This intimate exhibition of approximately 11 works by Maryland-based artist Annet Couwenberg reveals the intersection of science, art, technology, and history that makes textiles such a fascinating art form.

In the summer of 2014, Couwenberg, a Maryland Institute College of Art professor and internationally exhibited artist, received a prestigious Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF). As a part of this program, which paired scientists with visual artists, Couwenberg worked with Dr. Lynne Parenti at the National Museum of Natural History to examine fish fossils. She has applied the patterns and structures of aquatic life forms captured through advanced technological methods to her artwork, which is also visually connected to traditional textiles and costume forms drawn from her own Dutch heritage.

In her latest efforts, she pays homage to the Netherland’s production of damask during the 17th century, when this fabric was referred to as “white gold”. Returning to her homeland, she wove four panels featuring designs generated by her Smithsonian studies adapted to damask patterns and inspired by the BMA’s Portrait of a Young Woman (1634) by Dutch artist Frans Hals.

Hear the fiber artist talk about her extraordinary work with WBJC's Judith Krummeck.

This exhibition is curated by Anita Jones, Curator of Textiles