Symphony in Fiber and Weavers Duet

Weavers Duet: The Works of Norma Smayda and Laurie Carlson Steger

Symphony in Fiber: Harmony in Color and Texture
Juried by Laurie Carlson Steger, Norma Smayda, and Susan Ward

Exhibition Dates: May 3 - 31, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 3, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Art League Rhode Island is pleased to present two concurrent exhibitions, Symphony in Fiber: Harmony in Color and Texture, juried by Laurie Carlson Steger, Norma Smayda, and Susan Ward and Weavers Duet: The Works of Norma Smayda and Laurie Carlson Steger.

Music is an art that awakens emotions and imaginative imagery. Many textile makers find a correlation between the notation of musical scores and textile drafts or patterns and use these similarities by blending fibers, patterns, and textures to evoke a feeling like a favorite melody.

Smayda’s and Steger’s works, both independently and collaboratively, are inspired by music. With themes and variations of tone and structure, their textile compositions express a lyrical mood in a weaver’s duet. Together, along with Susan Ward, they juried the work in Symphony in Fiber. The work of various artists from across the country, alongside the intricate and experimental independent and collaborative work of Smayda and Carlson creates a captivating and tactile combination. The range of materials artists employ in this exhibition includes wool, paper, recycled plastic bags, wooden branches, found objects, cotton batting, wires, polyvinyl, silk, seaweed, digital weavings, and a live musical composition based on some of the work.

Artists in Symphony in Fiber include: Jayne Aussavadegool Babine, Janet Austin, Aleksandra Azbel, Anastasia Azure, Paula Stebbins Becker, Darilyn Bennett, Carl Brown, Barbara Danzi, Cynthis DiDonato, Judy Duggan-McCormack, Ashley Edes, Molly Elkind, Linda Facci, Lori Lawrence, Ryan Lewis, Niraja Lorenz, Cheryl Mincone, Charlotte Moore, Vince Quevedo, Dorothy Raymond, Margaret Schermerhorn, Katie Semro, Kathy Spoering, Sarah Swift, Sandra Trimble, Ellen Frances Tuchman, and Jocelyn Vache.

Norma Smayda is a Master Weaver, exhibitor, teacher, juror, and author, who trained in handweaving and related fiber arts in Norway and received an MFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. In 1974 she established and continues to run the Saunderstown Weaving School. Scandinavian design continues to be an important focus of her work, as well as the contributions of Weaver Rose and Bertha Gray Hayes. She coauthored Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes: Miniature Overshot Patterns. More recently Smayda has immersed herself in weaving with fan reeds, and in designing and exhibiting her ondulé textiles, which culminated in her second book, Ondulé Textiles: Weaving with a Fan Reed. She has received numerous awards for her exhibited work, the most prestigious of which are the Handweavers’ Guild of America Award for Creativity and Craftsmanship and the New England Weavers Seminar Weaver of Distinction Award. She is the Past President of the Handweavers’ Guild of America.

Laurie Carlson Steger is a Master Weaver who began weaving at an early age. She earned a BFA in Textile Design and an MFA in Artisanry/Fibers from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her artwork explored weaving with fiber optic lighting materials and led to consultant projects with industrial and smart textile applications. Recent awards include the Handweavers Guild of America Certificate of Excellence in Weaving and a Complex Weavers Award from the Chattahoochee Weavers Guild. Her work has been exhibited with Fiberart International, Fiberart Now: Excellence in Fibers, the Fuller Craft Museum, American Textile History Museum London Hat Week, and many art collaborations. She taught Textile Science at Boston area colleges and has led workshops/lectures at weaving guilds and textile conferences. Steger is currently the Dean of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. She is a member of South End Woven, a cooperative weaving studio in the SoWa arts district in Boston.

Susan Ward is a curator, independent researcher, and lecturer specializing in 20th-century textile design and fashion history. She worked on a wide range of research projects, exhibitions, and publications in the Textile and Fashion Arts. Department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her other projects include: Collaborator on Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, an exhibition and catalog focusing on the artist’s wardrobe; Co-curator for the exhibition and catalog Knoll Textiles 1945-2010 at the Bard Graduate Center in NYC; and The Design Research retrospective installation in Cambridge in 2009. She has lectured on 20th-century textiles at the Concord Museum, Boston Architectural College, Mass College of Art, and Lexington Historical Society.

For additional information or images, please email Sarah Hardesty at [email protected]