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.
Upcoming Show Info
Sumi New York Presents Kozo Nexus:
Joan Giordano, Lori Goodman, Hisako Kobayashi, May 18– June 18, 2006, Opening Reception on May 18, from 6 – 8 Pm, Curated by Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos. There are two components that unify the works of these three artists. The first is their use of washi paper called Kozo which is made from the bark of the Japanese mulberry tree characterized by strong yet long sinewy fibers. It is this power that comes through in the works of Giordano, Goodman and Kobayashi that immediately impacts the viewer not only because of the Kozo but also due to their use of abstraction. Epitomizing Eastern thought that advocates strength through humility these pieces exemplify both the Japanese love for humble materials and the appreciation for accident. While Giordano sculpts and manipulates her handmade Kozo into bows, twists and turns, Goodman delicately fashions colorful vegetal forms into pods, and leaves and Kobayashi paints on Kozo with abstract forms alluding to organic encrustations. In their individual endeavors these three artists render art forms that in their uniqueness evidence that each of their talents arise from their own matrix.
Joan Giordano's work is part of an ongoing series begun in Japan internalizing the energy of nature and processing it through the pulsating sensations of urban life. She molds and shapes the Kozo to formulate distinct shapes such as chevrons, or knots, while weaving into the Kozo actual natural substances hay, or mud, and then adds cultural elements such as polished metal that bind her constructions. As Nancy Princethal wrote “Giordano’s work has a carefully calibrated disparity of mediums and forms-papery, steely and obdurate-that is seldom seen together.” LORI GOODMAN’S installations have addressed issues of humanity in relation to its environments, primitive villages, ancient landscapes and 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. Goodman’s working methods include stretching Kozo over an armature of reed, cane or bamboo to create works that arise from observing and dissecting natural processes. HISAKO KOBAYASHI’S work has been commented upon by the art critic Eleanor Heartney who wrote Kobashi’s work owes much both to the atmospheric space of oriental paintings and to the dematerialized color fields of western abstraction. Lines become free floating elements that pull the space into being around them. Kobayashi wants to imbue her works with a poetic presence, one that imposes a certain harmony on the disorder of nature, an order that embraces the illogical impulses that both fuel and disrupt our lives.