We are back this week to continue this year’s Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse interview series, running alongside our gallery exhibition for the next two months. We asked the eighty (yes, eighty) artists participating in the sixth-annual edition of our textile exhibition, We Got the Power, to reflect on the themes present in our main source material (Aristophanes' Lysistrata), as well as their own relationships with the medium.
Our Tenth Q&A roundup features CAMP artist Caitlin McCormack who is joined by artists Jaqueline Myers-Cho, Christine Lee Tyler and Pangea Kali Virga.
Jaqueline Myers-Cho. Threads of Hope, 2024Printed images from original drawings, paintings and photographs, screen from a screen door, crochet, embroidery thread, sequins, beading, bandana, reclaimed fabric: tulle, lace, organza, cotton, knit, metallic, and sequin. 12 x 24 inches.
Why is fiber your medium of choice?
Jaqueline Myers-Cho: I will have to say Fiber Art chose me. Throughout my career as an artist I traveled down many paths to find myself back and immersed in textile crafts. I also had this delusional idea that fiber arts weren't fine art but stayed in the realm of crafts. I am so happy to see that the gap has been closed and textile arts are now considered Art. This in itself gave me strength to fully commit to Fiber Arts.
Christine Lee Tyler: Fiber art and artwork has traditionally been perceived as women's work throughout millennia but have been re-imagined to break from domesticated mundanity.
Pangea Kali Virga: I love the tactile nature of fiber and the countless ways it can be manipulated. In my mind it's the most versatile medium.
Caitlin McCormack: Using fiber or textile modalities to create things is one of my body's foremost ways of expressing itself, secondary only to crying and/or screaming.
Christine Lee Tyler: Fiber art and artwork has traditionally been perceived as women's work throughout millennia but have been re-imagined to break from domesticated mundanity.
Pangea Kali Virga: I love the tactile nature of fiber and the countless ways it can be manipulated. In my mind it's the most versatile medium.
Caitlin McCormack: Using fiber or textile modalities to create things is one of my body's foremost ways of expressing itself, secondary only to crying and/or screaming.
There is a whole generation of women that are walking in their power and this action is bringing balance to the whole.
— Jaqueline Myers-Cho
What was your introduction to fiber art?
JMC: I was introduced to fiber crafts as a child where I learned how to crochet from both of my grandmothers and how to sew from my mom. I became fascinated by the amazing textiles and trims my mother would collect from around the world. In college I was introduced to textile arts; soft sculpture, dyeing fabric techniques, printing, batik, and silk screening. I went on to study costume design and actually worked as a prop master for Lysistrata.
CLT: I did some fiber art in my undergrad when I attended SVA and have used it periodically in my art career.
PKV: I joined the scene by way of the fashion industry. I've always been invigorated by and interested in fashion and started sewing my own clothing as a pre-teen.
CM: My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was four and I have been using the technique to create things that toe the line between fine art and craft ever since.
Who inspires you?
JMC: Rei Kawakubo, Julia Couzens, Vadis Turner, El Anatsui, Sheila Hicks, and Nick Cave.
CLT: I love Judy Chicago. She is truly my inspiration as a person and artist.
PKV: I have many muses and find inspiration and lessons everywhere I turn. First, I am forever grateful to the 3,000+ local students and collaborators I have worked with over the years. I truly believe that everyone has something to learn and something to teach, and I have learned so much and been deeply inspired by these interactions and relationships.
Secondly I want to mention my life partner, Nico Hough, for his unceasing encouragement and daily inspiration. I have learned so much about commitment, honesty, communication, vulnerability, compassion, sweetness, and gratitude through our love. It is our greatest project and this influence touches every corner of my work.
I want to acknowledge the deep and resounding impact that being in nature has on my well-being, my practice, and my future.
CM: I'm inspired by people who manage to produce images or create worlds that are simultaneously horrifying and comedic, such as Franz Kafka, David Cronenberg, and Cindy Sherman. I'm also inspired by the ways people do things in order to survive - the things they make in order to get by, what they make those things out of, how doing so helps them, and so forth.
CM: I'm inspired by people who manage to produce images or create worlds that are simultaneously horrifying and comedic, such as Franz Kafka, David Cronenberg, and Cindy Sherman. I'm also inspired by the ways people do things in order to survive - the things they make in order to get by, what they make those things out of, how doing so helps them, and so forth.
I want to address that women have always been strong and independent and how the patriarchy tries to demoralize us.
