Angela Fraleigh, Study of Fate from Threaded with moonlight, watercolor and marker on cotton rag paper. © 2023
Join us on Saturday, March 23, at 1 p.m. for a Dynamic Conversation between Allentown-based artist Angela Fraleigh and AAM associate curator Claire McRee as they discuss the exhibition Angela Fraleigh: Threaded with moonlight, currently on view in Scheller Gallery. Threaded with moonlight draws inspiration from the Museum’s extensive textile collection and the historical connection of textiles to female labor. A new series of three large-scale paintings and a set of smaller works delve into the themes of spinning, stitching, and weaving as expressions of empowerment.
Some of the topics to be discussed during the Conversation include Fraleigh’s research and artistic process, her use of art-historical source material, how her work engages with traditions of witchcraft, and the making of the exhibition.
The talk is free to all. Registration is not required but encouraged, you can RSVP HERE to reserve your seat.
At 12:30 p.m., before the talk, ten students from the music program at Moravian University will be performing a few classical compositions that reflect the time period which inspired many of the works in the exhibition.
“Fraleigh’s paintings invite you to keep looking,” says McRee. “Their technical mastery, vibrant colors, and monumental scale capture the viewer’s interest, and their visual and conceptual complexity rewards close observation, yielding deeper layers of meaning. Her reimaginings of historical narratives offer rich opportunity for inspiration, reflection, and discussion.”
Threaded with moonlight is on display at the AAM until April 21, 2024.
Angela Fraleigh earned her MFA from Yale University School of Art and her BFA from Boston University. Her solo exhibitions include Hirschl and Adler Modern and PPOW Gallery in New York, Inman Gallery in Houston, and Peters Projects in Santa Fe. Fraleigh has created site-specific solo projects for the Edward Hopper House Museum, the Vanderbilt Mansion Museum, the Everson Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Weatherspoon Art Museum. She currently lives and works in New York, NY, and Allentown, PA, where she is full professor at Moravian University.
Claire McRee is the associate curator at the Allentown Art Museum. She received her MA from the Bard Graduate Center in decorative arts, design history, and material culture, and specializes in the study of historic clothing and textiles. She has curated many exhibitions at the Museum, including Threaded with Moonlight, Fashion as Experiment: The ‘60s, and Sleep Tight: Bedcovers and Hangings from Around the World.
WATCH HERE a video of Claire and Angela touching on some of the themes that they will explore more deeply in their Dynamic Conversation.
Installation photographs of Threaded with moonlight