Mark Newport Opens Solo Exhibition at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

Mark Newport, Artist-in-Residence and Head of our Fiber department will open the new exhibition Suture and Stitch: Mark Newport at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles on October 19, 2018. The exhibition will run through January 13, 2019.

For Newport, textile and skin are intimately connected. Physical proximity causes sweat and strength, dirt and fear, love and cologne to move from flesh to cloth indiscriminately. While cloth protects skin, either can be cut or torn. Stitches are the means to aid healing and measure the intensity of the wound.

These works begin by cutting a hole into the cloth. The hole is then filled by weaving with needle and thread. The repairs are made using traditional textile darning and mending techniques learned from studying European and American mending samplers. Whether the area of repair is immediately visible or camouflaged, mending holes leaves a scar that speaks of vulnerability, intimacy, and futility.