Part-time professor in Textiles, Rebecca Cross has a solo exhibition at the Fawick Gallery at Baldwin Wallace University. The exhibition is on view from September 8 through October 13, 2017 and is titled “Shield/Shadows: Sculptures and Drawings by Rebecca Cross”
Featuring silk sculpture "shields" communicating ideas that are personal, conceptual and decidedly political, as Cross feels besieged by the political decisions being made in our nation that threaten the social fabric of our nation’s democracy and place our natural environment in jeopardy.
The "shields" are formed through shibori, a process using resists in color and form by tying objects into fabric, immersing them in dye, drying them, then removing the objects. The exhibit also includes drawings derived from the sculptures’ shadows. One piece will engage viewers by allowing them to trace their own shadow and write about aspects of their life that need protection in this climate.
In her artist statement, she says,"The idea of beauty is central to my work. Especially in precarious times, I believe that beauty must be understood as something that both needs to be protected, as well as something that we can cultivate to protect ourselves. There is inherent worth, humanity and compassion in the articulation and apprehension of beauty, encounters that grant us moments of necessary transcendence and connection."
Half of all proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders, Planned Parenthood and The National Wildlife Federation. Photography by Robin Haller.