In this exhibit of new work, wood sculptor David Crane and fiber artist Margot Stage push their individual boundaries while expanding their approaches to usual materials. Borrowing from each other's chosen medium, this husband and wife team are full of surprises.
Crane typically creates wood assemblages from cast-offs of mill work and found objects. For Fibrous Forms, he uses wood in ways that reference fiber -- bending and interlacing thin strips of cyprus and walnut to create airy, open forms. Suspended, these forms sway and circulate in the slightest breeze. With torn strips of figured maple veneer, he's created ribbons of energy, also full of potential movement.
Stage departs from usual 2-D work with fabric to create sculpture with fibrous materials. Using the linings from silk ties, she has strung multiple whites, beiges and tans into a series of hanging sensual shapes. By ripping, twisting and stitching fiberglass screening, she's created abstract forms to commemorate 16 people who passed away this year. The subtle value changes and shadows cast by these shapes add a fourth dimension to this 3-D work.
Together, Stage and Crane also collaborate on several inventive installations. Riffing on the idea of stitching together material, they attach pussy willow branches from a tree in their backyard to form a spiral that spills. In another piece, yards and yards of crocheted string, interwoven with thin strips of wood cover an entire wall in a variegation of circles, curves and loops.
Stage and Crane live in Westford, MA and each have a studio at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell. A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 3 pm at 119 Gallery.