Pittsburgh Center for the Arts – FiberArts Guild of Pittsburgh

FI16 inspection highlights… and register NOW for the Forum!

November 7, 2023April 12, 2016

Opening weekend for Fiberart International 2016 is steaming toward us like a freight train — packed with art, anticipation, and festivities! Lots of last minute preparations behind the scenes before the gala opening on May 6, just weeks away! A favorite part of every FI is inspection week-end when one of our jurors returns to examine each piece live for the first time.

Lucky Guild volunteers make up the white gloved crew who carry out this essential operation. We open each crate with special care, document the condition and note how each piece was packed. After inspection the work is re-packed for storage until installation. Not only is this an opportunity to check out the detail and incredible craftsmanship of your favorite artworks but also to engage with the juror about all things fiberart. Even if you’ve seen the images a dozen times, as some volunteers have — the scale, texture, and power of each piece is a joy to experience firsthand.

Clean out your studio–it’s potluck time!

November 7, 2023January 27, 2016

The holidays are over, it’s cold, snowy, and gray — so you know it’s gotta be time for our potluck fundraiser at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts! This annual event is one of our most cherished traditions. Just when the doldrums of winter start to settle in, we gather together. We clean out our studios, …

Help make FI16 the best Fiberart International ever!

January 19, 2016

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about Fiberart International (FI), the amazing show our guild produces every three years. The exhibition is so big, it takes up two simultaneous venues: the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Society for Contemporary Craft. But what you may not know is that we are famous (yes we are!) for hosting a great opening week-end where FI artists from all over the world gather to meet and talk about our beloved medium – fiber art. And the best part is our members are deep in the thick of it all. We all have the awesome opportunity to shmooze, help out, and participate as much as we want. On Sunday January 10th volunteer guild members old and new gathered together to learn all about FI2016.

Akiko Kotani and Risë Nagin: Group A “Works”

December 28, 2015

Black on White #1 2004 Akiko Kotani — *Black on White #1* 2004 Akiko Kotani

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get out of the studio during the dark and dreary days of winter to see more art. There is so much going on in the region, beginning in our own back yard: the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Now through January 17th you can see works by two of our most accomplished members, Akiko Kotani and Risë Nagin, who were selected to participate in “Works,” juried by Todd Keyser. Group A is a small invitation-only guild which “…provides exhibition opportunities for its members and fosters an active dialogue about visual art concepts and practices.”

Akiko Kotani’s series Black on White is breathtaking in its simplicity. She uses black silk thread on hand woven white silk canvas to create a bold line that references organic forms yet has a contemporary graphic appeal. In the first work of this series she creates the feeling of movement by working predominantly with one shape as it appears to replicate itself across the canvas.