The Kent Arts Association, which last summer celebrated 100 years since its founding, unveiled its newest group show on Friday, May 11. Titled “Working the Angles,” the exhibition gathers the work of textile artists who have presented fiber-based quilts, landscapes, abstracts, and mural-sized illustrations. The most prominently displayed installation of fiber art takes up the majority of the association’s first floor on South Main Street.
Bridgeport-based artist Carlos Biernnay was born in Chile under the rule of the late military dictator Augusto Pinochet, but his large-scale work is imbued with fantasy instead of suffering. His mix of influences seems to include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular German libretto “The Magic Flute” — specifically The Queen of the Night — as well as Lewis Carol’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” The Tudor Court, tantalizing mermaids and exotic flora.
Upstairs, Litchfield-based fiber artist Karen Griska’s large quilts take inspiration from African tradition, although she has also worked in the styles of Amish quilting as well as the Black American tradition of Gee’s Bend, which began in an Alabama town of the same name.
For more on “Working the Angles” and Kent Art Association exhibition viewing hours go to www.kentart.org
A quilt by Litchfield-based artist Karen Griska.Alexander Wilburn
