A $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts was recently awarded to ArtsWestchester in White Plains to support a contemporary art exhibition titled The Social Fabric: Common Threads and Uncommon Visions. This art exhibition will feature new work and site-responsive commissions featuring Hudson Valley-area artists who use textiles to explore issues of broad social consequence.
ArtsWestchester”™s project is among 1,073 projects across America totaling nearly $25 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support this project from ArtsWestchester,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “ArtsWestchester is among the arts organizations across the country that have demonstrated creativity, excellence and resilience during this very challenging year.”
In recent decades, art made with fabric and fibers has commanded increasing attention said
ArtsWestchester CEO Janet Langsam explaining, “Textiles are approachable artifacts of daily life. Beyond the clothes we wear, textiles and their associations, tactile qualities and labor-intensive ways in which they are made can trigger moments of nostalgia, or an increased social consciousness when thinking about the impact of ”˜fast fashion.”™ As such, textile artworks offer a unique entree into contemporary art.”
Deputy Director of Programs Kathleen Reckling said, “This project includes commissioning three site-specific works that leverage the unusual spaces of ArtsWestchester”™s White Plains gallery, housed in an historic bank building.
