“Unusual, unexpected, interesting” art at OkEq this First Thursday

Two fiber artists featured this month at the September Oklahomans for Equality (OkEq) showcase have, though their work is dissimilar, often stirred the same reactions at different times: “unusual, unexpected & interesting.” Both artists are award winners and members of Fiber Artists of Oklahoma. 

These artists, Jeanie Weber and Lyn Lucas, use naturally occurring materials and processes to create distinctive and out-of-the-ordinary works of art through very different approaches. Both artists say they appreciate, observe and listen to Nature.

This “unusual” September OkEq showcase and exhibit of local artists at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center will feature a combined show titled “Naturally Speaking” beginning with a reception on Thursday, September 1 from 6-9 p.m. The art will be displayed throughout the month.

For Jeanie Weber's basketry, pine needles are both the inspiration and basis. The mighty Longleaf Pine's discards, gathered one by one into slowly growing coils, wind around and around to create vessels of varied shapes and sizes. She typically uses something else from Nature's storehouse as a starting point--often a piece of wood or stone while incorporating beads, wire, feathers or a quill. Her baskets are not intended to be functional, although some people have found them to be useful as well as artistic.  

“I usually don't start with a finished shape in mind, but watch and feel how the coils grow, adding adornments when it seems to make sense artistically,” Weber explains. “I have an organic reaction when picking up those Pine Needles. Often when I'm weaving, it feels like Mother Nature's hands are around my own.”

Lyn Lucas creates a serendipitous exploration of patterns and textures using images of rusted artifacts, transferred to natural fabrics. “My fascination with the organic process of melding the oxidized iron surfaces from found and common objects onto textiles is rooted in experimentation as well as discovery,” says Lucas.  “Bedsprings become templates. Discarded metal transcends its form to embellish cloth. Predictability is a goal scarcely realized.”

According to the artist, using the power of the sun, oxygen and liquids, the decay and decomposition of the iron combines with fiber to transform blight into brilliance. The iron shimmers in the sun, bound to the fabric by chemistry and memories of its former glory. The accidental plan becomes an adventure in freeing the iron ore, while controlling the process to create a visual rhythm which dances atop the fabric revealing texture, tone and tenacious imagery.

“Some may see objects; others envision shapes; but, it is the iron that controls the outcome, flowing freely, while fusing its image to the fabric,” says Lucas.

The show begins with a reception on Thursday, September 1 from 6-9 p.m. at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center (621 E. 4th Street in downtown Tulsa). There will be a door prize drawn of the artists’ work; the show continues throughout the month. www.okeq.org.

Oklahomans for Equality/OkEq is Oklahoma’s oldest gay rights organization. OkEq works for social justice and full inclusion for Oklahoma’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens and their allies. For more information, see www.okeq.org.

The Gayly – August 29, 2016 @ 11:10 a.m.