All That Glitters

Hidden Threads at The Gallery at Bristol-Myers Squibb includes thick and lush tapestries in bold colors, intricately detailed kaleidoscopic quilts and story-rich weavings.

By: Ilene Dube
   It’s cold outside. The light is dreary, and now that the ice on Carnegie Lake is no longer frozen, there’s not much incentive to go out. Much better to light a fire and haul out that needlepoint that’s been in a drawer for years.
   That was pretty much the idea The Gallery at Bristol-Myers Squibb Curator Kate Somers had when she planned the winter show, Hidden Threads, with its "abundant warmth evoked by the rich colors and tactile quality… The purpose of this exhibition is not only to give the viewer a visual feast of color, texture and bold imagery but also to inform the viewer about how complex and varied the process of making textile art can be," she writes in the exhibition catalog.
   On view through March 16, the show includes Soyoo Park Caltabiano’s tapestries, thick and lush threads in bold colors creating the movement of dancers on cloth; Patricia Malarcher’s remnants of Mongolian Buddhist prayer clothes wrapped around seashells and adorned with sparkly threads, paint and mylar; the intricately detailed kaleidoscopic quilts of Joy Saville; story-rich weavings of Armando Sosa from Guatemala; Erma Martin Yost’s "Domestic Allegories," combining computer technology and needlecraft to pay homage to Renaissance fresco painters; and the multimedia work of Nancy Staub Laughlin.
   Skillman resident Ms. Laughlin offers inspiration to those with needle projects moldering away in a long-forgotten drawer. The first piece you see when you enter the show is "Ghost of the Hay Bale," a richly painted needlepoint canvas depicting a cornfield superimposed with bales of hay. An ear of corn takes center stage, and below the canvas is a wooden rod wrapped with the full spectrum of cotton and sparkle floss. This is a work in progress, but stands on its own in the unfinished state.
   Further on, we see the progression of Ms. Laughlin’s work: She starts with a large color photograph, often surreal; from there she draws a pastel, taking the image one step further into fantasy as she adds color, texture and detail. In "Ghost of the Hay Bale," for example, the hay bales now have little swirls in the vortex that almost resemble fairy faces, and the corn kernels are as electric as multicolored popcorn kernels.
   As if this were not enough, Ms. Laughlin goes one step further and re-interprets each work in needlepoint. The needlepoints, with contrasting patterns of stitches, often 3-by-3 feet square, take anywhere from two-and-a-half to three years to complete. There are six needlepoints in this exhibit alone, so it is a surprise to meet Ms. Laughlin — not a white-haired crone but a vibrant young woman in her 40s with blond hair pulled back in a pony tail.
   For a studio, the artist uses a second house on her property that had previously been owned by a collector of antique cars. He turned the first floor into a warren of bays Ms. Laughlin uses to work in and exhibit.
   Each of the exhibition bays is set up with antique wooden tables and chairs, all family heirlooms. The tables are set with a centerpiece and candlesticks, crystal wine glasses from her grandmother and sparkly objects. She recently held a benefit to raise money for a scholarship fund for the children of Andrew King, the Princeton resident and Cantor Fitzgerald employee who perished in the World Trade Center collapse.
   Her technique is her own complicated invention. The Litchfield, Conn., native starts with a large glass tank — the kind generally associated with fish. She fills the tank with water and drops in what she calls her "props" — glittery dotted fabrics that look as if they had been used for wedding dresses or veils, sparkly leaves and knick-knacks she picks up on Bonaire, an island off Venezuela where she frequently vacations.
   Shopping is all in a day’s work for Ms. Laughlin, who is passionate about glittery things. She frequents JoAnn’s Fabrics and Treasure Island, both in the Mercer Mall. "I go to the gaudiest stores for props," admits the artist. "My license plate should be ‘sparkle.’ I see effervescence everywhere. Even my kids are in tune with it. If they see a reflection on the wall they’ll call me to see it."
   She stocks up on beveled glasses mirrors from Nelson Glass in Princeton to add a prismatic effect. Ms. Laughlin likes to incorporate those crystallized fruits used for holiday decorating — not the real sugared fruit Martha Stewart makes, but the genuine plastic type.
   Ms. Laughlin, who has shown her work at the Newhouse Gallery in New York City, has drawers full of photographs she has taken and laminated at Triangle Art Center in Lawrence, and these, too, get submerged into the tank. The next step is to add movement; she may use a pump or get one of her sons — 15 and 22 — to stir up some action with a hand. Perfect. Now she gets out her husband’s old Nikormat from college days and starts shooting roll after roll of film until the play of light and shadow are just right.
   She calls the result an "assimilated still life." Having studied sculpture at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and then at the Johnson Atelier in Hamilton, Ms. Laughlin says she is self-taught in photography. "I don’t know f-stops, and I don’t usually show my photographs," she says. This time, Bristol-Myers Squibb Curator Kate Somers persuaded her.
   At the opening of Hidden Threads, gallery-goers were curious to know her tricks for superimposed images. Does she do it digitally?
   "Everything you see is there in the tank," she says.
   For "Ghost of the Hay Bale," she placed photographs of the cornfield, the hay bales and the ear of corn into the water tank. "Reflecting in the tank it looks like a ghostly image," she says.
   Her watery technique evolved from taking photographs of reflections on the ocean and underwater in swimming pools. "I had to put weights on to keep me down," says the avid swimmer, snorkeler and Scuba diver. "I don’t want the photograph to look too precious because I want it for drawing, but I am a perfectionist."
   The best photographs are enlarged at New York Camera in Princeton, and from there she begins a six-week process to render the image in pastel — a medium she has worked in for 25 years. She prefers Stonehenge etching paper for its thickness. "It absorbs the color and there’s not a lot of dust. I don’t fix or spray my pastels because it ruins the color. I’d rather have color than no dust."
   After the pastel, if she feels she can spend time with the image for another three years, she will take it one step further. She works on the needlepoints in airports, doctors’ waiting rooms, waiting for her son at hockey practice. "It’s very relaxing, but good light is essential. Sometimes I get together with a knitter and a rug hooker for a ‘stitch and bitch.’ The nice thing about it is, you feel like you are always getting something accomplished. It makes the utmost of my time because it makes me happy."
   There also is sadness woven into her needlework. The pieces were worked on when her mother died, when her son was in the hospital, while she served on a jury. "They contain my family history, and I could never sell them. I will give them to my children, who will give them to their children."
   Remembering the advice of one of her sculpting teachers at Moore, Ms. Laughlin says, "It’s really important that what you do, you have a passion for. If you do what you love, it’s so much easier, because it’s you. My whole house looks like this."
Hidden Threads is on view at The Gallery at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Route 206, Lawrence, through March 16. Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 1-5 p.m. The gallery will be closed Feb. 17 for Presidents’ Day. For information, call (609) 252-6275. Nancy Staub Laughlin on the Web: www.nancystaublaughlin.com