Closing Reception for “Fabric of Forgetting”

The Fabric of Forgetting is a solo show by Door County artist Dawn Patel at University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley’s Aylward Gallery. A closing reception will be held Dec. 10, 5 – 7 pm. The show features paintings, film stills, layered paper, fabric tapestries, and a fiber art installation by Patel.

Although most of the work is recent, completed within the past four years, the show contains artwork reaching back 22 years, delving deeper into the investigation of time and layers as they reflect and affect one’s memory and identity. Patel is a mixed-race, first-generation immigrant and the themes of memory, ancestors, language, and belonging have developed into a visual language over a lifetime of inquiry and art making. At this moment in time, both personally and globally the themes hold greater significance and have grown both in scale and detail, resulting in The Fabric of Forgetting.

Patel has given her fabric the name “Ancestry Cloth.” It is created through extensive processes of destruction and repair, fusing and embellishing layers of new, damaged and antique cloth, ranging from found scraps of leather and upholstery to organic linen and hemp to vintage saris from India and printed cloth from Ghana. Its many manifestations include dress and shawls, wall hangings and three-dimensional sculptural pieces.

Patel is best known in the county as the proprietor of Brilliant Stranger, with locations in Sister Bay and Egg Harbor. She has recently been awarded an Arquetopia Art Residency in Puebla, Mexico, where she will work on a large-scale installation of Ancestry Cloth in the spring of 2018.

Aylward Gallery is located at 1478 Midway Road, Menasha. For more information, visit uwfox.uwc.edu/community/cac/gallery-exhibits, call the gallery at 920.832.2600 or call Brilliant Stranger at 920.366.0301.