Jeffrey Gibson

Jeffrey Gibson’s materials and production methods are hybrid and diverse; he often combines digital prints, found textiles, embroidery, hand-sewn fringe, and beadwork in vibrant assemblage-based paintings, sculptures, and garments. 

During his residency, Gibson will explore the material histories and futures of several traditional Indigenous craft techniques, including Southeastern river cane basket weaving, Algonquian birch bark biting, and porcupine quillwork, as practiced by many tribes across this land long before European settlers arrived. 

The artist notes that Indigenous crafts and designs have “historically been used to signify identity, tell stories, describe place, and mark cultural specificity,” explaining, “I engage materials and techniques as strategies to describe a contemporary narrative that addresses the past in order to place oneself in the present and to begin new potential trajectories for the future.” 

Employing techniques learned over the course of the residency, Gibson will produce a new series of garments that will be activated through performances and staged photo shoots in the Fifth Floor Gallery.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.