Dunwoody’s Spruill Gallery opened its exhibition season on Feb. 15 with “Through Lines” featuring the work of Atlanta artists Amanda Banks, Gavin Bernard, and Amberly Hui Hood.
Spruill Gallery Director Shannon Morris said she was inspired by works using thread as she assembled the show, which runs through March 29.
“Through Lines” brings together three artists, whose abstract works explore cultural lines, intersections, and the construction practice of stitching and the formal element of line, according to Morris.
“While similar in concept and design practice, the artists employ different materials and colorways to create their works,” she said.
Self-taught mixed media fiber artist Amanda Banks, who resides in North Georgia, uses their surroundings as a source of materials – trash from the street, second-hand yarn and fabric, boxes of forgotten things, or treasures foraged in the woods.
“I like to find scrap material and make a new purpose for it,” Banks said. “I work on a piece until it brings me joy.”
Banks, who describes their art as “childlike and playful,” said they work organically, sometimes pinning up a found material on a wall, then building on it until it is pleasing.
Banks most recently exhibited at Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta Contemporary Museum, East Tennessee State University, Slocumb Gallery, and in Rome, Ga., where they curated and exhibited in “Protest & Power “(February 2023) and “We Been Her” (February 2022) in celebration of Black artists from the region.
British-born artist and designer Gavin Bernard’s work “explores the power of subtlety through meditative and durational practice, creating multi-layered geometric installations through weaving and sewing,” according to a Spruill Gallery release about the artists.
His quilts on display for the “Through Lines” exhibit represent a new medium for Bernard, who became fascinated with making quilts for friends during the pandemic.
“I start in small sections and piece them together like a puzzle,” he said. “There’s a story behind each piece – mostly my thoughts and memories that come out as I am constructing the pieces.”
One of the quilts on display is personal for Bernard, who will gift it to a good friend as a wedding present. The other one, created for the exhibition, took a year to complete.
“I’m always very self-critical, but I think these two are the best I’ve done so far,” he said.
Bernard presents his works for WonderRoot, Wanted Design, Dance Chance, Dashboard, Atlanta Beltline, Modern Atlanta, SXSW EDU, and Blue Heron Nature Preserve. He holds a residency at The Creatives Project and a studio at Echo Contemporary in Atlanta.
The colorful works of Atlanta-based artist Amberly Hui Hood are composed of contemporary rubber pieces using a bright color palette of traditional Korean textiles technique call“pojagi.” The pieces are complimented with bright thread accents throughout.
“It’s interesting to use two opposite mediums [thread and rubber] to make something sculptural and colorful,” Hood said.
Hood holds a BFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (2017). She most recently exhibited at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Swan Coach House, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, and Westobou Gallery.
Hood is the founder and owner of Studio 23 Atlanta, located in Smyrna, GA, which offers a wide range of classes for students of all ages and skill levels, including a Neurodevelopmental Art Program designed for youth and adults with disabilities.
