Anne Wilson (artist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Wilson
|
|
|---|---|
Anne Wilson installing Topologies (2002-ongoing)
|
|
| Born | 1949 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | M.F.A., Cranbrook Academy of Art, B.F.A., California College of the Arts |
Anne Wilson (born in 1949) is an artist who lives in Chicago. She makes many different kinds of art. Her work includes sculptures, drawings, and even internet projects. She also uses photography, live performances, and stop-motion animations.
Anne Wilson often uses everyday materials in her art. These include things like table linens, bed sheets, human hair, lace, thread, and wire. She takes traditional fiber art techniques, like stitching and knitting, and uses them in new ways. Wilson is also a professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She teaches in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies.
Contents
Anne Wilson's Life and Art
Anne Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1949. When she was 15, she went to George School. This was a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania. There, she learned about feminist theory and peaceful resistance. She studied the ideas of Gandhi on non-violent politics.
Later, Wilson said that her lessons at George School greatly influenced her art. She was especially inspired by Gandhi's idea that everyone in India should practice spinning. He believed this was important for social, political, economic, and spiritual reasons.
What Her Art Explores
Anne Wilson's art looks at personal and public rituals. She also explores how social systems work. Her art often deals with ideas of taking things apart and putting them back together. This can be seen in both small, detailed worlds and large, public spaces. She also explores themes of time passing and things being lost.
Wilson earned her first art degree (B.F.A.) from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. She then got her master's degree (M.F.A.) from the California College of the Arts (CCA). At CCA, she learned to understand art within its cultural setting. This way of thinking was taught by Dr. Ruth Boyer, an art historian.
Wilson's research focused on temporary textile buildings. These included the Zulu indlu and the black tents of Sub-Saharan Africa. She connected these interests with ideas about how systems are created. She was influenced by artists like Buckminster Fuller. She was also inspired by the international art fabric movement. This included artists like Magdalena Abakanowicz and Olga de Amaral.
Using Hair in Art
In the 1970s, Anne Wilson lived in Berkeley, California. She argued that fiber and textile art were just as important as traditional fine art. In 1988, Wilson started using human hair as a material instead of thread.
Her works like Hair Work and A Chronicle of Days involved daily stitching. She would "stain" clean white pieces of cloth with small patches of needlework made from hair. Wilson also invited people to participate in her project Hairinquiry (1996–1999). This project collected answers to questions like: "How does it feel to lose your hair?" and "What does it mean to cut your hair?" The project's results were later put online.
Topologies and Local Industry
In 2002, Wilson started her Topologies series. This began at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial exhibition. For Topologies, she takes large pieces of black lace and takes them apart. She then uses them to create big, flat landscapes. Some of these shapes are made by Wilson using computer scans of lace pieces. She then changes and re-creates them by hand stitching. The look of Topologies is inspired by physical and electronic networks. It also draws from city structures, biology, and urban growth.
In 2010, Wilson created a very big art project. It was at the Knoxville Museum of Art in East Tennessee. This project was called Local Industry. It was a main part of her exhibition, Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave. Local Industry was a special art installation. It was set up as a "textile factory" where visitors could work together.
From January to April 2010, museum visitors helped make a long piece of cloth. Wilson designed Wind/Rewind/Weave to make people think about work and labor. She chose the Knoxville Museum of Art because it was in an area known for hand weaving and textile factories. The Local Industry cloth was about 75.9 feet (23.1 meters) long. It was shown at the Knoxville Museum of Art in 2011.
Art and Movement
Wilson has also created four "thread walking" performances. These are art pieces based on weaving. In these performances, Wilson uses her body to explore ideas about time, work, art, and how things are made in a culture.
Wilson continues to create art using hair and cloth. She also makes large landscapes, installations, and performances. Her recent works have been shown in many exhibitions. These include Dispersions in 2013 and Fiber: Sculpture 1960-Present in 2014. Her art was also in Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design in 2015-16.
Exhibitions
Anne Wilson's art has been shown in many places around the world. Here are some of her exhibitions:
Recent Exhibitions
- 2016
- Anne Wilson: Drawings and Objects, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA (solo show)
- A Global View: Recent Acquisitions of Textiles, 2012-2016, The Art Institute of Chicago, IL
- 2015
- Pathmakers, Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY. It also traveled to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
- Surrealism: The Conjured Life, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
- Art_Textiles, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England
- Material Fix, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
- 2014
- Thread Lines, Drawing Center, New York, NY. This included her performance To Cross (Walking New York).
- Fiber: Sculpture 1960-Present, starting at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. It then traveled to other museums.
- 2013
- Anne Wilson: Dispersions, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo show)
- Hangzhou Fiber Triennial, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou City, China
- 2012
- Cotton: Global Threads, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England. Other artists included Yinka Shonibare MBE and Lubaina Himid.
- Dublin Biennial 2012, Dublin, Ireland
- 2011
- Anne Wilson: Rewinds, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo show)
- Anne Wilson: Local Industry, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN (solo show)
- 2010
- Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville TN (solo show)
Collections
Anne Wilson's art is part of many important museum collections. These include:
- 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
- Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
- The Art Institute of Chicago
- The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco
- The Knoxville Museum of Art
- The Detroit Institute of Arts
- Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
- Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
- Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York
- Museum of Glass, International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, Washington
Awards
Anne Wilson has received many awards for her art. In 2015, she was named a United States Artists Distinguished Fellow. In 2012, she received an award for her amazing career in visual arts. She also got a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Other awards include:
- Individual Artist Award from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation (2008)
- Artadia, The Fund for Art and Dialogue, Individual Artist Grant (2001)
- Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (1989)
- National Endowment for the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowships (1988 and 1982)
