HOMAGE

A Show of Honor and Respect

I get to enjoy a lot of tribute bands. My fiancé performs in several, and they re-create the music they love most. Some of it is extremely complicated; making it sound authentic is the challenge. One celebrates the music of David Byrne every time they go on stage, and another plays the ethereal, utterly original songs by The Cocteau Twins; the vocals are often made-up words by singer Elizabeth Frazer, who employed a unique way of allowing her inner songbird to shine without having to stick to the rules of vocabulary. Getting these sounds right takes practice and a great deal of study.

Study and practice are the case with visual art as well, only we use the word homage. It’s not a re-creation so much as a reverence in terms of style or subject matter, for example. Artwork considered homage openly and directly emphasizes the influence of another artist. Wikipedia defines it as a show or demonstration of respect . . . a term often used in the arts where one author or artist shows respect to another by allusion or imitation. It could be as simple as working on unprimed canvas with the acknowledgment of the great Hellen Frankenthaler who envisioned the technique and mastered it vibrantly. Paying homage could be allowing the genre of minimalism to influence your handling of materials, or fashioning motifs and forms one has appreciated, current or historical, in new ways. Honoring the greats of previous generations acknowledges their historic significance. My personal deference points to the late Louise Bourgeois; her impact is apparent in much of my work, be it sculpture, painting, or a piece on paper. Her work and words formed a substrate upon which I could build.

The art in this exhibit was chosen because it honors the work of another artist in some capacity, whether borrowing a particular aesthetic, palette, materials, or philosophy. Afterall, we mimic to learn. We push further to make it our own.

Enjoy the exhibit,

-Stephanie Hargrave, Artist / Curator

Al Varady, Black Irisdescent Orange Light Blue

Aljoya Thornton Place. 450 NE 100th St., Seattle (MAY 21 – September 19, 2026)

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS (CLICK NAMES FOR WEBSITES):

JULIE BIGGS

THE SUPPLE LINE

Textiles, Yarn and Thread as Universal Language

The use of thread is universal, historical, and continual. We are all touched by threads, literally and figuratively, from the moment we are born and wrapped in a blanket until we are buried in fabric or die wearing it.

Sheila Hicks is my inspiration for this exhibit. She has been working with threads and fibers her entire life, and has elevated textile-based works (along with others, many Bauhaus affiliated) to high art. Educated at Yale where she studied under Josef Albers, she met his weaving artist wife, Anni Albers, and her eyes widened, especially regarding form. Her career exploded and she has never looked back. She currently has a Solo Exhibit in Japan and has shown with countless galleries and museums. She lives in France, is 95 years of age, and continues her textile-based work as we speak.

Her aim was to find and use a material that could cross cultural, racial and geographical divisions. She found it in thread, and calls it a “universal language, channel, system . . . way.” Her threads on a loom are in tension; off the loom they become liberated which takes the plane into space and makes sculpture. Her use of color unifies the work further, and then, through form and scale, she makes work that is immense and utterly significant.

I have chosen the pieces for this show because they continue this universal language. Each of these artists uses thread, yarn, fabric and a variety of textiles in interesting and meaningful ways. Whether they are trying to or not, they are following in the footsteps of giants like Anni Albers and Sheila Hicks.

-Stephanie Hargrave, Artist / Curator

ARTIST TALK BY ALLYCE WOOD MARCH 7, 1PM

Exhibiting Aljoya Artist Allyce Wood lives and works in Seattle. Through the use of digital and handmade processes, Wood makes installations, works on paper, and textiles with a focus on digital jacquard tapestries. To her, the loom acts as a mediator between traditional and computerized technologies, offering a unique way to combine online and offline experiences into images in cotton and wool. Come learn more about her artwork, inspiration and creative process.

Click images below to see in slide show format with artist names and titles