Free For All
GALLERY HOURS (during exhibitions)
Monday - Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Open Thursdays until 7pm
January 17 - February 29, 2020

Coulter Fussell

THE RAW MATERIALS OF ESCAPE

January 17 - February 29, 2020

Coulter Fussell

THE RAW MATERIALS OF ESCAPE

Coulter Fussell’s early-developed artsview perceives craft and other arts as indistinguishable from one another. Painting, sculpture, and textile work are one solitary entity in her mind. From youth, the combination developed into an unintentional mash-up, resulting in quilts and textile works that defy expectations of the medium. Fussell relies on the no-holds-barred nature of contemporary painting rules to free her compositions from the constraints of pattern. In turn, she simultaneously relies on the strict discipline of traditional craftwork to act as a self-editing tool. 

Fussell learned to sew by watching her mother, Cathy Fussell, who is herself a renowned quiltmaker. She was determined to be an artist, which—in her young mind—meant that she should be a painter. All through her twenties, Fussell’s focus was painting. However, in a series of firsts, this focus shifted when the birth of her first child prompted her to create her first quilt. Fussell found the issues she had attempted to explore through painting were better addressed with fabric. For Fussell, fabric’s limitations in palette and material offered an infinite amount of freedom in their strictures. Fussell’s work, unlike traditional quilts, does not adhere to a predetermined pattern. Instead, her work retains the wholeness of a quilt while utilizing techniques one would expect to find in painting. For instance, foreground and background are established with the purposeful balance of light and dark materials. In this way, Fussell’s work blurs the lines between art and craft, positing that both practices have an element of functionality and non-functionality.

Conventional quilts are anchored by their wholeness, most often achieved through geometric pattern. Fussell’s work breaks with this traditional fabrication to instead produce quilts that are painterly in composition while retaining the conceptual wholeness of a quilt. Fussell follows no patterns and does not sketch before she begins composing her work. She paints in textiles, positioning small squares of silk and bolts of antique fabrics on the floor of her studio, moving and layering pieces until she is satisfied with their relationship. The result is an object that reverently heeds the quilting process that has been passed down from generation to generation in Fussell’s family and in families across the globe. The result is also an object that confronts this tradition, challenging the viewer to find room for quilts that are paintings and paintings that are quilts.  

The Halsey Institute commissioned a short film on Coulter Fussell and her work:

 

Coulter Fussell

THE RAW MATERIALS OF ESCAPE

January 17 - February 29, 2020
Opening Reception
Halsey Institute
Friday, January 17, 6:30 PM
Artist Talk
Halsey Institute
Saturday, January 18, 2:00 PM
Clothing Swap
Halsey Institute
Thursday, January 23, 5:00 PM
Halsey Talks: Arts & Craft
Halsey Institute
Tuesday, January 28, 6:30 PM
Membership Morning
Halsey Institute
Friday, January 31, 9:00 AM
Family Day!
Halsey Institute and Hill Exhibition Gallery
Sunday, February 9, 12:00 PM
The Quilts of Gee's Bend, film screening
School of Sciences and Mathematics
Thursday, February 20, 7:00 PM
Curator-led Exhibition Tour
Halsey Institute
Thursday, February 27, 6:00 PM
VIEW THE PRESS RELEASE HERE
CLICK HERE
VIEW THE EXHIBITION BROCHURE HERE
CLICK HERE
VIEW THE TEACHING RESOURCE PDF HERE
CLICK HERE
ON VIEW WITH

Butch Anthony

Inside/Out

About the artist

Coulter Fussell is a textile artist and painter living and working in Water Valley, Mississippi, a small town in the Hill Country region of north Mississippi. Born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, Coulter got her BFA from The University of Mississippi in 2000 and naturally went on to be a diner waitress for the next seven years. In 2010 she opened Yalo Studio, a painting studio and gallery, and then later, YaloRUN Textiles, an experimental textile workshop and fabric store with friends Susan Cianciolo and Kiva Motnyk.

Learn more about Coulter Fussell here: http://pieceworkcollective.com/coulter-fussell

The Raw Materials of Escape, a documentary film on Coulter Fussell
Free For All
GALLERY HOURS (during exhibitions)
Monday - Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Open Thursdays until 7pm
843.953.4422


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