About the exhibition:

Parallel play is an exhibition by Eleanor Anderson and Morgan Thomas Shankweiler examining the relationships between work, play and social discourse. Through a balance of finished work and a series of interactive games, Parallel Play provides a non-threatening perspective through which to recognize the importance of playfulness within art-making, and life in general. The exhibition ultimately examines the agency of the artist-creator, the agency of the gallery visitor, and social agency within communities and greater society. Though the artists themselves approach the idea of play differently, the commonality of play-as-process is made visible in the work.  The artists nudge the viewer towards joy, connection and an awareness of how a playful approach to life can alter how we engage with the world around us.

For Shankweiler, play is rule-bound and applied. In her process, Shankweiler creates games with rules that mimic real-world systems and information, including the chaos and random chance of everyday existence. To “play” a game is a fluxus exercise in relinquishing her own control over the resulting image, returning to the canvas at the end to interpret the results with her own hand and choices. In her interactive work, the visitor is asked to play a game themselves, allowing them to see real-world systems form in front of their eyes, by their own hand, different every time, and ever-changing as the participants change. Play is a vehicle for abstraction, for the hands-on sharing of information and for the building of community.

For Anderson, play is a moving target; challenging her to stay present and open to improvised solutions during the process of creation. Her pieces start without a preconceived plan; along the journey she embraces material-errantry and actively resists the urge to turn towards logic - instead, trusting the errant route in search of what IS without jumping to convention.

The works of the two artists compliment each other. Anderson's most recent series "Intuitive Cartographies" employs large scale fabric collage - using the material language of fabric, stitching and machine embroidery to create works that read as aerial diagrams of playgrounds. She manipulates fabric and found-objects in a patchwork of linking, overlapping rectilinear shapes, sprinkled with graphic mark- making and notation. Other works are strands or grids of baubled, caged, linked and poofed fabric that hang from the walls and ceiling, responding to the gallery’s physical space. Shankweiler’s work is conceptual tapestry. Her works on paper and panel play with the visual dichotomy of three dimensional trompe l’œil rope against the flat rendering of her game tiles. As a byproduct of her game/play system, her linear ropes, knots and links are supported by a gridded scaffold, mirroring the angles of the collaged quilt squares in Anderson’s work. The colors used by both artists are bright and bold, eye-catching like children’s toys.

Together, Anderson and Shankweiler exemplify how professional artists can be playful and hardworking, joyful and serious, lighthearted and relevant. Play begets joy. Joy begets creativity. Creativity begets innovation. Play resonates with people of all ages coming into the space. It is a language of agency that transcends age, class, education, race and religion.

Parallel Play will be on view in Gallery 1 at Da Vinci Art Alliance starting March 1st until March 19th. The opening reception will take place on Saturday March 4th, from 4-7pm.

About the artists:

As artist cousins, Shankweiler and Anderson often rub up against the great "why" of art-making. Certainly they have "art" in their veins (as evidenced by relatives' work and hobbies) but the reality is, they can't help themselves. The work they create is borne of an intense and constant drive to make things and the ability to hyper-focus into a flow-state when working (and playing) in the studio. Both Shankweiler and Anderson are inspired by work that uses play, experimentation and chance as a clear and essential part of an artists’ process.

Morgan Thomas Shankweiler (b.1985) splits her studio time between the Philadelphia suburbs and the coast of Maine. She graduated with sociology and studio art majors from Williams College (Massachusetts) and studied Mughal miniature painting with Ajay Sharma in Jaipur, India. Her background in sociology informs her work, which is a study in time, memory, community, chance and the commonalities of human experience. Shankweiler’s award-winning work has been featured in the 2020 online archive of AI39, online through MuralArts Philadelphia and ArtsBenicia, has been shown in galleries through the United States and she has completed residencies at SVA (NYC), DVAA (Philadelphia), Ellis-Beauregard Foundation (ME), and Penland School of Craft (NC) where she is leading a workshop this coming summer (’23). Her current practice focuses on the aleatoric creation of intricate rope and knot paintings and drawings through played games. These works examine relationships, social systems and community networks through metaphorical still-life and mathematical abstraction.

Eleanor Anderson (b. 1988) received a BA from Colorado College and an MFA in Fibers from Cranbrook Academy of Art (’22). Anderson works using a broad range of media including textiles, ceramics, prints and collage. A former Core Fellow at Penland School of Crafts, she has now completed residencies at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY, The Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY, The Tides Institute, Eastport ME, Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Deer Isle, ME and Praxis Fiber Studio, Cleveland OH. She has taught workshops at Penland, Pocosin School of Crafts, as well as been a visiting professor at Colorado College, the Cleveland Institute of Art and College for Creative Studies in Detroit.  In 2021 she was awarded the Outstanding Student Award from the Surface Design Association. She currently bases her studio in Hamtramck, Michigan.