"For the past month, spiders have seemed to swaddle my home, occupying the entryways, passages, and nooks and crannies I frequent. These creatures ushered in simultaneous protection and daring expressed through countless filaments strung about from many risky points. The seasonal abundance of webs came to my mind when reflecting on British textile artist and "radical" knitter Frederica "Freddie" Robins' exhibition Apotropaic at The Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery. In the exhibition's pamphlet, Curator Stephanie Snyder writes that the Greek word apotropaic, "Refers to objects that protect the wearer by deflecting or destroying the harmful thoughts of others." Like the spider webs that guard so many doors and passageways where I dwell, Apotropaic waxes a bit uncanny, featuring compositions of natural fibers that thread together in an array of protective symbology."
""Who's scared of the soft stuff?" read a giant machine-knit wool tapestry across from me, upon entering the gallery. It looms on the wall, with its text woven into an illustration of cartoonish depictions: a red bottle of baby lotion, a green ice cream cone with a cartoon face, a blue pot of topical cream labeled "O soft," and a rolled-up yellow rug."
Apotropaic occupies the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery with textile works that invoke protection and unease. Natural fibers are woven, knitted, and pinned into forms that resemble webs, gloves, and familiar domestic items. A giant machine-knit wool tapestry declares "Who's scared of the soft stuff?" while depicting baby lotion, an ice cream cone, topical cream labeled "O soft," and a rolled-up rug, linking objects to stages of life from infancy to death. Small installations include pinned gloves and cardboard, continuing motifs of vulnerability and defense. The works balance mundane references and uncanny protective symbology.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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