Threads in Time

Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition 2024

Matthew Gilbert | Nicole Hixon | Zeinab Manesh

September 28, 2024 - November 24, 2024
Saturdays & Sundays 1:00 - 5:00 pm
& by appointment

Opening Reception
Saturday September 28, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Newburgh Open Studios
Extended hours, with the artists
Saturday September 28 - Sunday September 29
12:00 - 6:00 pm

Two Coats of Paint Hudson Valley Gallery Crawl
Saturday, October 19 - Sunday, October 20
Interactive map here.

Gallery Talks
Saturday October 19, 2:00 pm

Exhibition and events are free & open to the public

Threads in Time brings together the work of Ann Street Gallery 2024 Emerging Artist Fellows Matthew Gilbert, Nicole Hixon, and Zeinab Manesh, whose sculptures and installations interweave representations of past, present, and future to connect individual identity and cultural heritage across eras. In a world marked by division and displacement, the artists’ reflections on isolation, belonging, and transformation encourage us to consider the legacies we leave behind and the ways in which art can both preserve and reshape our understanding of the world.

Works using fibers, found and recycled materials, paper, and glass serve as vessels for memory and shared identity, transcending time and place as the artists contemplate and locate moments of balance between impermanence and endurance. Where the materials used are at odds with the images or forms they represent, notions of nature and culture intersect, storytelling becomes nonlinear, and the specters of disenfranchised communities surface amidst a heightened sense of absence.

Gilbert’s set-like installations and pictorial rugs employ a queer aesthetic with a dark sense of humor, blending anachronistic architectural elements, craft materials, and distorted representations of space to convey feelings of yearning, contemporary isolation, and the search for support. Inspired by her personal experiences as a city-born multiethnic artist, Hixon’s innovative use of recycled materials challenges viewers to reconsider the value of discarded objects, forging new narratives from the remnants of the past. Manesh’s delicate glass work captures the fragility and beauty of transformation in the intricate floral patterns of Islimi carpet design, reflecting on the unheard voices of Iranian women, especially female carpet makers with unseen disabilities. The exhibition attests to the resilience of the human spirit, navigating threads across time that bind the artists to each other, their cultures, and the natural world.

Learn more about our 2024 Fellows here and our robust Fellowship Program here.

The exhibition checklist can be downloaded here. The Fellows’ curated reading list for our Open Reading Room can be downloaded here.

Matthew Gilbert

Matthew Gilbert’s pictorial rugs and set-like installations depict an abandoned world that combines medieval architecture with contemporary imagery. Their work articulates anachronistic timescales, comparing a drip of a candle to a sagging doric column. By placing modern symbols within Gothic wreckage, Gilbert collapses the timeline of human history, arguing that we as a species are a mere blip in the lifespan of Earth. Long after we make this planet uninhabitable for our species, nature will continue to evolve and adapt. The cartoonish quality of the work suggests an irreverence to the otherwise catastrophic subject matter, adding a comedic undertone. Drawing inspiration from the sets of German expressionist films, their installations project the feeling of loneliness and yearning onto architectural forms. Spikes and chains allude to queer fetish aesthetics. Oblique shadows are illustrated with black paint and construction paper, heightening the anxiety within their work. Found objects and fabricated materials blur the distinction of real and imagined. Oscillating between the second and third dimensions, distorting perspective and scale, Gilbert’s work finds meaning between binaries.

https://www.matthewgilbert.xyz/

@matthew.0_o

Nicole Hixon

Nicole Hixon’s large-scale cherry tree sculpture is a reflection of her deep connection to sustainability, community, and cultural heritage. In this work, she uses recycled bicycle inner tubes, a pvc frame, and repurposed pellet stove bags used to heat her home to create an enduring form that contrasts with the fleeting beauty of the cherry tree’s bloom. This juxtaposition not only highlights the transient nature of life but also serves as a metaphor for cultural migration and the search for belonging. Just as the cherry blossom is brief yet profoundly beautiful, the experiences of displacement and migration can be transient but leave lasting impressions on personal and cultural identities.

By recontextualizing man-made materials to mimic a natural form, Hixon explores the delicate balance between the human desire for rootedness and the impermanence of time, reflecting the ways in which we, as individuals, navigate our place in a world that is ever-changing. Her work invites viewers to contemplate their relationship with the environment, the cyclical nature of life, and the enduring impact of human creations. Through this installation, she calls for a reconnection to the natural world, underscoring the importance of sustainability and the role of art in fostering community, environmental awareness, and a deeper sense of belonging across generations and cultural narratives.

https://nicolehixonart.com/

@nicolehixonart

Zeinab Manesh

Zeinab Manesh’s artistic journey with glass began at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she explored the intersection of traditional Iranian craft and contemporary glass techniques. Her graduation thesis centered on crafting an Iranian carpet using molten glass casting, a medium she chose to honor the artistry and resilience of Iranian women carpet makers. These artisans, often from underserved communities and minority backgrounds, create works of profound beauty and cultural significance, and their stories resonate deeply with Manesh. Drawing parallels between the intricacy of Iranian carpet designs and the molten glass casting process, She captures the symbolic and cultural depth of these woven masterpieces.

The Eslimi patterns and ornate designs found in traditional carpets are rich in historical and cultural meaning, which Manesh reinterprets through glass, allowing the luminous transparency of the material to add new layers of complexity. The interplay of light and texture in her work reflects the visual beauty of Iranian carpets in a striking three-dimensional form. Through her Fellowship, Manesh expands this project by creating a large-scale glass carpet, celebrating both the craftsmanship of Iranian weavers and the lives of marginalized women from Middle Eastern immigrant backgrounds. This project, informed by her personal experiences, raises awareness of the intersecting challenges faced by these women, particularly those with invisible disabilities, bringing their voices to the forefront through the medium of glass art.

@glassqueenz