BATESVILLE — Felted landscapes by Hot Springs fiber artist Barbara Cade are now on exhibit in the Roy Row Sr. and Imogene Row Johns Library and Academic Building at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. The exhibit will continue until Monday, Dec. 13.
The textured and sometimes sculptural works incorporate a variety of techniques and materials that include hand-dyed wool felt, sisal and handmade paper. After hanging the show, Cade gave a presentation to a college art class.
A professional artist, Cade said she was taking the final exam for her master’s degree in German from the University of Washington when it occurred to her that she did not want the language to be the focus of her life. She said she had not grown up in an artistic family and had never been to an art museum, so the arts were not part of her reality at the time. She took a jewelry course at a community college, which she enjoyed. But then she was given a book about looms of the world, including primitive looms, and she said it changed her life. The materials, history and imagery of weaving, especially as found in ancient Native American and African art, resonated with her. She began to make and use all styles of simple looms. She realized that sewing, which she had learned from her mother, is a form of engineering; forms are constructed and assembled to fit and function in prescribed ways.
She constructed a series of conical hats with extensions made from materials like bone and horse hair and hung them from ceilings. A series of masks was next. As Cade pointed out to the students, she has never regretted her education because it provided a broad base and expanded awareness from which to draw ideas for her work.
Cade’s Arkansas’ Fallen wall piece has been exhibited widely around the state. Started in 2006 in response to the war in Iraq, its materials and imagery are similar to those in the current exhibition. Each oak leaf of handmade paper is inscribed with the name of a fallen Arkansas soldier. It now has 103 leaves.
The current exhibition includes images from nature developed from photographs she takes — water-washed rocks seemingly covered by a thin layer of ice, the view across Lake Catherine from her home, a sliver of sky as seen from a narrow gorge of the Grand Canyon and leaves fallen on tree roots, as well as huge sculpted pansies.