Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Hang 'Um High

How DO you hang fiber art??
     This question has stirred the pot on a couple e-lists I'm on. It seems to be a hot button and not artist likes to be told what to do. I get that in a big way. I rebelled against the standard of sleeve hangings required by most quilt shows. Each show seems to want their sleeve set up a particular way. Most have now 'settled' on the 3" wide and 1/4-1/2 inch down and to each side. Ok, but what if you want to enter said work in a gallery show? Most gallery shows, that I have been in, require a wired hanging device.
What is a poor fiber artist to do?
     I 'solved' this using the said sleeve, adding small eye hook on the ends and then attaching the wire so it is suitable for art galleries. If the wire shows above the work, staple i/3 of the way in, right though the sleeve and into the slat. And since the work has a sleeve, I can also use the same art for fiber shows that require 'just' a sleeve. 

Now you can also mount the work in numerous ways to canvas, stretch it on artist bars, frame it- also in numerous ways. Nail it aka fiber art cloth style. Suspend it away from the wall using certain devices unknown to me, stretcher bars mounted unseen to the naked eye and eye hooks from the ceiling. Dianne Johnson has devised a system using corner mounting triangles, while Michelle Kincaid uses foam board for mounting her free edge quilts. Fiber guru, Jane Dunnewold has a entire page devoted to the topic! here And I just received my copy of Quilt Visions and one piece is composed of multiple pieces and hung individually with some sort of metal clips that were very visible.
     SO, can we actually come to some consensus on hanging fiber art? It seems the kind and style greatly depends on the effect and kind of fiber art. This art seems to resist being pigeon holed, one kind fits all.
     I guess fiber is so malleable that it can assume almost any shape! A definite to think outside the box, frame or stretcher bars. Look out art galleries!- perhaps- it's they who need to move forward! 
My two cents.

5 comments:

Martha Ginn said...

Wen, thanks for the photos of your sleeve/slat/wire hanging. I use this method also, but seeing how you have stapled through the sleeve to hold the wire out of sight is just what I needed to know! I enter my fiber art in our local art association shows and they require wires. Thanks!
Martha Ginn

Cate Rose said...

Thanks for the tip on stapling the wire/monofilament to the slat inside the sleeve. I already put eyescrews in my slats anyway for other hanging options. Happy Thanksgiving, Wen!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this - excellent, simple, cheap and effective idea.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips and photos of your wire hanging method. I better understand it now that I've seen it.
I just received a copy of your "Holographic Memories Workshop" DVD and usually mount my art quilts just as you did for the samples on the DVD. Your DVD is great, BTW.
I also enjoyed the QA list discussion on hanging art quilts and now have lots of ideas on ways to hang future works. Always learning here...

Emma said...

I discovered 'how to' make sleeves thanks to QA which I subscribe to here in the UK. I plan to use old brass stair rods in the sleeve but it hadn't occured to me to add a slat of wood to add the D rings & wire to, thanks for the tip.

So I've worked out how to do the back, now I need to think about the front ;)

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