Dana Barnes

On this week’s instalment of ‘Artists in Conversation’, we’re bringing you an intimate look at the creative exchange between two of our THREAD artists. Join us as @teresah_astings speaks with @danabarnesstudio to explore the intentionality behind Dana’s pieces RUPTURED (Out of the Blue) and FLUX (Held in Motion). From the first concept to the final form, hear how these works came to life.⁠ ⁠ Dana Barnes⁠ RUPTURED (Out of the Blue), 2026⁠ Merino wool, silk tussah, bamboo, enviro poxy and crystals⁠ ⁠ FLUX (Held in Motion), 2026⁠ Merino wool, silk tussah, bamboo, enviro poxy and crystals⁠ ⁠ --⁠ ⁠ Video by @bracket___studio ⁠ ⁠ Presented at THREAD⁠ The Schoolhouse⁠ 18 Balderton Street⁠ Mayfair⁠ W1K 6TG⁠ London⁠

On view through May 16th @sarahmyerscoughgallery ! Honored to have work in the THREAD Exhibition, a major international survey of woven works with 19 incredible artists. If you happen to be in London the gallery is located at: The Schoolhouse, 19 Balderton Street, Mayfair.    Excerpt from Sarah Myerscough’s statement: “The resulting exhibition evokes that same awe-inspiring journey through a forested landscape I experienced years ago. It balances material intelligence through human creativity in harmonious conversation with the natural world. I hope it highlights what ultimately binds us together: a shared love for transformative materials and the art of making by hand.” The two works on exhibit coalesce in tandem, celebrating the organic movement of textural form—solidified in time—an element that has become a studio signature: RUPTURED (Out of the Blue) FLUX (Held in Motion) Materials: Merino, Yak, Bluefaced Leicester, Camel, Gotland, Icelandic wool; bamboo, silk, hemp • Enviropoxy • crystals 📷 (image 1 & 12) @bracket___studio

See ‘WINDOWS’, part of the Exhibition: UNTAMED Gestures @madmuseum 🤍 ! On view thru this weekend! • • • Shown here in the museum’s studio recreation is the making of RETOLD: Tekke Madder (slide for process pics in the actual workspace). The RETOLD series was originally inspired by the Abstract Expressionist artist Pat Passlof, who painted and lived in the workspace before us. Utilizing, as a substrate, the intricately hand-knotted Persian wool carpets that Passlof left behind, these works explore contrasting applications of layers of wool in gestures that resemble brushstrokes and the use of a palette knife to apply paint to a canvas. Movement and textures of clotted, caked fibrous forms bring an unconstrained dimensionality to the textile’s structured traditional format while coexisting with and celebrating its rich history in a contemporary adaptation. 1-2) Making process recreated in museum—RETOLD on large scale easel shown alongside Passlof’s original easel with Barnes’ brushstroke / paint clot studies. 3-7) Actual workspace showing fiber laying process; more paint studies; boiling / felting process. At Museum of Arts and Design, NYC Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm) Hope you can visit the show! RETOLD series in collaboration @randcompanynyc

Last week to experience ‘WINDOWS’, part of the Exhibition: UNTAMED Gestures @madmuseum 🤍! • • • It’s been a great pleasure seeing so many visit to draw, read, look, and engage in ‘WINDOWS’ —an exhibit that recreates a part of our workspace and process. The studio laboratory that’s replicated is brimming with experimental material studies, vibrant fibers, a video ‘peek’ into the hand making process, sculpture maquettes, geological fragments, tools, photography of the natural world + archeological sites, along with other phenomena that have been inspirational through the years. The museum space is transformed into an immersive, interactive atelier environment, inviting you to explore a world and artistic sanctuary where fiber, form, space, and history collide. Slide to see museum visitors taking part at Museum of Arts and Design, NYC Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm) Hope you can drop by, the show is up thru February 8th!

Up until February 8th: Exhibition UNTAMED Gestures @madmuseum 🤍! • • •  On exhibit are the Endolith Casts—a sculptural landscape and paradox of materiality reminiscent of the gritty, sensual beauty of natural forces. The work references the seemingly immutable nature of lichen growth and its complex relationship with the unyielding materials it colonizes to produce quiet explosions of unexpected, texturally intricate forms and color. To articulate this phenomenon, spontaneous knotting and meticulous shearing techniques are used to create a wet-bonded + boiled textile that radiates into densely vibrant patches. It is then immersed in fluid state concrete and cast in a time sensitive curing procedure that seamlessly fuses the woolen mass and stone-like composite. 12 more days to see the exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC! Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm)

On the occasion of Dana Barnes: Untamed Gestures, join artists and collaborators @danabarnesstudio and @christopherkurtzstudio for an intimate, in–gallery conversation with MAD senior curator Barbara Paris Gifford on Tuesday, January 27. The discussion will center around the artists’ 2024 collaboration, Between Us: Tête-à-Tête. This suspended two-seater chaise, carved by Kurtz from basswood, is enveloped by Barnes’ hand-twisted woollen vines, melding the artists’ distinct sensibilities in form and material. Balancing strength and delicacy, Between Us: Tête-à-Tête evokes both resilience and tenderness. During the conversation, you will hear Barnes and Kurtz discuss a range of topics, from the work’s conceptual development and craftsmanship to the convergence of their practices for their first collaboration. You will also have the opportunity to investigate textile materials and watch a demonstration of the artists’ process. Tap the link in bio for tickets. Space is limited.

