Transforming remnants handed down from friends and acquaintances, Milwaukee based artist Ella Anderson stitched together a fun and refreshing series for El Segundo Museum of Contemporary Art’s second major exhibition “Better the 2nd Time Around.”  Embroidery, fabric dyeing, weaving, and quilting are all utilized to express the artist’s reflections on her everyday experiences.  Anderson manipulates fabrics into tastier treats than what they were when she received them.  With a joyous and playful sensibility, she turned these few leftovers into visually tasty morsels for your mental consumption.

 

Should you be fortunate enough to experience these textiles in the wild, take them out of their sleeves and handle them, fully experience the breadth of technique and color Anderson masters.  The miniature scale amplifies every stitch, enhances every texture, and allows tactile manipulation of Anderson’s handiwork.  Where larger more familiar sized quilts or weavings can only be fully viewed from a distance, ESMoCA provides a more intimate encounter with fine art.

 

Words are an important component of Anderson’s practice. .  She considers her creations as signatures, unique to who made it but also expressive in multiple ways.  She also enjoys writing which has started to make its way into wall hangings that include written words.  An example very reminiscent of a throw up or graffiti tag in the exhibition is the artist’s “okay, okay, okay.”

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Ella places equal importance to titling her works as she does to their fabrication, as it provides another context outside of form.  The titles also provide insight to the artist's sensibilities, often with humorous undertones and levity that enhance the fun of experiencing these unique artworks.  An example of this is when the artist held up the miniature quilt "to keep you warm" to her chest to demonstrate the absurdity of this textile's effectiveness as an actual quilt.  It has all the making of a quilt and demonstrates the artist's abilities but the functionality becomes lost when seen in the context of ESMoCA's gallery.

 

Working on a small scale for ESMoCA allowed Anderson to refresh herself quickly with past techniques like making small weavings on scrap cardboard or working in her new style with the written “okay”. She hopes that some of the lessons learned throughout this process influence future projects.

 

Textile and Fabric Art have been coming of age in the fine art world in recent year, elevating beyond handicraft. And what better resource than discarded fabrics to explore this specific moment in time, when excess and disparity are in such conflict.  With leftovers and clever wordplay Ella Anderson’s Better the 2nd Time Around introduces us to an new voice who brings out  the beauty in what would otherwise be discarded with humor and thoughtfulness.