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Fiber Art Exhibit Set For Dunedin

From Margaret Hluch

An exhibit of fiber art by Margaret Hluch will be on display at the Dunedin gallery Clay and Paper from June 20 until Aug. 3.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: June 14, 2008

More than two decades ago, Margaret Hluch met Kenya.

That country, where Hluch lived for two years teaching weaving at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, still shows up today through vibrant colors and images of its birds and African homes in Hluch's fiber art work.

Area residents will get a chance to view her fiber art at a show running from Friday, June 20, through Sunday, Aug. 3, at Clay and Paper, an art gallery in Dunedin. Owners Barbara Melby-Burhans and Ira Burhans are old friends of Hluch. The three studied art at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn., in the 1980s.

Hluch will be in this area attending the Handweavers Guild of America conference in Tampa at the end of June.

She calls the Kenya years "the most fascinating, wonderful two years of my life."

Her work became characterized by its lush use of color.

"Weaving deals with structure, which can be logical and mathematical," she explained. "Over the years, I have taken my love of color and texture and combined them with the structure of the cloth. Combining them, the cloth becomes very rich."

Before weaving them, she paints the individual strands of fiber as she would a water color, Hluch explained.

She begins with that painted image when she puts the strands on the loom. When weaving, she adds textures and other colors.

The result is what Hluch called a "woven painting."

Hluch has also been influenced by a stint in Jordan, travels through Egypt and her life as a woman, she noted in a telephone interview from her home in Frederick, Md.

She uses symbols that have meanings for her in her work, Hluch explained, such as the various shapes of African homes signifying "the strength of everything" and sacred Egyptian boats believed to transfer the dead to the next world. "They show time, and they show the journey," she said.

Her work is labor intensive, she noted. It can take her a month to finish a 2-foot-wide, 5-foot-long piece of cloth.

The lowdown

The art gallery Clay and Paper is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

There will be a free artist reception on Friday, June 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clay and Paper and the affiliated Painted Fish Gallery, 350 Main St., Dunedin.

On Tuesday, June 24, Gals Night Out for Art will allow attendees to mingle with other women and make their own scarves. Fee is $48. For a required reservations call 727-736-0934 or 727-772-9570.

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 cbentley@suncoastnews.com. Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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