Philadelphia Inquirer - April 16, 2010

Women’s collaborative fiber art challenge now on display in Mount Holly

By Megan Doherty
Three Burlington County women are currently displaying their artwork in a collaborative show, “Interpretive Fiber Works,” at Home Fine Art Gallery in Mount Holly. The show opened April 1, but the preparations began about 18 months ago.

“It started with what we like to call playtime,” said Rose Dunaif, a Mount Laurel resident and estate paralegal.

Dunaif, Vickie Mathas and Alice Waldeck are all fiber artists. Mathas is the only full-time artist of the three, and she also introduced Dunaif to Waldeck. All three have backgrounds in fiber art and art quilting, and they would come together to informally work on their art.

Mathas is a Mount Laurel resident and member of Home Fine Art Gallery, a co-op gallery with 12 members who display their work on a rotating basis. Mathas invited Dunaif and Waldeck to show with her, and she suggested they work together and challenge each other.

“The idea was that we would be working on the same kind of challenge, but use our own creativity,” said Waldeck, a mental health nurse from Willingboro.

The challenges could revolve around any subject matter, theme or medium, and they could be very broad or specific. The women met once a month to present new challenges.

“I think this is really an unusual approach to an art show,” said Mathas.

One challenge was to create an artistic image of winter using gray felt. Another challenge was to make an artistic representation of a personal statement by somehow using a hanging element. Another challenge was to work with a material called Tyvek. Each of the women took turns presenting challenges.

“It worked because we are all very different artists, and we all think differently,” said Mathas.

Mathas described herself as a more linear artist, while Waldeck is more pictorial, and Dunaif is more spiritual and whimsical.

The women had to step into each other’s spheres as they worked on the challenges. In describing the personal statement challenge, Waldeck said, “I had trouble with that particular challenge because it was stepping outside of my box.”

She ended up creating a goddess in the archway on fabric. The goddess is actually a pin that can be removed from the fabric canvas.

Mathas said she had more trouble with the winter challenge, because she is not typically a pictorial artist.

The women also taught each other new techniques, such as needle punch, technique in which embroidery thread it punched through a fabric with a needle, creating fabric loops on one side.

“I would say that is the one technique we all went crazy over,” said Mathas. “In a way, you could almost say they are miniature rugs,” said Dunaif, who is also a rugmaker.

Waldeck found that she enjoyed working with Tyveck, a material used in insulation and envelopes.

“This was entirely different and so much fun,” said Waldeck, who also said the women would refer to the time they spent together working on their art as “playing together.” Mathas, who has a home art studio, said that during the 18 months they worked on the challenges, she would often be in her studio alone, thinking she’d like to show Dunaif and Waldeck her work. Suddenly, she said, they would just drop by.

“It was funny how that would happen,” said Mathas.

Also, as a full-time artist, Mathas said she often works alone, and she enjoyed this chance for camaraderie.

“In an art group, personalities are a big thing,” said Dunaif.

She said that the three women were lucky to have clicked in their personalities and energy levels.

“We developed what I think will be a lasting friendship,” said Waldeck. The women said they could see turning the experience into a book. “Maybe this will inspire [others] to do similar group,” said Dunaif.

Mathas said the women will continue to work together, although not in such formalized challenges.

“We only stopped because our time was up,” said Mathas, referring to the beginning of her next show at Home Fine Art Gallery.

“We grew, not just as artist, but also as people,” said Dunaif. Home Fine Arts Gallery is located at 2 Church St, Mount Holly. Visit www.honefineart.org for more information.