— Christine Lee Tyler
What was your reaction to this year’s call for submissions? Can you elaborate on why?
JMC: I was intrigued that it was based on a play and movie. Coming from a theater background I am trained in reading and dissecting plays, so it was fun going through that process again.
CLT: I was interested because the theme aligned with my current process and narrative. I thought this was a good fit.
PKV: I really enjoyed getting to read Lysistrata. It is always such a joy to see old texts that still gleam true in contemporary times.
CM: I was excited because I am a hopeless classical literature dork.
Tell us about your piece for We Got the Power, and what it means to you.
JMC: In this work I explore the essence of female power, embodying the strength and grace of women as guardians of life and balance. The raised giving hands at the center of the composition serves as a symbol of hope and the responsibility to help and safeguard. The delicate red string is a reminder of our connection to all life and the power in that understanding.
CLT: Judy Chicago champions feminist artwork. I thought I would do a piece to honor her as the forefront of women in the art world.
PKV: QUENCH THEIR FURIES
CLT: Judy Chicago champions feminist artwork. I thought I would do a piece to honor her as the forefront of women in the art world.
PKV: QUENCH THEIR FURIES
The piece is inspired by this powerful symbol and the delicate cross stitching my grandmother used to do, often stitching biblical verses and landscapes. She was a steady force, and her true power lied in her ability to address conflict with kindness. The materials that will compose this patchwork ocean current will be fully upcycled from women's clothing, scraps, and discarded interior design swatches.
AS EASY AS LOVE
As Easy As Love, features the phrase "a great torment should be as easy as love", an excerpt from the book of poetry I co-authored with my husband during the pandemic, Sleep Walking With Peggy Noonan. This excerpt expresses the sentiment of love over war, that even our most difficult torments can be solved with love at the forefront. The women in the images are draped in garments from my collection Pieces Of Me (2016). This collection was about the multitude of our identities shared between ourselves and our community and over time through our ancestors. The fabrics used were salvaged from garments from my matriarchs to remind myself and the wearer that we are borne from a long line of women and the spiritual richness of that lineage compounds.
CM: I approached the creation of this work as a mode of exploring my interests in ancient dye and pigments and how those materials were, and still can be, used to communicate certain ideas. The colors found in the work’s floral elements reference ancient Greco-Roman foraged pigments; kermes and madder-inspired red, woad-like blue tones, lichen-derived greens, and weld or saffron-adjacent yellows. This object is an expression of dissent; all purple hues were intentionally omitted from the color scheme, as Tyre-sourced purple pigment was associated with the male-dominated, war-mongering ruling class.
CM: I approached the creation of this work as a mode of exploring my interests in ancient dye and pigments and how those materials were, and still can be, used to communicate certain ideas. The colors found in the work’s floral elements reference ancient Greco-Roman foraged pigments; kermes and madder-inspired red, woad-like blue tones, lichen-derived greens, and weld or saffron-adjacent yellows. This object is an expression of dissent; all purple hues were intentionally omitted from the color scheme, as Tyre-sourced purple pigment was associated with the male-dominated, war-mongering ruling class.
The fabrics used were salvaged from garments from my matriarchs to remind myself and the wearer that we are borne from a long line of women and the spiritual richness of that lineage compounds.
— Pangea Kali Virga
What does your piece respond to, both in the context of the play and in society?
JMC: In this piece I am responding to the madness and am focusing on a solution. I thought deeply on what causes a human to act so careless with his own life and others. The lack of hope, love, being seen, heard, and cared for, all creates a lack of purpose and madness within, and then is projected outward. The giving hands symbolize the action needed, they need to nurture, need to care, need to protect, and need to give opportunities.
CLT: I am choosing Chicago as my person of influence because I believe she is at the forefront of feminist art. Like Lysistrata, she courageously battled the patriarchy. Chicago worked through bad critiques and reviews of her 1970’s Dinner Party installation and was eventually championed which encouraged more feminist work from other artists.
PKV: QUENCH THEIR FURIES
CLT: I am choosing Chicago as my person of influence because I believe she is at the forefront of feminist art. Like Lysistrata, she courageously battled the patriarchy. Chicago worked through bad critiques and reviews of her 1970’s Dinner Party installation and was eventually championed which encouraged more feminist work from other artists.
PKV: QUENCH THEIR FURIES
Quench Their Furies, takes an excerpt from Lysistrata before the Old Women douse the Old Men in water. Water for me has always been a sign of femme softness and graceful power.
