Gallery Talk
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Noon
Rachel Ivy Clarke assigns specific fabrics, colors, and shapes to represent various data points about visitors, such as their hometown or the distance they traveled to get to the event, creating quilt designs based on their information. The resulting quilt is a collaborative snapshot of an event that brings together two seemingly disparate things: folk arts—a traditional form of slow, small, community-based creation—and data reflective of our contemporary society, which is rooted in rapid technological advances and the capitalization of mass communication and manufacturing. Shown together, the quilts provide a colorful and creative vision of different communities across the state while also providing a powerful example of how artists can help present data in a more visually effective way.
After an early career in graphic design, Rachel Ivy Clarke turned to librarianship, which led to her current role as an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. Her award-winning research focuses on the application of design methodologies and epistemologies to librarianship to facilitate the systematic, purposeful creation of library services. She combines her interests in information studies, design, and textile arts to juxtapose hard data and soft textiles, using fabrics and colors to visualize information in a tangible, visceral way. She earned a BA in creative writing from California State University Long Beach, an MLIS from San Jose State University, and a PhD from the University of Washington.
The Everson is supported by the Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation; the General Operating Support program, a regrant program of the County of Onondaga with the support of County Executive, J. Ryan McMahon II, and the Onondaga County Legislature, administered by CNY Arts; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Rachel Ivy Clarke
