MARFA — WRONG will host an opening for Dana Falconberry’s new work, We Can Look For Small Portals, on Saturday, March 8, 5 to 7 p.m.
Falconberry’s new work includes landscape paintings, chainstitched wall hangings, and “paintstitches.” Paintstitches are multimedia works combining painting and chainstitch embroidery, often centered around native flora.
“Landscapes can hold it all, I think –– mountains and plant life, sure, but also memories, dreams, wishes and grief,” Falconberry said. “I’ve been chasing the wonders of the West Texas landscape through various artistic mediums since my first trip out here many years ago.”
Falconberry has strong Far West Texas ties. Her mother-in-law was the late native-plant expert Patty Manning. After the loss of Manning, the Far West Texas landscape felt different to Falconberry: cavernous, unfamiliar and unknowable.
“I felt entirely confounded by this place. How could I possibly portray the desert now, as I have for years, when there was such a giant hole in the middle of it?” she said. “I wrestled with it, I avoided it, I tried many failed attempts at it. Eventually, though, I settled on it: portray the giant hole.”
The paintings and stitchings became a way for her to move through grief. The giant hole became a portal, a small way to find what has been lost. The landscapes became bigger than their immediate scenes; her grief began to encompass more than just her own loss. The portals became perhaps more of a collective concept, allowing us access to that which eludes us. What can we do when the world around us becomes changed and unknowable? We can look for small portals.
Falconberry is an artist and musician living in Northern Michigan and West Texas. She grew up dancing classical ballet and modern dance in Dearborn, Mich., before attending Hendrix College in Arkansas. In college she studied songwriting, which prompted her move to Austin in 2005. After touring, recording and leading a band for over a decade, she now finds herself focused on visual art. She worked for six years as a lead stitcher/designer at Fort Lonesome, a custom chainstitch embroidery company based in Austin.
WRONG is located at 110 N. Highland Ave. For more information, please contact Buck Johnston at 432-729-1976.
