Design Gallery at The Warehouse to present student weaving, exhibition design

Thursday, March 24, 2011, By Erica Blust

The Design Gallery at The Warehouse, an exhibition space of the Department of Design in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), will host two concurrent exhibitions of student work April 8-21: “Handwoven: Transforming the Familiar” and “Creativity through Exhibition Design.” Both shows are free and open to the public. The gallery is located on the first floor of The Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse. Gallery hours are daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

“Handwoven: Transforming the Familiar” features the work of students enrolled in weaving classes taught by faculty member Sarah Saulson and explores the creative potential of weaving with repurposed materials, both recycled and new. The students were inspired by and found meaning in sources as diverse and commonplace as newspaper, bottle caps, paper bags, zippers, candy wrappers, wire, pantyhose and feathers. The project provides a rich arena for the artists to comment on their lives and the environment, as well as for fun and surprising color and texture exploration. The exhibition includes a loom, and visitors to the gallery are encouraged to sit down and experience weaving.

Presented by museum studies graduate students who are completing their first year of gallery experience in the “Practicum” course, “Creativity through Exhibition Design” features computer-aided drawings and three-dimensional models of the Design Gallery. Students employed universal design concepts including color selection, spatial arrangement and lighting techniques to put their individual creativity into a theoretical exhibition based on a collection of Tibetan works of art.

For more information about the “Handwoven” show, contact Saulson at sfsaulso@syr.edu. For more information about the “Creativity through Exhibition Design” show, contact Bradley Hudson at bjhudson@syr.edu.