Outside...In explores spiritual journey
What: Outside …..In, an MFA thesis exhibition featuring works in fibers that explore the process of the artist’s experience of prayer and meditation to achieve inner calm and peace.
Where: Harry Wood Gallery, Art Building, ASU Main, Tempe. (900 Forest Mall on the west side of campus near the intersection of Forest and Tyler Malls.)
Who: Krishna Patel, a graduate student at the School of Art in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU.
When: Nov. 12-15, 2002
Opening Reception: 7-9 p.m., Nov. 12
Hours: Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Friday: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Cost: Always Free
About the Exhibition: Art is a journey in creative action, a process of inquiry and the search for meaningful expression, according to MFA candidate in fibers, Krishna Patel. In her work, Patel – now in the fourth stage of her life, according to her Hindu faith – explores her experience of prayer and meditation to achieve inner calm and peace. The fourth, or mature, stage of life is when Hindus believe they should focus more on the spiritual aspect of their life’s journey.
The influence of Patel’s Hindu faith is woven through her work, just as she says the rhythm and sounds of weaving are an integral part of her prayer and meditation. Each of the 108 sections in her intricate piece, “108 Prayers,” represents a prayer bead on the mala, the Hindu equivalent of the rosary.
Patel began the piece, which she had already designed, on Sept. 11, 2001. It was her way of responding to the horror unleashed that day. “I had to pray for those souls,” said Patel. “I had to pray for peace.” In a strange, unplanned “coincidence,” Patel’s process of creation was complete on Sept. 11, 2002. The beautifully three-dimensional work will hang with other works in her thesis exhibition.
“The outer faces of my woven structures represent my body,” Patel said. “The inner faces are synonymous with my inner self.”
The colors, material, intersecting warps and wefts, layered and altered woven cloth, and the spaces created by these, are representative of the pathways exploring this journey for inner peace.
About the Images: Krishna Patel, 108 Prayers (detail), 2001-2001.
The Harry Wood Gallery is one of three galleries on the ASU Tempe campus operated by students, staff and faculty of ASU’s School of Art in The Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts. The Harry Wood Gallery features solo thesis exhibitions and group shows by graduate students pursuing master of fine arts (MFA) degrees and group shows by undergraduate students.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Pringle
480-965-8795
jennifer.pringle@asu.edu