Threads

The work of three award-winning artists based only a few miles from our nation’s capital will be exhibited in downtown Waynesboro for the next several weeks.

Floris Flam, Marla Rudnick and Dianne Harris Thomas are all contributing examples of their art to “Threads: Fiber Arts from the Torpedo Factory,” which will open inside of Main Street’s Gallery 20 East on Friday, September 5. The name comes from the famed Torpedo Factory Art Center in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Va., where projects completed by Flam, Rudnick and Thomas can be seen on a regular basis.

Elena Kehoe, curator of Gallery 20 East, expects the exhibit to be “a visual feast of the highest level of art quilting.” To celebrate the opening, a special reception is scheduled to start at the gallery at 5:00 on the evening of September 5.

Marie Hershey & Company will provide music on accordion and mandolin from 6:00 to 7:00, followed by The Queen Bees (Nicola Sussman and Gabrielle Sanfilippo) entertaining audiences with their vocals, guitar, ukulele and violin until the gallery closes at 8.

“Threads” will be the featured exhibit at Gallery 20 East through Sunday, October 12.

About the Artists

Floris Flam takes the traditional art of quilting to a whole new level.

“My work is inspired by the geometry of the world around me,” she explains. “It is abstract but often suggests architecture. I love color, visual texture and spatial ambiguity and strive to convey a sense of balance and serenity.”

Flam dyes and prints all of her fabric using a wide range of surface design processes. She shows widely in the region and throughout the United States. Her quilts are available to purchase at the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery inside The Torpedo Factory.

Marla Rudnick is a reverse alchemist turning silver and other metals into thread and then into gossamer jewelry and sculptures, which appear to defy the laws of physics. Knitting metal fiber into sculptural forms and functional wearable art makes the pieces lighter than air, yet grounded in strong design and accented gems, beads and glass. In addition to The Torpedo Factory, Marla shows and sells her work at selected galleries including VisArts in Rockville, Md. and The Wesleyan Potters in Middletown, Conn.

Dianne Harris Thomas began her artistic life as a painter and explored various media before falling in love with the quilting process to create art. Primarily representational in her images, Thomas deconstructs reality to “paint” with fiber in vivid color and strong images. Her abstract quilts are a fierce fusing of nature and geometry. Dianne shows widely around the region, but The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria is her home gallery.