New Exhibitions On View at Florida Tech’s Ruth Funk Center
‘Not Quite Sew,’ ‘Apron Strings’ On View Until Aug. 11
MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts on the campus of Florida Institute of Technology will open two new exhibitions on May 19, “Maggy Rozycki Hiltner: Not Quite Sew” and “Apron Strings: Ties to the Past.”
Maggy Rozycki Hiltner’s embroideries – hand-stitched from the salvaged and recycled materials she collects – critique gender and familial relationships through their portrayal of idealized and subversive subjects. While fabric and stitching are familiar to most people, the discarded household goods Hiltner uses have a history of some other person’s place, actions and time.
She often finds these trivial decorations to be ominously full of double meanings. “I love to create images that at first appear whimsical or vibrantly happy but on closer inspection are not quite so,” Hiltner said.
Hiltner’s work has been featured in art museums and galleries nationwide including Missoula Art Museum, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. She has been showcased in numerous publications including American Craft, FiberArts and Interview magazines, and she was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts’ Artist’s Innovation Award for the state of Montana.
Hiltner will led a gallery tour of her featured work, which includes art made exclusively for “Not Quite Sew,” at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, in the Center’s galleries. The event is free and open to the public; reservations are not required.
In conjunction with “Not Quite Sew,” the Center is also presenting, “Apron Strings: Ties to the Past.”
Taken for granted by many social and art historians, the apron is the subject of a fascinating reevaluation in this popular traveling exhibition. Featuring 51 vintage and contemporary examples, “Apron Strings” reviews the apron’s role as an emotionally charged vehicle for expression with a rich and varied craft history that is still relevant today.
Using aprons dating from the late 1930s through the present, the exhibition chronicles changing attitudes toward women and domestic work. It also surveys the wide range of design and craft techniques apron-makers have used to express themselves, while still working within creative venues traditionally available to women.
The exhibition is toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.
“Not Quite Sew” and “Apron Strings” will remain on view through Aug. 11.
The Ruth Funk Center is on the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne, 150 W. University Blvd. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, visit http://textiles.fit.edu or call 321-674-8313.
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