phyllis lear : woman’s work: Quilted yo-yos

FIRST WEDNESDAY OPENING RECEPTION: 06/05, 6 - 9 P.M.
artICULATE aRTIST tALK: sUNDAY, 06/09 AT 4 P.M.

Most recently, Phyllis Lear has begun to explore the fabric yo-yo (Suffolk Puff) as an art form. Traditionally used as a quilting technique, she appropriates the yo-yo as a module for building fine art pieces. Many of these quilted works speak to current events as well as personal experiences.

The women in Lear’s family – her sisters, mother, grandmother, and godmother are all excellent seamstresses. Lear clearly recalls her Grandmother Lear hand-quilting in the middle of her tiny living room – the quilt taking up nearly all of the available space.

Lear received the 2005 Visual Artist Fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and was the recipient of the Donald F. Derby Endowed Professorship in 2017. She presently teaches at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in private collections from Toronto to New Orleans. Lear has been an artist member since 2005. She holds a M.F.A. in visual arts from Louisiana Tech University, and dual M.A. degrees in Art History from Louisiana State University, and Visual Arts from Northwestern State University.

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from James Flynn, Randell Henry, and David Scott Smith. All works from these four artists are on view, free of charge, during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) through June 27, 2019.