Captured in Cloth

 

Captured in Cloth 

Serenity

John

Watching U

Regrets

Still I Rise

Ophelia - Woman coming into her Confidence

Elements

By Tom Wachunas

 

…Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise… from “Still I rise” by Maya Angelou

   “Art is a form of experience of the person, the place, the history of the people, and as black people, we are different. We hail from Africa to America, so the culture is mixed, from the African to the American. We can't drop that. It's reflected in the music, the dance, the poetry, and the art.”  - Faith Ringgold

 

EXHIBIT: Eyes To The Soul: The Fiber Art of Margene May / at Canton Museum of Art, through October 27, 2024 / 1001 Market Avenue N., Canton, Ohio /  330.453.7666 /

The Canton Museum of Art is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Sundays 1-5 p.m. Admission is free on Thursdays and the first Friday of every month.

Background info:   https://www.cantonart.org/exhibits/eyes-soul-fiber-art-margene-may-august-27-2024-october-27-2024

 

   This captivating retrospective tribute to the work of Canton artist Margene May, who passed away unexpectedly in 2022, was curated by Lynda Tuttle Swintosky. Her downtown gallery, Lynda Tuttle’s Art Center, significantly contributed to the vital diversity of Canton’s burgeoning art scene with a large solo exhibit (31 pieces!) of May’s exquisite fiber portraits back in August of 2010.

   Margene May elevated the craft of fabric cut-and-paste to a riveting level of jewel-like intricacy. She composed portraits with pieces of cloth that often echoed traditional African-styled abstract designs, symbols and patterns. Moods, attitudes, postures. Her portraits exude a wondrous presence of palpable emotional expressivity and qualities of human character. They speak stories of vulnerability, strength, desire, anxiety, hope, doubt, confidence.

   Yes, stories. And also questions. As we watch, as we lock eyes and look at them, one of the pieces here called “Watching U” reminds me that they look at us too, perhaps asking what we feel, assume, or truly know about African Americans alive together with us in modern society.

   Margene May’s portraits are dynamic immersions, compelling contemplations and celebrations that still evoke beautiful connections to the ethos of African art and culture. One of the most powerful and poignant examples of that connectivity is especially present in her marvelous work called “Serenity.” A mother, her face aglow with intense, warm color, looks peacefully past our gaze, seemingly through us, into a time or place where her sleeping baby has yet to arrive. Mother’s hair seems windblown, electrified, alert. Her hand, resting on baby’s torso, is a cradling comfort. And a strong, ready shield.