“Pieces & Parts” fiber art and ceramics exhibit opens Nov. 12

Three artists of different persuasions and places are showcasing their art in a joint exhibit opening Saturday, November 12, 7 p.m.

Anneke Herrold

Anneke Herrold, a mixed media artist living in the Netherlands, Barbara P. Fast, fiber artist and professor emerita of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Hanna Eastin, ceramist and Hesston College faculty member, will share about themselves and their art during the opening reception. The event is free and open to the public. Music will be provided by Erin Sundquist and Joyann Brake on flute. Refreshments will be served.

Herrold’s family emigrated to Kansas from The Netherlands when she was 10. She graduated from Bethel College with a degree in Art Education and taught in three states before returning to The Netherlands 14 years ago. She now makes art in a small attic studio with a view of the sky and sea, she said.

“Most of my art is inspired by my surroundings, especially the landscapes,” said Herrold. “My favorite techniques and materials are textile related. I love the process of gathering materials. I combine them with self-dyed, printed or woven textiles. Layering stuff makes for interesting textures and edges. With color, texture, and pattern, I use all kinds of elements and arrangements. The abstract designs sometimes suggest coded messages about feelings such as freedom and containment or about visible and hidden things.”

Barbara P. Fast

Fast, a Mennonite artist who sometimes combines her interests in art history, politics and current events in her art making, will highlight her skill in a variety of fiber art techniques in the upcoming exhibit with Herrold and Eastin, including papermaking, machine piecing and quilting, and tapestry knotting,

“I viewed each piece as a new compositional challenge that was always intriguing to solve,” Fast said. “They’re about design elements I especially enjoy: color, texture, value, line and pattern.”

Hanna Eastin

Eastin, a native of Northeast Tennessee, grew up on a goat farm working with her dad, making pots with her mom in her studio and building hideouts and trails in the woods with her sister. She now lives in south central Kansas and has grown to love the subtlety of the landscape and how that subtlety can shape everyone’s attitude and experience.

“My work has ranged from very abstract to text and image based narratives,” Eastin said. “But always, at the center, it is rooted in finding connections between people and experiences. I am working to find what binds us all inextricably together, no matter how far apart or how differently we live.”

Eastin’s work is made primarily of stoneware clay and finished with high temperature glazes. Using various hand building techniques to make wall tiles and book inspired forms, she brings narrative ideas and observations to life by carving, typing with a letter set and layering glazes and stains.

The artwork of Herrold, Fast and Eastin will be on display and for sale through January 7.

For more information about the exhibit, call the gallery at 316-284-2749.