My name is Morgan Wallace Gilbert and I am an artist, art educator, and art administrator from Abingdon, VA. I work as the Director of the School of the Arts at Southwest Virginia Community College and teach classes in Visual Art. In my art-making, I am actively trying to find a connection between the history and traditions of Appalachia, through the fiber arts. I do this by taking traditional fabrics of Appalachia and making them into haute couture style dresses and outfits. Honoring tradition not only means creating as those in your culture have done in the past, but forging new traditions. This blend of old and new helps portray the idea of traditions as living and growing things, not stuck in history, but ever evolving into something new. I explore folklore of the world by looking at origin stories that include fiber arts and incorporating these stories into my pieces.
I am currently working on a project that involves three dresses made out of vintage coverlets woven in Appalachia. In the late 1800s, Southwest Virginia was a hub for wool overshot blanket production. The Goodwin family, and their Clinch Valley Blanket Mill in Cedar Bluff, VA made thousands of blankets through an innovative method of weaving with water-powered looms. This allowed them to make up to 50 coverlets a day, much more than would be able to be done otherwise. These blankets have now been passed down through generations, and I was recently handed mine this past Christmas from my mother. Thinking about this innovation that was done in such a small town in my region, I have gotten one of these style blankets and have integrated it into three haute couture formal gowns. I then went to the old blanket mill, now in ruins, and photographed myself and two models in these dresses. I wanted to explore a narrative layer additionally to these images, so in the images, we will be depicting the three Fates from Greek mythology. I want people to think about what the three Fates are in their culture. What would the three Fates in Appalachia be?
Traditionally, craft techniques were learned through a passing down amongst families or a traditional apprenticeship. With the dawning of technology, we are becoming more independent in our learning. How will the globalization of the world affect our art cultures? In the next hundred years, will it be impossible to tell an American artist’s work from a Chinese artist’s? A new generation of artists is defining what the future of Appalachian contemporary craft will be and what the image of Appalachia will stand for. Artists and schools like Penland School of Craft are taking traditional craft methods and using them in contemporary manners. The role of social media and the Internet are changing the face of traditional crafts and artmaking, enabling an interchange between Appalachian artisans working in both traditional and contemporary methods. Appalachian artists are also allowing new technologies to mesh with traditional techniques of art making.
All this raises questions: How will the local art world be affected in the long term by collaborations between various cultures? How will artists define their work using their own culture? How will Appalachian art-making change over the next twenty years? My research endeavors to start a dialogue about these new trends in Appalachian artmaking to help promote awareness and participation in art observers.
I am currently working on a project that involves three dresses made out of vintage coverlets woven in Appalachia. In the late 1800s, Southwest Virginia was a hub for wool overshot blanket production. The Goodwin family, and their Clinch Valley Blanket Mill in Cedar Bluff, VA made thousands of blankets through an innovative method of weaving with water-powered looms. This allowed them to make up to 50 coverlets a day, much more than would be able to be done otherwise. These blankets have now been passed down through generations, and I was recently handed mine this past Christmas from my mother. Thinking about this innovation that was done in such a small town in my region, I have gotten one of these style blankets and have integrated it into three haute couture formal gowns. I then went to the old blanket mill, now in ruins, and photographed myself and two models in these dresses. I wanted to explore a narrative layer additionally to these images, so in the images, we will be depicting the three Fates from Greek mythology. I want people to think about what the three Fates are in their culture. What would the three Fates in Appalachia be?
Traditionally, craft techniques were learned through a passing down amongst families or a traditional apprenticeship. With the dawning of technology, we are becoming more independent in our learning. How will the globalization of the world affect our art cultures? In the next hundred years, will it be impossible to tell an American artist’s work from a Chinese artist’s? A new generation of artists is defining what the future of Appalachian contemporary craft will be and what the image of Appalachia will stand for. Artists and schools like Penland School of Craft are taking traditional craft methods and using them in contemporary manners. The role of social media and the Internet are changing the face of traditional crafts and artmaking, enabling an interchange between Appalachian artisans working in both traditional and contemporary methods. Appalachian artists are also allowing new technologies to mesh with traditional techniques of art making.
All this raises questions: How will the local art world be affected in the long term by collaborations between various cultures? How will artists define their work using their own culture? How will Appalachian art-making change over the next twenty years? My research endeavors to start a dialogue about these new trends in Appalachian artmaking to help promote awareness and participation in art observers.