Polly Barton was born in New York City. She studied Art History at Barnard College and has lived and traveled in Paris, Florence, and Rome. In 1981 she moved to Kameoka Japan to study with master weaver, Tomohiko Inoue, living in the religious heart of the Oomoto Foundation. She returned to New York in 1982, married, and continued to weave on her Japanese tsumugi silk kimono looms.In 1989, she and her husband bought land in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. Their family moved to this remote area in 1992, where they lived for 15 years. They are now based in Santa Fe.
A nationally recognized artist, she shows her woven silk ikat paintings on both coasts, and is collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and by important private collectors. Her work has been published in numerous magazines including Hali Magazine, FiberArts, Surface Design Journal and American Craft. She is a member of the Textile Society of America, Friends of Fiber Arts International, the Surface Design Association and the Textile Arts Alliance of Santa Fe.
EXHIBITIONS:
2009
Origin, Shumei Arts Council, Pasadena, CA
2008
Thread: Drawn, Dyed, Woven, William Siegal Gallery,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Visible Presence, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles,
San Jose, CA
Weave and Resist, Convergence 2008, HCC Ybor Campus Art Gallery,
Tampa, FL
Art Chicago 2008, William Siegal Gallery, Chicago, IL
Woven Explorations, Gail Martin Gallery, New York, New York
2007
Saturn Returns: Back to the Future of Fiber Art,
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, CA
Los Pintores: Past, Present, and Future, URSA along with FACT,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Then and Now,William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2006
Material Difference: Soft Sculpture and Wall Works, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2005
SOFA Chicago, Jane Sauer Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004
New Works, Linda Fairchild Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003
Opening Night, Linda Fairchild Gallery of Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
SOFA New York, Gail Martin Gallery, New York, NY
2002
Threads on the Edge: The Daphne Farago Fiber Art Collection,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Survey Fiber 2002, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
2001
SOFA New York, Gail Martin Gallery, New York, NY
SOFA Chicago, Thirteen Moons Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000
Evolving Tradition: Ikat Painting on Silk, Gail Martin Gallery, New York, NY
Thread by Thread, American Tapestry Biennial III,
Sponsored by the American Tapestry Alliance
1999
Holiday Treasures, Owings Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
Southwest Tapestry, Golden, CO and Grand Junction, CO
1998
The Arts of Pacific Asia Show, The Armory at Gramercy Park, New York, NY
1996
Close to the Border, University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces, NM
1995
Group Show, Fiber Art by members of the Textile Study Group, New York, NY
1992
Material Matters, Fiber Art by members of The Textile Study Group, New York, NY
KOKORO: Heart-Mind, Oomoto Alumni Art Exhibition, Kameoka, Japan
1984
Recent Acquisitions: 1974-1984, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Jack Lenor Larson, Long House Reserve, East Hampton, NY
Daphne Farago Collection, Boston, MA
Guido Goldman Ikat Collection, New York, NY
Davis, Polk & Wardwell, London, England and New York, NY
Tobin Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Oomoto Foundation, Kameoka, Japan
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York, NY
Community Hospital Foundation of the Monterey Peninsula
HONORS:
1997 Honorable Mention Crafts, Taos Open, Taos, NM
1986 Stanley Mendelbaum Award, Juried Exhibition of the New York Guild of Handweavers, New York, NY
1985 Juror’s Award, Juried Exhibition of the New York Guild of Handweavers, New York, NY
1984 Best of Show Award, CONVERGENCE ’84, Dallas, TX
PUBLICATIONS:
Westfall, Carol. Polly Barton: Woven Explorations. Surface Design Journal.Volume 22, No. 1, Fall 2008. Page 60-61
Wykes, Sarah. Rise of the Quilters. San Jose Mercury News. 12/9/2007
Then and Now. Art News.Vol. 106, Summer 2007 Issue, page 209
Ullman, Polly. Material Difference and Soft Sculpture & Wall Works.
Published by Friends of Fiber Art International
Heppenheimer, Jill. Creativity at Midlife. Fiber Arts.Vol. 32 No. 2,
Sept/Oct. 2005, pages 46-51
Myers, Janice. At Home with the Sacred, Su Casa,Vol. 10 No. 3, Summer 2004, pages 68-75
SOFA New York, The Sixth Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art,
May 29-June1, 2003, Catalogue page 77
Hoffman, Bruce. Survey Fiber 2002, Snyderman-Works Galleries, Catalogue page 4
Surface Design Journal, Summer 2001, Feature article
SOFA New York, The Sixth Annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art,
May 31-June4, 2001, Catalogue page 63
A Front Row Seat for SOFA, Special Advertising Supplement, Art & Auction, 2001, page 202
Zrebiec, Alice. Polly Barton's Ikat Paintings: Internal Harmony/External Epiphany.
Surface Design Journal,Vol 25. No 4. Summer 2001, pages 36-41
Larochette, Jean Pierre and Lurie, Yael. Thread by Thread, American Tapestry Biennial III, 2000
HALI Magazine, Design File,Winter 2000
Exposure, Surface Design Journal,Vol 23, No 3, Spring 1999, page 42
Pasatiempo, Santa Fe New Mexican, Nov. 1994
Malarcher, Patricia. Of One Cloth: Textiles of the Liturgical Arts,
Surface Design Journal,Vol 13, No.3. Spring 1989, pages 5-11
Malarcher, Patricia. The Liturgical Vestment: a Contemporary Overview,
FiberArts, vol.11, No.5. Sept/Oct 1984, pages 58-61
LECTURES and WORKSHOPS:
2009 Shumei, Crestone, CO
2008 William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Visible Presence, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, California
Textile Arts Alliance, Santa Fe, NM
Shumei, Crestone, CO
2004 Design with Heart, Santa Fe, NM
2002 Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Textile Arts Alliance, Santa Fe, NM
Summer Workshop: Ikat, Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito, NM
2001 Summer Workshop: Ikat, Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito, NM
EDUCATION:
2000-1993 Northern New Mexico Community College, El Rito, NM
1984 Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
1983-82 Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC
1981-82 Kameoka, Japan, Apprentice to Master weaver Tomohiko Inoue
1978 Summer seminar, The Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts, Kameoka, Japan
1978 BA, Barnard College, New York, NY, Magna Cum Laude
BORN: 1956 New York, NY