Art in the Barn at browngrotta arts in Wilton

Crowdsourcing the Collective: a survey of textiles and mixed media art presented by browngrotta arts

The show will feature 40 contemporary fiber and ceramic artists from more than a dozen countries.

For our biannual exhibitions, browngrotta arts generally chooses a curatorial theme. In various years, we have examined what stimulates different works in Stimulus: art and its inception, the influence of geography and culture in art + identity, an international view, and the impact of color in Blue/Green: color/code/context. This year we found it hard to narrow our artistic explorations to a single theme. There have been so many changes in the last few years -- new ways of working, new worldwide worries, a newfound popularity for craft and fiber arts, and new acceptance of viewing and acquiring art online. We decided to lean into these transitions, asking our artists to help us curate Crowdsourcing the Collective, a survey exhibition that reflects where craft and fiber art are now, with reference to how they got here.

Craft's and fiber art's new prominence in the art world has made them the subject of exhibitions in major museums, intermixed with paintings and traditional sculpture in ways unthinkable a decade ago. The artists in Crowdsourcing the Collective illustrate these art forms' vitality. Many began working in the ‘80s and 90s, when craft and fiber art were not well recognized; some have been working since fiber art’s first heyday in the ‘60s and '70s. We started with a series of questions: What are you working on now that you like to exhibit? What existing work do you have that you would like to exhibit? What artists are you watching? Crowdsourcing the Collective is the result. The artwork we have gathered by 40 artists from a dozen countries is current and timeless. It reflects the wide range of materials and techniques that make the field such an attractive one for collectors. Tapestries, sculptures of seaweed, seagrass and willow, wall works made of sandpaper, hemp and horsehair and ceramics will all be included — tactile attractions abound. Come and see what we have collected!

Artist List