Christine Meuris’ solo show Permutations is inspired by bargello needlepoint patterns, embroidery consisting of upright flat stitches laid in mathematical patterns. Introduced to bargello through a chance encounter with the book Four Way Bargello by Dorothy Kaestner, Christine fell in love with the line segment and the dot, and just how much joy, sorrow, exuberance, quiet and simple beauty it was possible to express with them.
Her meditative color studies, Poppy, Ripple and Solar, were completed during the 2016 presidential campaign and election. These works function as quiet and meditative, studio-based acts of resistance, upholding the dignity of “women’s work.” In the Stress Fracture series she explores environmental anxiety by breaking up the tidy mandala, symbol of mental balance and wholeness, evoking images of cracking polar ice. Colorful works such as Hunh? and Germ of an Idea, consist of paper tiles used like model train track segments. Christine makes loops, circles and sinuous shapes which, depending on the arrangement of the tiles, can look like protozoa or messages in some unknown language.
Christine Meuris’ work translates traditionally home-based arts executed in fabric and fiber into works on and of paper. In this way, her work pushes against the barrier erected between art and craft, home and gallery – a barrier often rooted in class and gender. She uses these traditions to express a wide range of thoughts just as women always have.
CHRISTINE MEURIS lives and works in Berkeley California. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has participated in juried shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the country and has been invited to participate in groups shows at the Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley Civic Center, The Mosser Hotel and the Roll Up Gallery. She has also had solo shows at Farley’s Café, Hello Stitch Quilting and Sewing Studio, Berkeley Wealth Management and The Totally Rad Gallery. This is Christine’s first solo show at Mercury 20 Gallery.
Ripple, 2017
Ink on paper, 28”x 28” (framed)
$700, free shipping in USA
Stress Fracture IV, 2018
Sumi ink on tea stained paper, 28”x 28” (framed)
$800
Biomorphic Bargello Series
Purple Study, 2019
gouache on tea-stained paper, thread, and bookbinding cloth
21” x 28″
$900 (unframed)
Christine Meuris’ work is available for purchase on Mercury 20’s online shop