July 6 – Spetember 7, 1997 at Neuberger Museum of Art
curated by Judy Collischan
Angiola Churchill brings to the task her experience as administrator, teacher and artist. A professor and director emerita of New York University’s School of Education and Arts Professions, Churchill continues to operate NYU’s summer program in Venice. While born in New York City, Churchill has spent a substantial part of her processional career in Italy. Currently freed from former administrative chores, Churchill is devoting herself to her paper installations, paintings and drawings.
Her contribution to this exhibition is twofold. She has established a Walking Wall of Decorative Panels on the east end of the gallery parallel to her A Handmade Garden. Architect Philip Johnson’s design for the Neuberger Museum entails a front to back corridor along a north-south axis from which visitors can reach each gallery space. Thus, viewers cab walk by the wall piece and/or enter into enclosed garden suspended in a parallel position.
Moving past, viewers are offered the visual stimulation of the variegated surfaces comprising the Walking Wall. Set in a classical, grid formation, each panel is different from the other in terms of its prismatic, dappled, marbled, mottled, pied or streaked surface. Hung in two ling rows, the bottom pieces lift with room air currents, Geometry and organism are both represented in the overall configuration, and individual pieces composed of straight lines or folds are juxtaposed with those panels featuring curvilinear movements. Folded paper and loose hanging strips add to tactile and tonal variety, as do sewn, burnt and woven surfaces.
Entering Churchill’s garden from the northeast, one is faced with “sheets” of a paper waterfall that flows into the eddies and currents of circular pools. This formation defines one end of a rectangle of white scrim curtains “covered” with leafy vines and suspended bells and enclosing paper partitions and other hung forms. Immediately to the right are hanging, open works in geometric designs. Along the garden’s west all are eight tall panels of paper manipulated to imitate leaf, rain and other natural formations. The impression is one of a luxurious abundance of foliage and moisture. Repetition and patterns building structure are key to the sense of nature’s presence.
Opposite the waterfall is a water fountain that billows into retaining pools complete with concentric ripples. Suspended along the south wall are delicately devised medallions. Paper here is “embroidered” into elegant designs. These circular shapes suggest the oft-used tondo shape of Italian Renaissance artists. The overall whiteness infers purity and possibly femininity. Feminine traits are also present in the elaborate and obsessive patterns not unlike those found in quilting, embroidery, crocheted and knitted work common to women of a bygone era. In fact, Churchill’s garden is handmade by herself and assistants. She speaks of the trance-like state in which her work was dine that parallels that of others doing fine needlework.
Sound plays an implied role as splashing, lapping and gurgling water as well as the hinted tinkle of bells. One imagines the swish of trees and vines, the motion of leaves and fronds. It is a sensual environs that triggers visual, tactile and aural response.
Transparent and translucent, this white structure hovers like an apparition, a dream garden of the imagination. It is architectural silhouette, providing an airy walk through a fairy tale. Light enhances the appearance of a floating, ephemeral experience, not unlike the sensation of Venice’s watery surroundings. The tracery found in Venetian architecture as well as emphasis on line in painting, compares to Churchill’s linear definitions. Like this famous Italian city, Churchill’s garden is a work that combines ornate decorative relief with feelings of stateliness and grandeur.