Artist Information
About Lori
Lori Goodman has been involved in fiber art most of her life. Living in Northern California has been a major influence in her life and work. Lori taught weaving, spinning and dyeing for 15 years until her frustrations with the slow process of weaving led her to paper. Making paper was a perfect vehicle for her large-scale sculptures and installations. After years of studying papermaking, Lori began teaching the process at the College of the Redwoods, The Ink People Center for the Arts, and at Humboldt State University. In 1990, Lori received her Masters degree in Sculpture. Since then, she has been able to realize her fantasy of filling rooms with fiber. She has won many awards for her work, including Best of Show at the Humboldt Art’s Council yearly exhibit.
Lori’s installations have been both indoors and out, and she has shown in national and international exhibitions. Goodman’s installations have addressed issues of humans and their environments. These environments have ranged from primitive villages and ancient landscapes to redwood forests. It has been her intention to exaggerate the spaces and to create possibilities where one can scrutinize and enter into or be reminded of the small pieces that are often forgotten or ignored.
Jane Ingram Alan from Accessibility 2003, catalogue discussion “From the Outside In”, 5th Annual Exhibition of Installation Art.
Artist's Statement
Kozo, the bark of a Japanese mulberry tree, is the main substance of my mixed media sculptures and installations. For thousands of years this bark has been harvested annually (the tree is cut leaving a base that grows back quickly), and made into an extremely strong and beautiful paper. The natural beauty of the white paper is exiting and mysterious in itself. Sometimes I pigment or dye this characteristically long, shiny, translucent fiber, which creates an intense and integral color. Often the paper is stretched like skin over an armature of reed, cane or bamboo. I feel a connection to the ancientness of this process and continue to be seduced by the act of making the paper.
The structures and installations are the result of looking intimately at and absorbing parts of life; the small pieces can be astonishing and overlooked. Often this analysis results in dissecting and exaggerating observations. It is hoped that this exaggeration demands scrutiny and thought and brings the forms out of the realm of any specific reality.