KADIE NUGENT & LEXIE ABRA MILLIKAN

JUNE 8 - 29, 2018

SNAP SPACE – KADIE NUGENT AND LEXIE ABRA MILLIKAN work to explore the interactivity of the human body with textiles in their newest collaborative exhibiton Belonging. Both artists use found materials that already contain history, along with newly crafted textiles like quilts and weavings. Their shared interest to create spaces where the viewer is invited to interact with textiles has led them to collaborate in the past, and again in this exhibition. They both thrive on the element of improvisation and reaction to materials, when creating their work.

In Nugent’s most recent body of work, she experiments with the movements of her own body in relation to large-scale mixed media assemblages. These colorful sculptures that grow out of the wall and onto the floor seem benign at first glance. The viewer is confronted with domestic textiles and building materials that have been saturated in paint, reconfiguring familiar objects into an overwhelming display of the home. This restructuring of ubiquitous objects creates a sense of discomfort within the viewer, as they realize how many things are out of place. Nugent is interested in giving an alternative narrative to discarded objects and exploring the idea of place in regards to people and their things.

Millikan’s large-scale frame looms create a space where artist and viewer can work together to create a textile. The use of found materials gives a pre-history to each piece. Visitors are invited to bring in fabric from their own domestic realm and add it to this collaborative installation. The idea of viewer interaction has always informed Millikan’s work, because of her desire to create a sense of community surrounding her textile production. By using the loom, the disparate pieces of fabric are organized into one object that can be seen as a representation of those who created it. Millikan is drawn to the loom because it commands structure and encourages use.