On Wednesday, November 3, 2021, Second Street Gallery presented a virtual artist talk with exhibiting artists Dance Doyle and Caitlin McCormack. The artists discussed their exhibition Dirty Mirror, which was on view in SSG's Dové Gallery from October 1 - November 19.
Dirty Mirror is a collaborative exchange between two fiber artists who utilize meticulous, hyper-detailed, and self-taught practices profoundly rooted in time-honored craft techniques, as tools to bring order to their respective worlds and contend with trauma, mental illness, and addiction. Through the use of fibers, the artists provide glimpses into hidden universes that relay the simultaneous destruction and growth of matter. Dirty Mirror is generously sponsored by Daniel & Rosemary Chiacchia.
Watch the recording HERE.
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Learn more about the exhibiting artists below:
Dance Doyle is an Oakland-based textile artist whose work has been informed by the gritty depth of beauty that emerged from the struggling and evolving city after the crack epidemic in the 80s and 90s. Doyle heralds a 13-year creative background in ceramic sculpture and hand-building pottery. She transitioned creatively to textile art during her undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University. Through the years, she has been self-taught by trial, error, and taking risks, developing her own technique and edgy style. Her primary focus has been telling contemporary narratives, based not only on her own stories, but ones told to her, that reflect, piece by piece, examples of our human condition in these overpopulated urban environments. Dance served as vice-president of Tapestry Weavers West and is a member of the American Tapestry Alliance and the Textile Arts Council at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, CA. Her work has been displayed at the Legion of Honor Museum, the De Young Museum in San Francisco, and at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and featured in fiber art publications such as Textile Fiber Forum Magazine, American Tapestry Alliance’s CODA Magazine, Fiber Art Now Magazine, and The Untitled Magazine. Doyle has completed residencies at the Textile Arts Center (2018-2019), Museum of Arts and Design (2020-2021), and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (2020). Doyle is currently an MFA candidate at the California College of the Arts, in San Francisco, CA.
Caitlin McCormack (b. 1988) is a Philadelphia-based fiber artist, sculptor, and art educator. Born and raised in rural New Jersey, her formative experiences of time spent alone in the woods collecting various fungi and osteological specimens, as well as hunting for plants to use in dye experiments, are resonant in her practice to this day. Her crocheted cotton thread sculptures, informed by these childhood curiosities, are dredged in glues and foraged pigments and are shaped into a variety of forms. McCormack received a BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2010 and has studied under master ceramicist Marguerita Hagan since 2019. McCormack’s works have been displayed across the US and internationally in solo and group exhibitions at The Mütter Museum, The Taubman Museum of Art, Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Museum Rijswijk, Rhodes Contemporary, Hashimoto Contemporary, The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and SPRING/BREAK Art Show in NYC. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Juxtapoz, Hyperallergic, Smithsonian, The Guardian, Fiber Art Now, and Bust Magazine. In addition, her sculptures were the subject of an interview with Jim Cotter for Articulate on PBS. McCormack has held teaching positions at Hussian College of Art and Design and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, both of which are located in Philadelphia. She was the recipient of a Joseph Robert Foundation grant in 2020.