Fiber sculptures thread a space for female artists at City Hall

Christy Rodriguez de Conte
·4 min read

Fiber artist Tenne' Hart sculpts a future for fibers and the women who weave them as she curates WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions exhibit running through April 2 at the Tallahassee City Hall gallery.

Sculpting space

History has proven that the fight for women's spaces in the art world, along with many other professions, was a response to the system whose standards of beauty and art did not include that of the female artist. Women were merely to be the object of the male gaze, but not the power behind the brush.

Work by April Webb featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Work by April Webb featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

Still, space was made in homes and salons for artists to share their craft from generation to generation like a secret handshake. So began the evolution of women's work into women's art. It was not until 1921 that a woman was given her first show at New York's prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it was as late as 1972 when A.I.R. Gallery, the first all-women gallery in the U.S., premiered its first show.

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Flash forward to 2023 — the fight for space continues, and fiber artist Hart leads the way.

Work by Kelly Boehmer featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Work by Kelly Boehmer featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

For Hart, fiber work has always been female-centered. She recalls magical moments with her grandmother and mother around a table, cutting patterns and stitching dresses; a young Tenee' always at her feet, grabbing for the excess fabric and knowledge.

Hart carried this essence into her work and has delivered a curated all-women show to the steps of City Hall in her latest show, WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

"These traditions are looked at as women's work. So I wanted to flip the coin on that and be like, 'alright, it is women's work, but look what we are doing with it. Look how we're empowering it, transforming it, pushing it.' I wanted this show to push the boundaries of what City Hall has ever seen," Hart said.

"It's crochet and in your face. Overpowering… I want this to slap people in the face; you can't not unsee it … I'm all about women needing to take up more space," Hart said.

Tenne Hart's latest show, Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, opening at City Hall, highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Tenne Hart's latest show, Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, opening at City Hall, highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

Unconventional fibers

Hart considers her work to be experimentation. She believes her ability to use a mixture of media is both what elevates her work and marginalizes it between the worlds of sculpture and fiber art.

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"I'm not a purist to the medium," Hart said. "What that looks like is large, organic-looking forms that are kind of oozing and gushing fibers that [are] mixed with everyday materials. I kind of have a devotion to the domestic object and transforming it to the point where the viewer is like, 'is that a plastic bowl?' I love manipulating objects."

Work by Celeste Ivory featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Work by Celeste Ivory featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

Hart jokes that if she had to carry a gun holster, it would hold a hot glue gun on one side and a heating gun on the other. She begins with a miniature study of the materials and design and eventually transfers it to a larger scale.

The concepts arise from her materials to support the story she wishes to tell, as seen by the shreds of manipulated makeup wipes in one of her pieces addressing the antiquated ways of using bird feces to lighten a woman's skin.

A hall for her

Work by Denise Bookwalter featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Work by Denise Bookwalter featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

For 10 years in Tallahassee, receiving her Masters of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Florida State University, Tenee' Hart was also curating and creating change within the artistic community. She now delights in bringing back fellow Florida State alumni to show their work at City Hall.

According to Hart, it's time for women to take up space. "It is all women taking over City Hall, which is a building of power and structural power not only Tallahassee but all of Florida because we are the capital," Hart said. "Each one of these artists are using fiber traditions in a different way. Using it to spread theory, artistic practice, and their artistic message."

Work by Brittany Watkins featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.
Work by Brittany Watkins featured at City Hall in WEFT// Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, which highlights the work of 20 female fiber artists.

Hart acknowledges that this journey has been arduous, filled with critique and censorship. Yet, she persisted, insisting that if women's work alludes to women's parts, they should still be shown. With the help of other female artists and curators, a compromise was had, and everyone's work was shown in one way or another.

Hart wants to challenge anyone's artistic eye. "I wanted to challenge and push them to even question what art is so that maybe they could learn that art is not just stuff that you hang over your couch. It is stuff that is supposed to challenge and inspire and hopefully motivate change."

Hart hopes this show will offer attendees, especially women, the takeaway that although our world may seem to promote isolation, art can unite. She aims to take this exhibit beyond City Hall to travel to people all over. "I want to take up more space," says Hart, "I want more."

If you go

What: WEFT//Women Empowering Fiber Traditions

When: Through April 2

Where: City Hall Galleries 300 S Adams St.

Cost: Free

Information: visit tallahasseearts.org

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Women weave way into City Hall with Empowering Fiber Traditions