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Alan Shields (American, 1944-2005). Dance Bag, 1985, acrylic on canvas, glass beads, thread, aluminum tubing, and mirror, 40 x 48 x 48 in. Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collector's Circle and partial gift of Victoria Moon Shields and Jason Shields, 2018.17. Photo: Gary Mamay.
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Alan Shields (American, 1944-2005). Dance Bag, 1985, acrylic on canvas, glass beads, thread, aluminum tubing, and mirror, 40 x 48 x 48 in. Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collector's Circle and partial gift of Victoria Moon Shields and Jason Shields, 2018.17. Photo: Gary Mamay.
Reflecting on the influence of textiles on modern and contemporary art, Cross Grain brings together works from the Parrish Art Museum’s permanent collection that explore the properties of fiber, weaving, and needlework through non-textile-based mediums. The exhibition takes its title from the structure of fabric itself. Made from threads traveling in perpendicular directions, woven textiles comprise a vertical straight grain and horizontal cross grain. Where the straight grain is stable, holding the fabric’s shape, the cross grain offers more play, allowing for give and stretch. Drawing on this notion of adaptability, Cross Grain features artists who integrate processes, materials, and visual elements from the textile tradition into mediums like painting, sculpture, ceramics, and video.
Dating from the 1970s to today, the works presented in Cross Grain include recent acquisitions alongside longstanding collection artworks. Several artists featured in the exhibition approach canvas as a fabric, harnessing the material’s qualities of pliability and drape. Others employ gestures like twisting and knotting, or take inspiration from techniques of sewing and patchwork, to create sculptures. Certain paintings evoke the gridded structure and repetitive process of weaving, exploring principles of repetition, color, and form through textile patterns. Presented together in Cross Grain, the works reveal the interplay between textile arts and other mediums, celebrating where their edges meet and merge.
Cross Grain is organized by Scout Hutchinson, Associate Curator of Exhibitions.
Exhibition Support
The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.
