Jim Bassler contemporizes ethnic textiles. History becomes a starting point for his creative exploration. For instance, many cultures weave textiles with protective powers. In Ribbed Shield, Bassler gives us a protective shield for the Western urban environment. His work explores the value of human effort and his meticulous processes of weaving and dyeing give contemporary sensibilities to traditions started thousands of years ago.

Carol Shaw-Sutton is another artist who uses traditional techniques. Her hand-constructed sculptures are imbued with energy from her laborious processes such as knotting and coiling. In her piece, Our Bones are Made of Stardust , Shaw-Sutton seems to transcend time and space with simple materials from nature. Through her arduous textile process, Shaw-Sutton's work attempts to control life's narratives alluding to time and personal involvement.

While Bassler and Shaw-Sutton explore the human spirit in their works, Connie Utterback removes the human presence and examines the pure physicality of color, line, and form. Utterback bases her work on geometric structures; her industrial process of fusing nylon mesh creates spatial ambiguity---the lines created through the melting process become part of the three-dimensional structure. In Geoflex multiple layers of dyed transparent mesh form new patterns and colors. In this way geometry softens to textile.

Fiber in the Hood reflects just a glimpse of the diversity present in the contemporary fiber field. Future gallery shows will explore other Fiber neighborhoods.