This spring, there will be three opportunities to see my work up close and personal in New England. I wish all of you could see the real thing in 3D, because it’s a totally different experience than looking at photos online or in books. With that in mind, inquiries from curators and venues in other parts of the country are always welcome!

For these three shows, I was specifically invited to exhibit my new topical and political work. That feels affirming, since breaking out of my comfort zone to tackle real world issues has been unsettling at times. And I’m excited that my work is being recognized outside of the fiber art world. I think that in order for fiber art to be taken seriously in the larger art world, it needs to hold its own when viewed side-by-side with other kinds of art. Opportunities to do this are limited, so I’m thankful for the chance to exhibit my work along with a variety of mediums, sometimes as the only fiber artist. That is also the case in the illustration world, where the majority are painters or computer artists. In this broader context, I am viewed as a visual communicator who just happens to use a needle and thread to say something. But one can’t ignore the unique visceral connection to techniques and materials that fiber art offers. I know that stitching is an integral part of my experience of making art, as well as how others perceive it. How one makes art is an important part of the symbiotic relationship between message and medium. In a simple sense, the creative process comes down to individual marks or gestures that add up to something whole, whether it be with brush strokes, body moves, musical notes, typed letters or stitches.

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THE EXHIBITS
Liberty and Justice; The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor is moving back home to Cape Cod after its successful run at the New England Quilt Museum. My work will also be shown in two curated thematic exhibits – Migration in Warren, RI and The Art of Cute in Kennebunk, ME.

The amazing sculptor, Harriet Diamond and I are featured artists in Migration, a show about migration, refugees and displaced peoples. The Art of Cute takes a serious look at a powerful aesthetic that is often not taken seriously. My works will be examples of how how cute, combined with other aesthetics, can create meaningful art that is ironic, disturbing, political, joyous, humorous and provocative.

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LIBERTY and JUSTICE:
The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor

Liberty and Justice: The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor
Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Massachusetts
March 2 – April 20, 2019, Opening Reception – Mar. 2, 5 – 7 PM
Artist Talk – “Sweet to Satirical”, Sat., April 13, 2019 at 11:00 AM

The exhibit is an opportunity to see a wide array of works by fiber artist and illustrator, Salley Mavor, who has recently added political satire to her repertoire. She uses small dolls as a metaphor for living in a safe controlled environment that has been taken over by outside political forces. The exhibit features a collection of photographs of scenes she created in a doll house and a stop-motion animated film, which satirize the Trump administration. The original dolls and props used in the film will also be on display. Although Ms. Mavor’s foray into political art is the centerpiece of the show, the exhibition also includes original embroidered children’s book illustrations and other artwork from earlier in her 40-year career. The inclusion of these pieces tracks the evolution of her artistic journey from “innocence” to tackling real world issues.

The exhibit will include the following:
18 enlarged photographs from the Wee Folk Players series of satirical cartoons (including the doll house set), 13 minute stop-motion animated film – Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free, Display of 3-dimensional characters, props and scenery from the animated film, A collection of earlier work from “the innocent years” – children’s book illustrations, Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion , Rabbitat and Birds of Beebe Woods.

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MIGRATION

MIGRATION
Imago Foundation for the Arts, Warren, Rhode Island
March 14 – April 21, 2019 – Show Dates
Friday, March 15th @ 6:00 PM – Opening Reception
Sunday, March 24 @ 1:00 PM – Artist Talk with featured artists Harriet Diamond and Salley Mavor.

Sculptor Harriet Diamond and Salley Mavor are the featured artists in this group exhibit about migration, refugees and displaced peoples. Four of Mavor’s bas-relief embroidered pieces will be on display – Displaced, Whiskers, Cover Up and Face Time.

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THE ART OF CUTE

THE ART OF CUTE
Brickstore Museum, Kennebunk, Maine
May 1- August 31, 2019
Curated and produced by the Illustration Institute

The Art Of Cute takes a serious look at a powerful aesthetic that is often not taken seriously. The exhibit is organized into three sections: Normative Cute, Applied Cute and Meta Cute and will explore why we are drawn to that which is cute and how its impact is felt in life, in design and in art.

A selection of Salley Mavor’s topical and political work will be displayed in the Meta Cute or “beyond” cute category. This part of the exhibit explores how cute, combined with other aesthetics, can create meaningful art that is ironic, disturbing, political, joyous humorous and provocative.

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