Sabrina Gschwandtner

Sabrina Gschwandtner (born 1977) is an American artist currently living in Los Angeles, California. She has held numerous showings of her work throughout the country and several pieces have been acquired by museums, including LACMA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[1] the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,[2] and the RISD Museum.[3]

Biography

Sabrina Gschwandtner was born in 1977 in Washington, DC.[1] She studied at the Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst in Salzburg, Austria under the direction of Valie Export and also with Vlada Petric, founder of the Harvard Film Archive.[4] She earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in art/semiotics from Brown University in 2000 and in 2008 she received her Master of Fine Arts from Bard College.[5] She is the author of the book Knitknit : Profiles + Projects from Knitting's New Wave.[6]

Artworks and techniques

Gschwandtner uses film, video, photography, and textiles as her mediums. She sews together filmstrips to create a quilt-like textile. She then installs them with led lights behind them so the viewer can see through the filmstrips when looking up close.[7] She began sewing filmstrips together in 2009[8] when a friend of hers gave her 16 mm films from Anthology Film Archives that were no longer of use to the Fashion Institute of Technology. Gschwandtner uses documentaries about “art, craft, fashion, decoration, vocation, military camouflage, feminist expression, and scientific metaphor” in her artworks, mostly from the 1950s-80s.[5] Many of the short documentary films recognized and admired women's role in craft making, such as knitting, crocheting, and fabric dyeing.[9] After she watches the films, she cuts and sews them together in patterns that resemble popular American quilt motifs.[5] She has made several works in a "crazy quilt" pattern.[10] Leah Ollman of the LA Times wrote in a 2017 review: "Gschwandtner unites the strips in traditional quilt patterns — interlocking triangles and diamonds set within squares, energetic designs that play surface against depth, control against abandon. She makes astute use of color, mixing vivid stretches of jade, yellow and cerulean with the faded hues of old footage, all accented with black countdown leader and lengths of toned emptiness." [11] Gschwandtner uses quilts because they symbolize and celebrate "the undervalued work of female laborers and artisans, largely overlooked." .[12] Film Archivist Andrew Lampert says that her work is able to "greatly expand our notion of film editing, narrative and the moving image."[13]

Other works include films and installations for specific sites. For example, Gschwandtner created “Crochet Film” (2004) specifically for a show "Group Loop," put together by Christoph Cox about repetition and cycles. Her piece featured two loops, one, a film of the artist crocheting and the other a crocheted piece representing a film loop.[14] Another series of work on the same theme is "The History of String" which compares the spooling mechanism of a sewing machine to "early film projectors."[15]

Collections and exhibitions

Gschwandtner ‘s work has been exhibited worldwide at institutions, such as the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C.),[16] the Museum of Arts and Design (New York),[17] Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Arkansas), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). Her work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[18] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,[2] the RISD Museum,[3] LACMA,[19] and the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation.[20]

References
  1. "Fibers and Civilization (1959)". Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  2. "Camouflage". 24 March 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  3. "The Enchanted Loom (Part II) – Objects - RISD MUSEUM". risdmuseum.org. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. Mathey, Carole (August 14, 2006). "The Workmanship of Risk". Canton, New York: St. Lawrence University. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  5. "Sabrina Gschwandtner: Sunshine and Shadow". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Art Alliance. May 17, 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  6. Gschwandtner, Sabrina (2007-01-01). Knitknit: profiles + projects from knitting's new wave. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. ISBN 978-1584796312.
  7. Abatemarco, Michael (31 July 2015). "Algorithm and hues: Digital works at Art House". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  8. "Interview: Sabrina Gschwandtner". Tack. 14 January 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  9. O'Steen, Danielle (23 July 2012). "'40 under 40: Craft Futures' at the Renwick Gallery". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  10. Peterson, Jennifer. "Sabrina Gschwandtner at Shoshana Wayne Gallery". artforum.com. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  11. Ollman, Leah. "Her quilts are made of 16-mm film. Here's what they reveal, frame by frame". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  12. Wood, Eve (July 5, 2017). "Sabrina Gschwandtner". Artillery Magazine. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  13. Lampert, Andrew (19 December 2013). "Sabrina Gschwandtner". BOMB. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  14. Grundberg, Andy (March 20, 2005). "'Loop': What Goes Around . . ". The Washington Post. Washington, DC. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  15. Rosenberg, Karen (2007). "Needling More Than the Feminist Consciousness". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  16. O'Steen, Danielle (24 July 2012). "Pushing Craft into Art's Realm". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2015 – via  – via HighBeam (subscription required) .
  17. Austin, April (16 February 2007). "The fine art of crafts; A landmark exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York tackles surprising contemporary issues". Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2015 – via  – via HighBeam (subscription required) .
  18. "Sabrina Gschwandtner". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  19. https://unframed.lacma.org/2020/09/02/2020-da²-acquisitions
  20. "Sabrina Gschwandtner - Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation". Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
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