traditional and modern worlds in China, along with the people she met there.

“They’re a very proud people, and they really do honor their ancestors,” she said. “Many of the older buildings make you realize the incredible history. It’s also very contemporary. The cities are not only huge, the buildings are some of the most extraordinary work, and they still practice feng shui. It’s a different feeling.”

Of the pieces Philipon is showing, seven are new ones based on the “I Ching” (“Book of Changes”), a text dating to at least 2,200 years ago whose principles might stretch back to around 5,000 B.C. The 64 hexagrams within it attempt to give order to random events and once were used to make decisions and predict the future.

“The work is abstract,” Philipon said, “but within each work is a very detailed painting. For the nourishment hexagram (‘Swallowing’), I used photos I took at a huge Shanghai market.” Philipon’s other three works are larger pieces of scenes in China, done as scrolls, which she completed late last year.

For Carpenter, inspiration came from a meeting with Brian Linden at her and Daryl Asbury’s “Cedars of Door County” exhibit at Interfibers last summer. “Brian came in and said he’d love to have me introduce my contemporary textiles to the very traditional textiles,” Carpenter said.

An exhibit at Linden which included textiles introduced Carpenter to the colorful Chinese-style infant carriers, leading her to create wall hangings from carriers of her design. She said she used the Lindens’ resource center, along with some of Philipon’s books and the Internet, for research.

Carpenter said she found Chinese textile artists create their works quite differently from her, and not just in selection of materials (rayons and silks versus Carpenter’s usual cottons). “It’s much more sewing than I usually do,” Carpenter said. “They work with appliqué a lot, hand stitching, embellishing, sewing on tassels. After the work is done, they do a lot of decorating. I would say half their work is off the loom; I do almost all my work on the loom. It gave me an appreciation for all the hard work they do on textiles.”

This story appeared in the Aug. 12-18 Resorter Reporter for the Door County Advocate

China… a cultural art exhibit iby Wendy Carpenter and Ruth Philipon

The China art exhibit will include Carpenter’s hand woven infant-carrier wall hangings designed with symbolic patterns, colors and forms traditional to China, and Philipon’s 2D mix media with painted imagery, language translations, found objects and handmade papers from China.

Philipon is creating a series related to her travels through eastern China and her extensive cultural research.  She has two of the series completed at Interfibers Designed Gallery:

 "The Yangtze River" (the third longest river in the world, bordered by ancient cities, temples and narrow gorges)

"Suzhou" (the center of the silk industry since the Song dynasty (960-1279)

Carpenter has completed two of her infant-carrier wall hangings and is currently weaving additional works related to Asian Art for the upcoming exhibit at The Linden Gallery.  Visitors are welcome to preview a sample for the upcoming exhibit and view art work in progress at Interfibers Design Gallery, located on CTY road F, (2 miles east off  HWY 42 by the Door Community Auditorium.) (920) 868-3580


The complete series for Carpenter and Philipon will be on exhibit at The Linden Gallery from August 15th until September 12.

Art reception: August 15th, Saturday, 4-7pm