A blend of photography and fiber

The fall season at newARTSpace opened with the exhibition Resonance on Sept. 11, coinciding with Art Nite in Downtown De Pere.

The exhibition brings together photographs from American Dream by David Graham with selected fiber works by Northeast Wisconsin artists Toni Bergeon, Pat Baum Bishop and Beverly Jane Watkins.

Though distinct in medium and approach, the works reveal compelling and unexpected connections among observations of place, pattern, and human experience, inviting viewers to discover visual and conceptual resonances across photography and textiles.

Since turning to color photography in 1979, Graham has been drawn to the unusual, descriptive, and often overlooked details of the American landscape. His work explores how people express themselves through the environments they create and inhabit — along roadsides, in backyards, and within everyday domestic spaces. His photographs examine the complex intersections of image, symbol, and reality that shape our understanding of America.

In recent years, after relocating to De Pere from Philadelphia, Graham has focused much of his attention on Wisconsin, traveling through its towns, cities, farmlands and forests in search of both the beauty of the landscape and traces of the people who live within it. The resulting images reveal lives, histories, and aspirations embedded in the built and natural environment.

Throughout his work, Graham bears witness to both the distinctiveness of place and the universal ways people leave their mark on the world around them.

Bergeon, a fiber artist from Minocqua, is a storyteller whose quilts begin with photographs. Images of the natural world made during her travels provide the inspiration for fiber works that transform her experiences of place into visual narratives. Color, texture, quilting, fabric, and thread are all instrumental in telling these stories.

With every photograph, Bergeon sees the potential for fiber art, and with every finished work, she revisits the places she has been. Viewers often connect her imagery to stories of their own, perhaps seeing nature in a new way and finding encouragement to get outside and explore.

Bishop, from Shawano, is a mixed-media artist whose basic materials are fabric, paint, and a sewing machine, although she has been known to venture into other territory. Stylistically, her work leans toward abstraction, giving her the freedom to manipulate compositions in order to express what she finds most compelling.
The Wisconsin landscape is an enduring source of inspiration, and through her art, Bishop strives to encourage others to care for the place we call home.

Watkins is a graphic designer and textile artist from Green Bay whose work reflects her love of Japanese aesthetics, sewing, embroidery, and photography, often bringing several of these elements together in a single piece.

She grew up in a military family with a mother who quilted, embroidered, knitted, crocheted, and explored all things fiber, while her father pursued photography and printed his photographs in a darkroom he created. As the family moved from place to place, Watkins grounded herself by exploring and absorbing the cultures around her.

Her most lasting influence came from living in Japan as a child, where she was struck by the beauty of its gardens, minimalist aesthetic, and the subtle, sophisticated colors of its art and clothing. Those early experiences, combined more recently with the possibilities of digitally printed surface-pattern design, helped set Watkins on her current artistic path.

The galleries at newARTSpace, 124 N. Broadway, Suite A, De Pere, are always free and open to everyone.
Resonance will remain on view through October 31.

For further information and weekly hours, visit newartspace124.com or follow the postings on Facebook and Instagram @newartspace124.