Gallery Begins New Year With Textile Artist’s Thread Illustrations

Published 01.28.2015

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The Gallery at Penn College

Explorations in intricacy grace The Gallery at Penn College for its New Year exhibit, “Line: Drawn and Stitched,” running Jan. 13 through March 5.

Showcasing thread illustrations by Toronto-based textile artist Amanda McCavour, the exhibit of both 2-D wall pieces and 3-D installations explores connections to home, the fibers of the body and more formal considerations of thread’s accumulative presence.

A Meet the Artist reception is set for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, featuring a 5:30 p.m. gallery talk. The reception and exhibit are open to the public and free of charge. (Photo gallery)



"Living Room," thread, 10' x 10' x 10'McCavour will also lead a daylong workshop at the college on Friday, Jan. 30. Through the use of machine and hand embroidery, the class will construct textured, mixed-media surfaces utilizing McCavour’s techniques including use of a water-soluble stabilizer. The class is limited to 15 participants, and pre-registration is required. Held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the workshop costs $70, which includes lunch. Participants must bring a sewing machine, as well as additional supplies explained at registration. Interested individuals can email or call 570-320-2445.

McCavour holds a Master of Fine Arts in fibers and materials studies from Tyler School of Art, Temple University; and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University, Toronto. She has participated in national and international exhibitions and recently completed residencies at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto; Maison des métiers d'art de Quebec, Quebec City; Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson, Yukon; and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

“I’m interested in the vulnerability of thread, its ability to unravel and its strength when it is sewn together,” McCavour said. “I’m interested in the connections between process and materials and the way that they relate to images and spaces. Tracing actions and environments through a process of repetition, translation and dissolving, I hope to trace absence. My work is a process of making as a way of tracing and preserving things that are gone, or slowly falling apart.”

Located on the third floor of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Madigan Library, The Gallery at Penn College is open Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; and Wednesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition to serving as an educational resource for Penn College students and a cultural asset to the college and community, the gallery is dedicated to promoting art appreciation through exhibitions of contemporary art.

For more about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.