presence/absence

Intrigued by how all art must traverse the imagined and the material, I improvise my way into work in a kind of waking dream. This state of continuous attention allows me to explore what is captivating, troubling, deeply beautiful, or mysterious. Always using my hands in repetitive actions, these interior journeys often occur while quite literally holding on by a thread.

This exhibit commemorates the life of my daughter, Emma Rose Coleman, who died unexpectedly at age 19 last November. All of the work in the show has been made in silk or paper in the intervening months. Grief, memory, time and love provide a psychic residence for this body of work, which suggests larger cycles of destruction and renewal: power and fragility, direction and loss, the illusion of control and the certainty of chance.

As an artist in residence at the Morgan Paper Conservatory last summer, I began considering how to express textile techniques in paper while I was making a huge amount of it. Textural variegations in paper, the varying strengths of bast fibers, the way handmade papers respond to color, water, heat, and manipulation, all resonate with my experience with fabrics. These explorations, while primarily sculptural, led me into new worlds of books, printmaking, drawing and utilizing texts, which is why I decided to also apply narrative and time-based enhancements to the work, including original music by Ross Feller and a video loop by Rian Brown-Orso.

A color- and shape-resist technique, traditional Japanese shibori is a constant in my work. Shibori embeds memory in fiber, in color and form, providing a rich metaphor for presence and absence, and for the elusive passage of time.

In conversation with Ann Onusko
... with artist Rebecca Cross.

Entering into the gallery, you sense that you are being enveloped in something special, almost imperceptible, and very personal. Rebecca Cross' presence/absence at the Morgan Conservatory allows one to stroll through a life and witness its discoveries.

Rebecca Cross has always been attracted to art. Using her words, her voice or textiles, she has developed them all along the way. She trained as a bel canto singer at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and received her MFA in Crafts in 2008 at Kent State University's Center for Visual Arts. Presently,  Rebecca teaches composition, literature and art at Kent State. Her interest in textiles led her to the art of quilting and explorations of fabrics and their qualities. The influence of the years she spent as a child in Japan and Alaska is subtly present in her work. 

 presence/absence is Rebecca's tribute to her daughter, Emma Rose Coleman, who died unexpectedly at age 19 last November. During the summer of 2011, Rebecca was an artist in residence studying the art of handmade paper making at the Morgan. Her daughter often visited the Morgan with her; as she was preparing for her show, Emma accompanied her mother while collecting the sheets of shale used for incantation in the Vermilion River bed.

The process of creating and installing the exhibit's silk and paper sculptures actually assisted Rebecca in "transforming time" and discovering how to get through each day. As one studies each display, one can see and feel Rebecca's belief that her daughter was "deeply good". 

To see more photos of the silk and paper sculptures, visit Sculptures in Silk and Paper. 

Photography by John Seyfried and Jared Åkerström

Retinal Memory video. Filmed by Rian Brown, (2010)