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Past Events
“CIRCLE OF WOMEN ART EXHIBIT II”
Friend according to its dictionary definition is “a person who gives assistance, a patron, a supporter.” This is the force behind the Circle of Women art exhibit II.
As the owner of Tria Gallery in Ellison Bay for 23 years Ruth’s established reputation and gallery supported Wendy’s promising career by exhibiting her art. The gallery was closed in 1996, and a full circle “Circle of Women” was formed when Ruth began exhibiting work at Wendy’s gallery. Wendy’s gallery continues in operation and has been for over 26 years.
The ladies had their first “Circle of Women” art exhibit in 2004, titled “Interweaving Art” in which they explored the possibilities of blending 2-D and 3-D backgrounds through interweaving paper, found objects and textiles. Ruth and Wendy are both artistically inspired by nature, traveling and enjoy working in a mix media medium. Ruth concentrates on 2-D mix media, while Wendy’s focus is a 3-D sculptural form.
On Friday, September 1st and Saturday 2nd, the ladies will be demonstrating and discussing their inspirations to create artwork through nature, travel and research. Ruth displaying drawings from her travels to Cortona, Italy where she would forego lunch to explore the city and sketch. She will have five of her Cortona drawings on display to accompany her discussion of traveling, research and creating art. Wendy will be demonstrating jewelry designing with semi- precious stones collected from her travels to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She is also speaking about her experience with teaching 3-D mix media at the Instituto de Allende. Together the ladies will discuss and demonstrate how they integrate found objects into their mix media artwork to create a full circle of women part two.
Press Release: This story appeared in the July 19-25, 2006 in the Resorter Reporter and photo credits to Jessa Girman for the Resorter Reporter.
Collection of Contrasts Interfibers
Design Gallery |
Interfibers Design Gallery 
Ruth Philipon, painter, mix
media collage artist is returning to Interfibers Design
Gallery to collaborate with Wendy Carpenter, 3D textile mix
media artist. Ruth and Wendy’s friendship and support for
each other’s art has spanned over 27 years. 
When
you take one woman's art and integrate it with another's, you
get a "Collection of Contrasts," the current exhibition at
Interfibers Design Gallery, Fish Creek. Paintings by
Isabel Beaudoin (more commonly known as Isabel) and handwoven
fiber by Wendy Carpenter are recreated in new wall hangings,
blending hard and soft materials. "It is quite a mixed
media," Carpenter said. "I took some of Isabel's older
paintings and cut up her paintings and weaved wall hangings."
Carpenter also married her fiber with Isabel's three-dimensional
metal repousse, creating pieces that seem to reach out to the
viewer instead of laying flat on a wall. Carpenter, the
owner of Interfibers, has been designing fiber wall sculptures
for 26 years. One of her hallmarks is using natural found
objects such as tree branches in her art, but this is the first
time she has worked in partnership with Isabel and with such
materials as metal and paintings. During a 70-year career,
Isabel has worked in a broad array of media including acrylic,
oil pastel, sculpture, batik, collagraph and metal repousee.
"Everything inspires me - nature and people," Isabel
said.
"It's everything you look at." The idea for the
exhibition, which runs through Aug. 15, began during a
conversation Carpenter had with Lucy Roske, Isabel¹s art agent.
"One of the things that struck me is that Wendy is going down
the same path (as Isabel)," Roske said. "These are two
career women artists who are not inclined to work in a
prescribed technique. They stray off being typecast.
They may fool you. Their work is beyond a classification."
Take, for example, "Shield," one of nine collaborative pieces
the artists have on display. This wall hanging measures 18
inches wide by 6 feet long and is made from wool in brown and
other earth tones as well as copper repousse. The piece
shows how Isabel decorates the surface of sheet metal by
hammering relief designs and how Carpenter weaves and layers
fabric, integrating the copper. "Hard and soft equal one,"
Roske said of the recreation. Also on display is an
untitled piece shaped like a fan. For this one, Carpenter
wove Isabel's painting of a vase with cotton. Roske
brought a selection of predominantly abstract paintings by
Isabel to Carpenter, who chose the vase painting and others with
splattered effects. "I don't have a name for weaving of
paintings, but it's an unusual material to weave, rather than
just yarn," Carpenter said. "And it is another found
object to weave with that is not natural." But how did it
feel to cut a painting to pieces? Roske, consulting
directly with Isabel, who resides at Scandia Village in Sister
Bay, said the artist "doesn't have ego tied up in those pieces."
"She enjoyed making them. If someone has another idea on
how to be creative with those, she is willing to take the risk.
She enjoyed making the art, and if it can take a new form, she
wants people to see it." Carpenter called the process
"experiential and intuitive ... I hope people remember that art
is about the process and not the final piece. So many get
caught up in thinking about production that they lose out on the
experience of work, the intuitive," Carpenter said. "This
is a way to be playful with creating artwork instead of
production and a final piece for an order." In addition to
the nine collaborative pieces, there are five pieces by Isabel
in metal repousee (copper and brass), a painting and original
prints. Six new fiber wall hangings by Carpenter are also
included in the exhibition. All work is for sale, and the
price range is $200 to $950. People attending an opening
reception July 15 commented on the three-dimensional quality and
universality of work on display at Interfibers. The
gallery on a gravel road off County F also includes work by Ruth
Philipon, who will be visiting the Peninsula with new work Aug.
24 through Sept. 5 and working with Carpenter at Interfibers.
The current exhibition suggests women are risk takers in today's
art scene, according to Roske. "The person who puts their
work on the line and shows people
their
soul through art is becoming a rarer and rarer commodity," Roske
said. "While these ladies hope people will buy their art,
the primary goal was making the art." And who is likely to
buy pieces in the "Collection of Contrasts" exhibition?
"People familiar with my work and Isabel's work will be
interested," said Carpenter. "We have been in the area
awhile. And this is not going to happen again.
People can say, 'I have a piece from that show; remember when
they did that?'"