Exhibition Statement

This collection of works is part of a multimedia installation. Tender is an exhibition of recent works by River Berry. She works primarily in quilting, embroidery, printmaking, collage, performance, and video, incorporating found objects that she has collected throughout her life. Using elements of everyday life, domestic spaces, and crafts, she bridges these images with her feminist ideals to reflect on contemporary social issues and personal experiences. Berry acknowledges the histories of the craft arts and the women who often received little credit for their work. Interacting with themes such as the home, bodily autonomy, and women's history; she creates fiber objects that embrace and investigate femininity, intimacy, and the feminine experience through a nostalgic lens.

In these fiber works Berry brings together techniques such as quilting and embroidery that were passed on to her by her grandmother as well as materials that have been handed down or gifted by local artists. This process examines and reinterprets these objects infusing them with new life and meaning while honoring past craft artists. Berry explores the ways in which craft and fiber shape our everyday lives. Traditionally we interact with fibers as clothes, bedding, sometimes furniture. We possess an intimate knowledge of these objects based on their closeness to us and our bodies. These tender quilts and soft sculpture installations honor traditional crafts while subverting these processes to investigate intimate relationships, traditional gender roles, femininity, domesticity, and the domestic space. Berry sees her stitches as acts of love and admiration serving as a delicate ode to the materials and subjects of her work. These narrative and autobiographical aspects are highlighted by embroidery, photographic ephemera, and found objects. Berry reflects on her own history as well as the collective histories of craft arts and women in western society; capturing the fleeting images of childhood through nostalgic plush installations. The imagery and objects presented in this installation reference the history of women artists such as Coralee Hirsch-Logan, the artist's grandmother as well as contemporary women artists like Sue Cavanaugh, Tracy Emin and Jenny Holzer. The unwoven, unfinished nature of the works questions what the viewer sees as comfortable, while honoring all that we do to make it comfortable for those we love. Tender is intended to comfort, confront, and honor the histories of craft, the domestic space, women, and the artist herself.

River invites you to approach the works closely and physically interact with the pieces in the gallery. Investigate the contents of the pockets and embrace the textural qualities of each piece. Please use caution when handling and only touch with clean hands. Thank you.