Who doesn’t love a “twofer”?
Not only was I incredibly lucky to have caught Matisse and Diebenkorn together in the same exhibition at the SF MOMA earlier this month, but our visit to the Museum of Craft and Design included the unexpected windfall of two fascinating and quite different exhibitions for the cost of one admission.

I first learned about Wendy Maruyama’s work at SOFA Chicago in 2014. At that initial viewing I felt quite small gazing up at just one of her expertly crafted life-sized elephant heads, made from flat wooden panels held together with twine and hanging at the height of a living beast. To be in the presence of six of these creations is utterly awe-inspiring. Maruyama’s traveling wildLIFE Project, an exhibition which is now at the MCD through May 2017, was created as an advocacy project to bring awareness to the issues surrounding the poaching of wildlife.

Equally imposing, Maruyama includes a cache of blown glass “tusks”, also life-size. Enclosed within a wood and glass reliquary made by Maruyama, the casket of tusks symbolizes the preciousness of both the elephant and its ivory.

To round out her quiet yet emotionally stirring treatise, a series of Maruyama-built shrines elegantly and straightforwardly honor the elephant species and its growing loss. You can read more about the Bell Shrine on her blog. Stunningly beautiful, they reference the aesthetic qualities of Maruyama’s Japanese heritage. All the objects in this show are a nod to the fact that often the strongest statements are deceptively simple, holding tremendous weight due specifically to their lack of extraneous information. This is one of the truths behind The wildLIFE Project as a whole: the effect of Maruyama’s potent message, which addresses the devastating impact poaching has on wildlife, owes much to the simplicity of its delivery. Viewing the exhibition is a poignant and humbling experience.

Deeply moved as I left the gallery, I couldn’t help but think of the gravity and urgency of this exhibition and the message it carries — another instance of the power of art as a  go-between and translator. Which begs the question: How could our government possibly question the viability and necessity of the arts and the NEA? It is a viewpoint that is truly beyond me…but that’s a subject for another post.

Leaving Maruyama’s emotionally charged work behind, the neighboring gallery offered a comforting contrast. Cushioned in the story and products of felted wool, one can’t help but become aware of the stark dichotomy between the sustainability of harvested wool and the devastation and endangerment of species created via poaching. FELT DECODED, Wool: Nature’s Technology encompasses a comprehensive collection of art by Janice Arnold, who has passionately spent her career learning about and exploring the expansive world of wool felt. Free-standing sculptures, framed textural wall pieces, massive draped hangings, and tent-like enclosures all give voice to Arnold’s complete immersion in felt as an art form and her dedication to investigating the full scope of its history and its possibilities.

Aside from Arnold’s felted art, this exhibition also explores the timeline of felted wool, offering a myriad of examples that underline its fluidity and versatility throughout time. Having made it her life’s work to trace the material’s expansive background and use, Arnold aims to share her copious knowledge through various projects and in exhibitions like FELT DECODED. Her research spans from the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and Mongolia to the high-tech world of industrial felt, emphasizing the beauty and utility of this sustainable fiber. Her artist statement speaks to felt’s unexpected ability to bridge the divide between our past and our future:

“The current high tech world with its synthetic surroundings has taken us far from the natural world and our historic traditions of making things by hand. We are starved for natural textures, fibers and irregular forms. I believe wool Felt connects us with our natural history in a way no other fabric can.”

So there you have it: two completely different, yet equally captivating exhibitions under one common roof. Seen in parallel, the implication of each is bolstered by the other… I would say a “twofer” at its very best!

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Click here for Maruyama’s flicr page of photos surrounding the creation of The wildLIFE Project.

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And, as promised, a couple of quick sketches from our week away. There was time to draw each day, but it was mostly done on the fly.