Epiphany Center for the Arts | Sacristy Gallery

201 S. Ashland Avenue, Chicago 60607

The word ‘thread’ is often used to represent continuity - of an idea, a theme, a life. The simple repetitive action of interlocking threads and joining pieces to create something that is handed down among generations, chronicles the continuum of life. For Louise Pappageorge, her proclaimed “obsessive relationship” with the making of cloth and lace structures blossomed in her childhood through skills she learned from her grandmother and mother. Pappageorge states: “The drawing of threads connects me across shared generational labors to the greater multigenerational consciousness of womankind, whose structures have preserved humanity through the creation of magnificent cloths.”

In Feral Laces and Off the Wall Doilies, Pappageorge’s works of found and newly created lace and crochet structures initiate a visual rebellion, as she investigates the realms of feminism through artistic exploration that dismantles preconceived boundaries while challenging the traditional demarcation between craft and fine art. In a gender-biased society, craft-based work often tied to women is dismissed as merely functional or decorative, while ‘fine art’ disproportionately celebrates creations by white male artists.

Combining lace, knitted, and crocheted materials with gleaming metal leaf and patinated finishes, Pappageorge’s artwork suggests fine sculptural works, as if created from cast metal. In their final form her sculpture departs from the ethereal and fragile nature of lace structures, delicately born from the hands of women throughout time. Instead, they become dynamic expressions of contradiction and embody the multifaceted nature of “women’s work” and artistic creation. With architecture as a backdrop, these fabrics break free from the constraints of tradition, turn feral and transcend conventional boundaries. Viewers are invited into an unfamiliar dimension where the intricacies of lace and crochet unfold, while straying from the stigma that often relegates utilitarian creations to the periphery. In this merger of materials, these undomesticated laces become seductive adorations of long held traditions and the labors of women over the millennia.

For more information, go to: www.epiphanychi.com

Photo credit: Louise Pappageorge