Surface Design Association

Future Tense 2021 Online Gallery

June 14 – July 30, 2021

Future Tense 2021 celebrated the creative work of student artists, designers, and makers working with or inspired by fibre or textile materials or techniques. This exhibition offered a snapshot into the future of contemporary textile art by presenting textile work and practice which exemplified the contemporary brief made by textile practitioners today.

The SDA’s Future Tense 2021 jurors, Miyuki Akai Cook and Ann Coddington, and exhibitions award winners, Andrew Hilts, Kate Sechrist, Paulina Feunzalida-Guzman and Kat Sour, joined for a virtual reception on 14^th July 2021 to celebrate this year’s exhibition. The event included the juror remarks, artist presentations and an opportunity to connect with fellow students and SDA members in a virtual group setting. The jurors Associate Professor of Fibres, Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and Ann Coddington Professor of Art and Graduate Coordinator, Eastern Illinois noted how high the standards were and how diverse the creative work was from the submissions received, of the overall scope and range of submissions which made the selection of only 38 pieces out of 200+ artworks a significant challenge.

Many themes were investigated which included the effects of the pandemic. This was revealed by entries that expressed ideas ranging from depression to delight, from anxiety to meditation, belonging to schism, including many varying narratives concerned with a range of experiencing and their reaction to such experiencing. Ultimately the therapeutic outcomes which can be achieved through making creatively was applauded, of the use of our hands to create physical objects can be healthy, of the therapeutic way of processing thoughts, passing time, reifying the ineffable and indecipherable to the communication of ideas. It was emphasised that this is what artists do, to absorb, distil, and comment on our world, our time, how we communicate such ideas to others to make connections to evoke responses…reactions to increase understanding. https://www.surfacedesign.org/events-exhibits/exhibits/future-tense-2021/future-tense-2021-online-gallery/

AWARD WINNERS-First Place, Andrew Hilts, Second Place, Kate Sechrist, Third Place, Paulina Feunzalida-Guzman, Award of Excellence, Kat Sours