A Shifting Context for Fiber Art?

More than two months after visiting the 5th International Fiber Art Biennial, I'm finally blogging about it. This has been a case of waiting for the perfect opportunity.

(photo left) A student works in the Fiber Arts Department studio in Beijing's TsingHua University, where Professor Lin Lecheng has opened a dialog with the international Fiber Arts community.

The Lunar Year has just initiated its new cycle, and along with it, we can expect many changes of fortune, luck, and energy. We should be able to observe a marked difference between events of the previous cycle (Year of the Rat) and this one. For many, the surfacing of a vast economic fallout in the last few months of the Rat Year seemed to emphasize that animal's sneaky influence. (As a pet rat enthusiast, I normally object to the characterisation of rats as destructive. They actually love to decipher and create complex strucutre.) In any case, the rat is out and the ox is in. Now is the time to talk about one of the two highlights of last year: The Fiber Art Biennial.

Li Jing and Yingda Li in front of Li Jing's Vast - cotton thread, metal buckle

Wang Dong Chrysanthemum in Water - resin, chinese brushes

Part of the piece I exhibited, made with the Magnetic Embroidery technique.


Duan Jianhua, Rotation - cotton thread, plastic pipe



Asa Wretman, Untitled - wool



Song Danxin, Zhang Yong, Chinese Characters Impression - bamboo, paper, fine thread

The other highlight of the Rat Year 2008 was, of course, seeing the headline "The Day America Became Cool Again" on the 5th November issue of The Times.