Cornell Museum features Gina Phillips' Work

'Fabricated' takes crafting up a stitch at Cornell Museum

By Mort Mazor

Special correspondent

Sixteen  artists' colorful works made mostly from fabric are on display in  "Fabricated" through April 23 at the Cornell Museum in Delray Beach.

Entering  the lobby, museum goers encounter the 20-foot-high mobile "Neon Clouds"  made of thread, the work of Toronto artist Amanda McCavour, 31. She  strung together more than 2,000 machine-embroidered polyester thread  circles manufactured on her sewing machine to form the piece, which  stretches to the ceiling of the atrium.

It's McCavour's first  time exhibiting in Delray Beach. She embroiders colorful figures and  shapes using hundreds of different threads to create each piece. Her  work has been exhibited in public galleries and museums for the past  decade.

Delray Beach resident and artist Amy Gross is exhibiting a  dozen 12-foot-high hand-embroidered dimensional figures she calls  "biotopes" made of yarn, beads and other manmade materials.

"I  love Jamie Leigh's joyous palms calling people to see our world, and  Amanda's drawing on air, a waterfall of gesture, a movement and time and  thought," Gross said to curator Melanie Johanson. "I love sharing the  room with Gina [Phillips'] living, breathing portraits, the best company  I could ask for. The incredible herd, those beautiful creatures that  make me both happy and sad. The way you lit my 'Spora Mutatus'  sculpture, bringing out elements of it that I've never seen in that way.  'Silver Bees' on its own wall, with room to stretch itself. You have  honored me. Thank you very much."

Boca Raton artist Beth Scher uses nails and yarn over paintings to comment on feminism.

"The  materials I utilize enable me to integrate my vision of women and war  with the way many feminist artists approach their work. Yarn woven  through nails hammered into board is a technique I have discovered to be  unique, yet suitable for my work," she said. "The yarn is used to  highlight portions of collage images, which I glue to the wood board,  transforming the photograph into the generic soldier with indistinct  features."

"The 'Fabricated' show will interest people of all  backgrounds," Johanson said. "The intrigue of using traditional crafting  techniques to create contemporary art makes this show different from  others we've done. Throughout the museum the show is full of unexpected  and intriguing works. The community will love this exhibition."

"'Fabricated'  is a wonderful example of the diversity in artwork made with textiles,  thread and fabric," said Cornell Museum board member Brenda Zappitell.  "The work by Tasha Lewis with the deer flying across the room is an  incredible sight to see. Jen Pack's thread works that hang and drape on  the floor make you feel like they are alive. Gina Phillip's wonderful  figures give you the sense that you could walk right up and talk to each  one of them.

"This show exemplifies Melanie Johanson's ability  to find interesting, exciting and diverse works and put them together  cohesively."

"There were many things I loved about this show  starting with the blue-and-green centerpiece hanging from the ceiling in  the main room," said Andrea Zilizi-Medus, of Fort Lauderdale. "Learning  about the unique ways the artists made the pieces was like taking  crafting to the ultimate level to make masterpieces."

The Cornell  Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10  a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Visit  http://oldschoolsquare.org/about/cornell-museum/.