ATB 5

By Monique Lehman, Exhibit Chairperson for Biennial 5

GET READY DENVER, plans are well under way for the next ATA Biennial which will open in Denver in the beginning of June 2004.

The first exhibit will be in Denver during HGA Convergence at The Metropolitan State College of Denver Center for the Visual Arts. The 3,000 square foot gallery offers large space with professional staff and tight security. It is located close to Denver Convention Center where all the seminars and juried exhibits will be held. Planning for two more venues are in the works, one exhibit will be on the west coast.

Director Kathy Andrews is very exited about hosting our show. She was very generous to offer professional assistance for the printing layout of catalog. ATA will only need to pay for printing. She will also design and distribute the invitations to the exhibit and prepare the presentation of the show.

Three jurors have been selected to jury the show. They are Dr. Alice Zrebic, a textile curator at the Denver Art Museum; Tom Osinski, an architect; and Professor Wlodek Cygan, a tapestry weaver and professor at the University of Gdansk, Poland. We are excited to have international jurors who represent professions which are related to tapestry and believe they will begin to give a higher profile to the medium.

The application form is available on line at www.americantapestryalliance.org . The deadline for submitting applications is November 24th 2003, only nine months away! The deadline to submit slides is before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The aim of The American Tapestry Biennial 5 is to expose the best tapestries in the world. Our goal is to present new explorations as well as fresh approach to the traditional tapestry. There is only one requirement for all the entries--they have to be one of a kind, hand-woven, weft-faced fabric with discontinuous wefts. The tapestries can be made in any material, form, and shape. Artists who used help during weaving will need to write the names of their assistants. Weaving tapestries is a hard and noble work and all the weavers deserve credit. It is important to show to the world the present status of the tapestry so we ask you to submit only tapestries completed in this century. There will be a chance in the near future to show some older tapestries during our 25-anniversary exhibit.

If you don’t have the tapestry ready to submit it is time to start weaving. All the entries should be send to my studio in Pasadena.