“Thousandth Hour of the Next Journey,” an exhibition of three-dimensional textile sculptures by artist Saberah Malik, is on view in the Hunter Gallery at the Drury and Grosvenor Center for the Arts at St. George’s School from March 31, 2017 – May 19, 2017.
A reception with the artist, free and open to the public, will be held on Friday, April 7, from 6–7 p.m. St. George’s Sonic Wallpaper Jazz Combo will entertain the reception guests with a musical performance.
Malik grew up in Pakistan and earned B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in Graphic Design from the Panjab University in Lahore, Pakistan. Awarded a National Merit scholarship, she traveled to New York City for a master’s degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute.
“While developing my practice of shibori, I came to understand the potential of fiber manipulation to create ethereally transparent fabric forms. The paradoxical intricacy through which my process captures the form and surface of objects, is a reflection on the perfect and the imperfect; it is a meditation on beauty in the inconsistencies of crafting, and in nature. It is a search for the spiritual within matter as a divine presence,” reveals Malik.
The exhibition title reflects the painstaking process creating her most recent piece, “Be My Guest,” which was inspired by memories from Central Asia and Pakistan where tents function as movable homes or alternate gathering spaces and are adorned with vibrant, multicolor appliqués. “Applying my signature process of transparent three dimensional textile forms,” Malik explains, “I began crafting more than six hundred “tiles” to erect a similar structure. At an average of two hours for each tile, it literally was at the thousandth hour that I fully understood the direction and depth of memories enabling me to see this as the next journey.”
Saberah has exhibited widely, nationally and internationally (Canada, Portugal, Turkey, Pakistan), and received numerous awards including a Certificate of Excellence from the Surface Design Association, the Curator’s Choice Award for the Fidelity Investments Corporate Collection, Sculpture Award from the Providence Art Club, awards from the Handweaver’s Guild of America, and awards in exhibits at the Newport and Danforth Art Museums, amongst many. Her work is in private and institutional collections in the United States (including the Fidelity Corporate Collection), in International collections (Akdeniz University, Turkey) and in Pakistan.
To learn more about the artist and her work, please visit: http://www.saberahmalik.com
The Hunter Gallery is open 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Saturday.