An evening with Dana Barnes. Transferring an artist’s studio into a museum to showcase the artist’s process and creative space is always challenging, as it requires careful packing, disassembling and reassembling countless parts, and disrupting the creative flow. This was the mission of NY-based fiber artist @danabarnesstudio when bringing her own studio into the Museum of Art and Design @madmuseum for the occasion of her current solo exhibition, Untamed Gestures. The exhibition is composed of two parts. The first is an installation in the form of a topographical and picturesque landscape created and crafted of fibers, and the second part located in the adjacent space on the third floor of the museum is devoted to the recreation of Barnes’ studio. The two support and complement one another, and the deep connection between the two brings the viewers closer to her private world, because Barnes’ work is about the craft and the process. I joined Barnes on one winter evening just hours before Christmas to get a guided tour in her own voice and to hear firsthand account of the way her first museum solo show was born. I have visited Barnes’ studio in the past and found it one of the most inspiring spaces in New York City. It is situated in historical Lower East Side of Manhattan in a 19th-centuty former synagogue with a brick façade, which was also the former home of famed abstract expressionist painter Pat Passlof. The patina of the building and its surroundings are mirrored in Barnes’ work in a way that flows, as it is where the artist creates her celebrated and monumental bespoke works in fiber and from which her pieces travel all over the world. Now that she has moved much of the studio into the interior of MAD—an equally unique and historic building situated on Columbus Circle and designed as a private gallery in the 1960s by Edward Durell Stone for Huntington Hartford, heir to the A&P supermarket—it is shown in a different light. To read the entire review, visit my blog @substack today. Her work is represented by @randcompanynyc and @ralphpucciintl

Current works on view @randcompanynyc ! ‘RETOLD’ Series: ‘Afshar Three Diamond’ and ‘Lilihan Flora‘. Abstracting woolen fibers to coexist with and celebrate the traditional Persian textile’s rich history; a contemporary adaptation. Materials: Original hand knotted wool carpet (era 1850-1900) infused with multi-colored merino wool and silk fibers.

More from ‘WINDOWS’, part of the Exhibition: UNTAMED Gestures @madmuseum 🤍! • • •  The studio laboratory replicated in ‘WINDOWS’ is brimming with experimental material studies, vibrant fibers, peeks into the hand making process, maquettes, geological fragments, tools, photography of the natural world, archeological sites, along with other phenomena that have been inspirational over the years. A glimpse into our studio, the ‘WINDOWS’ exhibit recreates a part of our workspace—a 19th century synagogue turned art studio—that has been transformed into an immersive, interactive experience, inviting you into a world and artistic sanctuary where fiber, form, space, and history collide. 📸 Clio Westhoff Come visit and immerse yourself! Museum of Arts and Design, NYC Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm)

Introducing ‘WINDOWS’, part of the Exhibition: UNTAMED Gestures @madmuseum 🤍! • • •  A glimpse into our studio, the ‘WINDOWS’ exhibit recreates a part of our workspace–a 19th century synagogue turned art studio–that has been transformed into an immersive, interactive experience, inviting you into a world and artistic sanctuary where fiber, form, space, and history collide.  1-Studio process slideshow (left) • ‘Between Us: Tête-à-Tête‘ a collaboration with @christopherkurtzstudio (right) 2-Interactive tables • Making process of artworks ‘Cling’ and ‘Retold’ 3-Pin-up inspiration wall with experimental material studies, prototypes • Actual size photograph of sanctuary studio windows 📸@danielrootphotography Hope you can visit!  Museum of Arts and Design, NYC Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm)

Exhibition: UNTAMED Gestures ֯ @madmuseum 🤍! • • • ‘Through the Roots’ and ‘Wild Thing’ conjure the Earth’s dynamic terrain – textural, undulating terra-beings engulf knolls and absorb all that lie in their paths. A persistent sense of movement held within the forms. Fibers of Merino, Yak, Bluefaced Leicester, Gotland, Icelandic, Alpaca, silk, flax, bamboo, hemp, horsehair Wood • Enviropoxy • Crystals • Wire • Copper • Plaster • Cardboard form On view at Museum of Arts and Design, NYC Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm (Thurs-8pm)   Curators: @eauther @barbaraparisgifford , @efkoehn Photos: Jenna Bascom, Daniel Root

Very grateful for the ‘Object Lessons’ feature in @sculpture_magazine of work on view @madmuseum ~ UNTAMED Gestures Exhibit ! Swipe ⇾ for actual feature + more exhibition photos❣️ ••• Excerpt from ‘Object Lessons’: “Entwined grew out of my preoccupation with how nature reasserts itself in abandoned, vacant places. I’m drawn to the way that vines spiral into emptiness, how they fill voids left behind, their tendrils reaching without logic and order. …”