Think of Seashells
Portland, OR
Review on 60 Inch Center by Lindsey Costello
Capsule Review of Night Fog by Lusi Lukova
Sight Unseen's Weekly Highlights
Buy the book, Woven Places, published by Some Other Books, New York City.
On view October 11–November 13, 2018
Opening reception Sunday, October 14 (3–5 p.m.)
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Monday, 12–6 p.m.
Think of Seashells, an exhibition by Francesca Capone, was presented at Nationale in Portland, Oregon in November 2018. The large scale woven tapestries, shown both hanging and on the floor, were prompted by a series of 21 small woven works made on site in various locations, as featured in an accompanying artist's book, Woven Places. Inspired by notions of sense of place, Capone's weavings utilize found materials, which would otherwise be waste, such as plastic dry cleaning bags, dock lines from the nearby marina, paper scraps, and shoelaces. Considering weaving as a measure of time and place, the material of the weavings become a language, representing and reframing these found objects into new woven forms. Exploring these concepts in her writing, Capone likens the process of weaving to that of seashells, "each line, a period of growth" referencing the development of calcium-based growth rings formed with time. To Capone, the weavings are just the same "the object is built in layers, weft over weft, forms a physical sense of place and representation of time." During the opening of the exhibition, special wines were served to aid in the visceral sensations of this concept, such as Note di Bianco by Alessandro Viola, which was grown on the remaining limestone of former seabeds from the Cretaceous period, in Sicily, where Capone's family heritage originates.