AS EASY AS LOVE
The yearning and urge for love and the ease it brings, like in Lysistrata, can break the impulse of violence for even the most stubborn advocates for war. This new work, inspired by the soft fineries of the women in the play, is printed on silk and embellished with gold embroidery, small pearls, and tiny sequins.
CM: The work has qualities which reference banners historically used for mourning, liturgical, and military purposes. Keeping this in mind, a bold, red, appliquéd line of text spells out: Perhaps You’ll Bloom Again. The statement references a moment in The Lysistrata during which the chorus of women taunt the men for their mounting frustration. Their comments are a sly retort to an onslaught of insults spewn by the increasingly vexed males of the play. This excerpt of dialogue is posited as something with significance tethering the women's actions to the regenerative properties of nature. The resilience of the land, even in the hammartia (or ravaged aftermath) of countless wars and atrocities, continues to engage in a life-supporting cycle. I feel that this imparts a statement of hope, that sustainable equitability may be achievable, and that humans may contribute to this regeneration with a requisite dose of mindful consideration.
CM: The work has qualities which reference banners historically used for mourning, liturgical, and military purposes. Keeping this in mind, a bold, red, appliquéd line of text spells out: Perhaps You’ll Bloom Again. The statement references a moment in The Lysistrata during which the chorus of women taunt the men for their mounting frustration. Their comments are a sly retort to an onslaught of insults spewn by the increasingly vexed males of the play. This excerpt of dialogue is posited as something with significance tethering the women's actions to the regenerative properties of nature. The resilience of the land, even in the hammartia (or ravaged aftermath) of countless wars and atrocities, continues to engage in a life-supporting cycle. I feel that this imparts a statement of hope, that sustainable equitability may be achievable, and that humans may contribute to this regeneration with a requisite dose of mindful consideration.
Caitlin McCormack. The Chorus of Old Women, 2024. Dura-lar, acrylic paint, chenille stems, ink. 12 x 24 inches. How do you hope viewers will respond to your piece?
JMC: I hope to evoke a sense of shared responsibility and understand the role we play as protectors of one another. There is Hope. There is a Thread of Hope.
CLT: I hope viewers will connect past feminine heroism with the present. I want to address that women have always been strong and independent and how the patriarchy tries to demoralize us.
PKV: I hope people get lost in the textures and details of the two works. As with all my work my intent is for the viewers to see a visually rich and dense image that they can create their own narratives through.
CLT: I hope viewers will connect past feminine heroism with the present. I want to address that women have always been strong and independent and how the patriarchy tries to demoralize us.
PKV: I hope people get lost in the textures and details of the two works. As with all my work my intent is for the viewers to see a visually rich and dense image that they can create their own narratives through.
CM: I hope no one unravels it or burns it or anything bad like that. I hope no one thinks I'm phoning it in for making a text-based piece.
Using fiber or textile modalities to create things is one of my body's foremost ways of expressing itself, secondary only to crying and/or screaming.
— Caitlin McCormack
Do you believe that women do have the power to effect change? How?
JMC: Absolutely Yes. Women have a different point of view that needs to be heard, understood, and acted on. There is a whole generation of women that are walking in their power and this action is bringing balance to the whole.
CLT: Absolutely! I think it is time to give women a chance to be in power to see how that can play out in the future. I only anticipate great things to come.
PKV: Yes, with solidarity and radical action womxn can accomplish the grandest changes.
CM: I don't know how to answer this honestly without saying some horrifically negative and hopeless things. Nothing in this country is accomplished without the go-ahead from a man - nothing. I feel pretty confident that this is the primary reason so many of the undertakings that are put into action are intended to destroy, limit, obliterate, poison, deny, and attack whatever the subject at hand may be. It often feels as though that will be the case forever. We elect non-male officials, but only by the decree - in the end, at the highest level - of a man. It's pathetic and depressing.
This play indicates that women are predisposed to consider the innards, the interior mechanisms of a situation, and that they are able to use this knowledge to dismantle things from the outside-in. I don't feel comfortable making a sweeping judgment that all women possess this trait; that feels too restricted to some kind of a bioessentialist, binary approach to assessing gender. I do think women are capable of outsmarting the seemingly endless gauntlet of men who are in power, that women are creative (in ways that have nothing to do with having a uterus), and that these factors combined are the key to putting change into motion.
