9th Avenue
Object NameTextile Sculpture
Artist / Maker
Priscilla Kepner Sage
(American, b. 1936)
Date1959
MediumFabric, yarn, and found objects. Machine and hand stitched fabric and threads
Dimensions28 x 32 in. (71.1 x 81.3 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of the artist and Charles Sage. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Object numberU2012.358
Status
Not on viewCultureAmerican
Label TextIn 1959, Priscilla created a fabric collage, 9th Avenue, of the tenement building she saw as she entered Manhattan on the bus. Instead of painting this cityscape, she combined fabrics, found objects and thread to create a complex composition of geometric forms and patterns. I wonder if she realized what an innovative gesture that work was for its time? Threads of her Pennsylvania childhood seem to come to the surface merging with her embrace of the city, the innovative methods of Lowenfeld, and her experiences as a painter. After this pivotal point in her development as an artist, nothing is the same again.
PeriodMid-Century
Locations
- (not entered) Iowa State University, Brunnier Main Storage
Object Name: Textile Installation
Priscilla Kepner Sage
2007
Object number: U2007.69