June 1 - July 22, 2018
108|Contemporary is excited to announce its upcoming exhibition Consuelo J. Underwood: Thread Songs from the Borderlands, featuring internationally renowned craft artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood. The exhibition is comprised of new work inspired by Tulsa icons like Woody Guthrie and reoccurring Border themes central to Underwood’s practice.
Working in textiles and fiber art, California-based Consuelo J. Underwood seeks to pervade borders in every sense of the word— the boundaries between art and fine craft, the geographic boundaries describing political states, and the borders between cultures that form one’s identity. Exhibiting across the globe for over 35 years and featured in permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Underwood has spent her career questioning concepts of borders and the cultural turbulence created as a result. Underwood addresses these issues through a visual language that opens the subject without the angst and tension in which it is so often cloaked. The work in Thread Songs from the Borderlands will be compelling, timely, and utterly human— an intimate examination of how we define the spaces we call home, and how those form our identities and the world around us.
Thread Songs from the Borderlands will include a piece from her larger site-specific installation series, A New Borderline, created in partnership with Women in Recovery. Developed by Family and Children Services of Oklahoma, Women in Recovery is an intensive outpatient alternative program that provides services for women in the criminal justice system ranging from substance abuse and mental health treatment, workforce readiness training, to family reunification services. Underwood will work with Women in Recovery participants and graduates in creating wand-like embellishments that will be incorporated into one of her works. In addition to this program, Underwood will hold an artist talk in the 108|Contemporary gallery on June 2nd from 1:30-3:00 to guide audiences through her career, processes, and works exhibited.
This exhibition is generously supported by presenting sponsor Robin Ballenger and program sponsor Charles & Marion Weber Foundation. Programming is supported by partners The Woody Guthrie Center.
Exhibition Programming
Consuelo J. Underwood Artist Talk (Recorded June 2)
Lance Canales Woody Gutherie Performance – July 14, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
