Exhibition Dates: August 14- October 2, 2021

Sandler Hudson Gallery is pleased to announce the latest body of work from Pennsylvania artist Caroline Lathan-Stiefel entitled Pieces. The act of making, and process of “piecing” is central to Lathan-Stiefel’s current exhibition. “Piecing” for Caroline Lathan-Stiefel is a conceptually and culturally rich methodology; through the intimate and time-consuming act of cutting and hand-sewing, each stitch becomes important in its own right. Every stitch is thoughtfully handsewn by the artist, each marginally different than the next and all mark the passage of time taken to complete the work. Her finished works are textile structures covered with sewn assemblages of fabric, plastic, wire, and found objects. Always experimenting with craft materials in new and unusual ways, she draws both inspiration and materials from her daily life. Evidence of the world around her manifests within the work as plastic juice bottles, glass science lab containers, family clothing and bedding, private property signs, and refuse discovered on walks through her Pennsylvania borough neighborhood. 

When Lathan-Stiefel began working on Pieces, she was drawn to flags; specifically the dichotomy at play in terms of their usage. A flag can claim, and proclaim space, it can generate in people a sense of identity, pride and belonging, or it can communicate distress, emergencies, or secrets. Within Pieces, Lathan-Stiefel offers up an exploration of what a flag can express and how fabric can convey sentiments that are equally varied and strong. 

Therapeutic is the way Lathan-Stiefel creates, like a surgeon, she performs a sort of idiosyncratic operation to bring pieces of fabric and refuse into harmonious agreement. Unlike a surgeon, the artist exchanges real body parts with mere echoes of skin, lungs, and eyes as she explores biological systems in her textile pieces. The breakdown and regrowth of buildings, bodies and vehicles makes its way into Lathan-Stiefel’s exhibition Pieces in various forms; through her artwork she acknowledges the life cycle of all things. 

Caroline Lathan-Stiefel was born and raised in Atlanta, GA; she went on to obtain her BA in Visual Arts from Brown University and later her MFA from the Maine College of Art in Portland, ME. A classically trained visual artist, Lathan-Stiefel happens to be self-taught in her chosen medium of textiles. Drawing upon her conceptual training and elements from her own life she creates deeply personal, monumental sewn-assemblages. For the past twenty years Lathan-Stiefel has played with weight, mass, pattern, color and light in her installations through the innovative combination of lightweight textiles and commonplace objects. Traditional textile techniques of weaving, wire wrapping and quilting take on a new life at the hands of Caroline Lathan-Stiefel. Her work has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, including The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville in Florida, The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, Suyama Space in Seattle, The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta, Galerie Articule in Montreal, The Philadelphia Art Alliance and Tigers Strike Asteroid in Philadelphia, Gallerie Urbane in Dallas, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts in Miami and the West Collection in Oaks, PA. She has also installed large-scale permanent works at the Liberty Property Trust building in Malvern, PA, the Saint Kate’s Art Hotel in Milwaukee, and Temple University in Philadelphia.