Global Intrigue - Riga 2010

Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Latvia

Triennial GLOBAL INTRIGUE II

Museum of Decorative Arts and Design,

Riga, Latvia

My work, Flowing Through was accepted for display at  the 4th Riga International Triennial of Textile and Fiber Art. It is thrilling to be selected among this group of international contemporary textile artists.

I always seek to intrigue my audience with  both creativity and the process. In this project, I have made a significant shift in my work. I am exploring and developing a new language of artistic expression with totally different materials. I create quilts and sculptures using recycled metal, stainless steel wire, and galvanized metal wire, while maintaining the traditional fiber techniques.

                               Flowing Through                                  Flowing Through (Detail)

Photos from the UTSA Show- Click link below

Naomi's Show at University of Texas San Antonio

UTSA Show

UTSA Show
EXHIBITION: The Art of Transformation

ARTIST: Naomi Wanjiku

EXHIBITION DATES: September 30 – October 24, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 30, 6-9pm (also First Friday, October 1, 6-9pm)

LOCATION: UTSA Satellite Space

115 Blue Star

San Antonio, TX 78204

(Located in the Blue Star Arts Complex at S. Alamo and Probandt St.)

210.212.7146

GALLERY HOURS: Friday - Sunday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm and by appointment

CONTACT: Clay McClure, Gallery Coordinator 512.558.2676

UTSA Department of Art and Art History 210.458.4391


The Art of Transformation is Naomi Wanjiku’s new body of work that embraces alternative materials as a means to create structures symbolic of her relationships. Using techniques learned from her grandmother as a child, Wanjiku has transformed traditional Kenyan concepts with contemporary industrial materials. Her structures are made of strong yet different materials; she weaves stainless steel “string,” and metal together. In spite of their different qualities, they co-exist in harmony. Wanjiku’s structures are a reminder of the power of relationships, and how we can connect and relate, even when we are made of different materials.

About the UTSA Satellite Space:

Located in the Blue Star Arts Complex, the UTSA Satellite Space is the off-campus gallery of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Monthly exhibitions feature works by UTSA graduate students, as well as nationally recognized professional artists. Since its first exhibition in 1993, the UTSA Satellite Space has become one of San Antonio’s most respected venues for challenging contemporary art.

Naomi Wanjiku, Each Other’s Shadow (detail),

Recycled cans, stainless steel wire, galvanized wire, 50" x 36" x 5", 2010

Inside Out - Fiber art for the human form

My piece, Mariachi,  will be showing at the Inside Out-fiber art for the human form Exhibition at the

Textile Center's Joan Mondale Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 4 – July 10, 2010.

The exhibition is being held in conjunction with Textile Center's Artwear Symposium.

http://www.textilecentermn.org/

This piece, Mariachi, is part of my Folklorico Series.

Dance in any culture serves as a repository of a people’s way of life. Embedded in dance are a society’s spiritual beliefs, history, philosophies, and moral codes. Dance can be a powerful tool for teaching the younger generation the ways of their people. Dance can be a tool to demand and sustain social space in an increasingly pluralistic society. Dance can also be a tool to embrace the common links among various peoples. These truths I have known from my African heritage; however, these were reinforced when I discovered folkrorico in San Antonio


As a visual artist, my visceral reaction to folkrorico was to the brilliant visual display of the costumes. The movement of the dancers fused the costumes, and created a visual spectacle that kept flowing, dance after dance. The colors transported my mind back to my childhood in Kenya. The codes embedded in the total theater of the dance were no less important; but to an African woman visual artist, the link to universal humanism, was from that which I could see.

Contemporary Textile Art

The Foundry Arts Center and the Missouri Fiber Artists have co-sponsored a juried exhibition celebrating contemporary fiber art. Two of my pieces, "moon Dance" and "Serenity" are showing in this exhibition. The exhibition runs April 2, through May 14 2010, at the Foundry Art Center, St Charles, MO.

 

Serenity 30" x 29"

Serenity (Detail)

  Moon Dance 34" x 29"

Moon Dance (Detail)

 

                           Delicate Whispers 92" x 50"                     

One of my stainless steel art work "Delicate Whispers", is currently showing at Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University. This is the 2nd Biennial 2010 Texas Oklahoma Art Prize.
This exhibition opened on April 9th and will close on May 29, 2010.

My stainless steel project explores a new language of expression using stainless steel wire. This material is strong yet flexible. It enables me to flow from one technique to another. Within my art  I explore issues of relationships. I weave different materials together, and in spite of their different qualities, they co-exist in harmony.