Mid 20th Century Aldeth Spence Christy, "Morning Tears The Autumn Night" Applique Tapestry Wall Hanging

Description

Aldeth Spence Christy, 1939- 2001, Maryland
Ardeth was one of the stitchers for Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party at The … more Aldeth Spence Christy, 1939- 2001, Maryland
Ardeth was one of the stitchers for Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party at The Brooklyn Museum,

Christy at Touchstone. After many delays, Touchstone Gallery has reopened at its newly renovated R Street address. The inaugural exhibit of this venerable cooperative in its new space is a show of fabric wall hangings, drawings and 25 one-of-a-kind books by Aldeth Spence Christy.

Titled "Retrospective and Recovery," this is an achingly personal collection of images spanning more than 10 years and including the artist's struggle with a confining illness during the past two. Christy has a flowing, illustrative style in which patterns gracefully balance solid shapes. Like her larger wall hangings made of brocades, prints and velvety fabrics, her framed drawings are actually stitched collages of patterned papers. Both depict scenes from Christy's daily life -- an evening watching TV, a vacation day, her wedding. Often, a large black bird appears near her. Representing her husband, he lends a mythic air to the work and functions as confidant, teacher and protector.

More personal still are the books, which contain the day-to-day drawings and musings of a woman facing her own mortality. The question that leaps to mind is whether this qualifies as art. Feminist art, with its emphasis on crafts and autobiography, notwithstanding, Christy's materials might appear too homey, her subject matter too sentimental, if it were not for her excellent command of line, pattern and space, and the undeniable genuineness of her search for understanding through her work. Many art historians have commented on the searching self-portraits of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. Christy's work is a more modest ode to the archetypal experiences within the commonplace events of a life. less