Polly Barton is an American
textile artist
Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects.
Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials use ...
.
Biography
She was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. As a student, she studied art history at
Barnard College
Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...
(class of 1978) and has lived and traveled in Paris, Florence, and Rome. In 1981, she moved to
Kameoka
is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 87,518 in 29,676 households and a population density of 390 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geography
Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the west and is locate ...
, Japan, to study with master weaver
Tomohiko Inoue, living in the religious heart of the Oomoto Foundation. She returned to New York in 1982 and continued to weave on her Japanese tsumugi silk kimono looms.
She shows her woven silk
ikat
''Ikat'' (literally "to bind" in Malayo-Polynesian languages) is a dyeing technique from Southeast Asia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric. In Southeast Asia, where it is th ...
paintings on both coasts, and is collected by the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...
, and by private collectors. Her work has been published in numerous magazines including ''Hali Magazine'', ''FiberArts'', ''Surface Design Journal'' and ''American Craft''. She is a member of the
Textile Society of America
The Textile Society of America (TSA) was founded in 1987 as an international non-profit educational organization for sharing and disseminating information about textiles and fiber media. The society sponsors a bi-annual conference where juried pap ...
, Friends of Fiber Arts International, the Surface Design Association and the Textile Arts Alliance of Santa Fe.
Education
*1993–2000 – Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito
*1984 – Parsons School of Design, New York City
*1983–82 – Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City
*1981–82 – Kameoka, Japan, Apprentice to Master weaver Tomohiko Inoue
*1978 – Summer seminar, The Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts, Kameoka, Japan
*1978 – BA, Barnard College, New York City, magna cum laude
Exhibitions
2012:
*New Woven Works, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
*San Francisco Art Fair, Linda Fairchild Contemporary Art, San Francisco, California
*Sourcing the Museum, The Textile Museum, Washington, DC
*New Works, Gail Martin, New York City
2011:
*Sleight of Hand,
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...
, Denver, Colorado
*Instructors Exhibition,
Penland School of Crafts
The Penland School of Craft ("Penland" and formerly "Penland School of Crafts") is an Arts and Crafts educational center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Penland, North Carolina, in the Snow Creek Township near Spruce Pine, about 50 mil ...
, Penland, North Carolina
2010:
*New Work, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe
*New Fibers 2010, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan
*Transformed Traditions in Ikat, Modern Arts Midwest, Lincoln, Nebraska
2009:
*Origin, Shumei Arts Council, Pasadena, California
2008:
*Thread: Drawn, Dyed, Woven, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe
*Visible Presence, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, California
*Woven Expressions, Gail Martin Gallery, New York City
2007:
*Saturn Returns: Back to the Future of Fiber Art, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose
*Los Pintores: Past, Present, and Future, RSA along with FACT, Santa Fe
*Then and Now, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe
2006:
*Material Difference: Soft Sculpture and Wall Works,
Chicago Cultural Center
The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building operated by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Cultural Center houses the city's official reception venue, where the Mayor of Chicago, M ...
, Chicago, Illinois
2005:
*
SOFA Chicago
Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design (SOFA), originally known as Sculpture Objects Functional Art Exposition, was a series of art fairs held from 1994 to 2022 in Chicago (SOFA Chicago), and a smaller version in New York City (SOFA New York ...
, Jane Sauer Gallery, Chicago
2004:
*New Works, Linda Fairchild Gallery, San Francisco
2003:
*Opening Night, Linda Fairchild Gallery of Contemporary Art, San Francisco
*
SOFA New York, Gail Martin Gallery, New York City
2002:
*Threads on the Edge: The Daphne Farago Fiber Art Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
*Survey Fiber 2002, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Public collections
*Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
*Miho Museum, Misono, Japan
*Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
*Daphne Farago Collection, Boston
*Guido Goldman Ikat Collection, New York City
*Davis, Polk & Wardwell, London, England and New York City
*Tobin Collection, Santa Fe
*Oomoto Foundation, Kameoka, Japan
*Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City
*Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
*Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York City
*Community Hospital Foundation of the Monterey Peninsula
Honors
*1997 – Honorable Mention Crafts, Taos Open, Taos, New Mexico
*1986 – Stanley Mendelbaum Award, Juried Exhibition of the New York Guild of Handweavers, New York City
*1985 – Juror's Award, Juried Exhibition of the New York Guild of Handweavers, New York City
*1984 – Best of Show Award, Convergence ’84, Dallas, Texas
Lectures and workshops
*2009 – Shumei, Crestone, Colorado
*2008 – William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe
**Visible Presence, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose
**Textile Arts Alliance, Santa Fe
**Shumei, Crestone
*2004 – Design with Heart, Santa Fe
*2002 – Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
**Textile Arts Alliance, Santa Fe
**Summer Workshop: Ikat, Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito, New Mexico
*2001 – Summer Workshop: Ikat, Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito
References
Further reading
*Elder, E. Gaye. “Polly Barton: Painter of Silk Ikats”. Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot. Volume 41, No. 4, Spring 2010
*Arney, Suzanne Smith. “Fiber Exhibitions by Polly Barton, Mary Anne Jordan, Eleanor McCain, and Mary Zicafoos”. Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot.
**Vol. XXXIX, No. 4, Fall 2008, page 26–28.
*Westfall, Carol. “Polly Barton: Woven Explorations”. Surface Design Journal. Volume 22, No. 1, Fall 2008. Page 60-61
*Wykes, Sarah. “Rise of the Quilters”. San Jose Mercury News. December 9, 2007
*“Then and Now”. Art News. Vol. 106, Summer 2007 Issue, page 209
*Ullman, Polly. Material Difference and Soft Sculpture & Wall Works. Published by Friends of Fiber Art International
*Heppenheimer, Jill. “Creativity at Midlife”. FiberArts. Vol. 32 No. 2, Sept/Oct. 2005, pages 46–51
*Myers, Janice. “At Home with the Sacred”, Su Casa, Vol. 10 No. 3, Summer 2004, pages 68–75
*SOFA New York, The Sixth Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art,
**May 29-June 1, 2003, Catalogue page 77
*Hoffman, Bruce. Survey Fiber 2002, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Catalogue page 4
*Surface Design Journal, Summer 2001, Feature article
*SOFA New York, The Sixth Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art,
**May 31-June 4, 2001, Catalogue page 63
*A Front Row Seat for SOFA, Special Advertising Supplement, Art & Auction, 2001, page 202
*Zrebiec, Alice. “Polly Barton’s Ikat Paintings: Internal Harmony/External Epiphany”. Surface Design Journal,
**Vol 25. No 4. Summer 2001, pages 36–41
*Larochette, Jean Pierre and Lurie, Yael. “Thread by Thread”. American Tapestry Biennial III, 2000
*HALI Magazine, Design File, Winter 2000
*“Exposure”, Surface Design Journal, Vol 23, No 3, Spring 1999, page 42
*Pasatiempo, Santa Fe New Mexican, Nov. 1994
*Malarcher, Patricia. “Of One Cloth: Textiles of the Liturgical Arts”, Surface Design Journal, Vol 13, No.3. Spring 1989, pages 5–11
*Malarcher, Patricia. The Liturgical Vestment: a Contemporary Overview, FiberArts, vol.11, No.5. Sept/Oct 1984, pages 58–61
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Polly
Weavers from New York (state)
Artists from New York City
Barnard College alumni
Fashion Institute of Technology alumni
Living people
Parsons School of Design alumni
20th-century American women textile artists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Textile artists from New York (state)
21st-century American women textile artists
20th-century American textile artists
21st-century American textile artists