Artist-in-Residence

Kim MacConnel

An artwork on the wall next to a chair. The art is a long, vertical piece of fabric decorated in plaid with cartoon icons of an iron, money, a telephone, and a pot. The piece is intersected by horizontal sticks of bamboo. The leather chair, painted with a grid pattern, flowers, and hand-fans, sits in front of the curtain.
Kim MacConnel, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Bamboo Curtain, 1978. Pigment on cotton sateen with split bamboo poles, 104 x 63 inches. Pictured with Chair, 1975. Found upholstered chair painted with acrylic by the artist, 31.5 x 40.5 x 34.5 inches. Collection of Janet and Robert Kardon. Photo credit: Will Brown.

A pioneering force in the 1970s Pattern and Decoration movement, Kim MacConnel’s work bucked against the prevailing Minimalism of the time. He turned “non-serious” materials, like textiles from bed sheets, into vivid works overflowing with color and pattern. His FWM projects Kim’s Plaid and Bamboo Curtain, completed as part of his residency, exemplify his personal style.  

Of Bamboo Curtain, MacConnel said, “In a way, its ‘elegance’ is in its simplicity.” Six pieces of bamboo bisect a curtain of Kim’s Plaid yardage, creating a structure for the print itself. The work’s plaid structure features drawn iconography of currency and household appliances such as an iron, teapot, and telephone. ⁠  

MacConnel came to the Fabric Workshop in 1978, its second year of operation. Initially, Artists-in-Residence were primarily invited to experiment with silkscreen fabric printing techniques. Though the Workshop has since expanded its program to explore other media, MacConnel’s early work demonstrates the exciting possibilities that fabric and screenprinting represented for artists of the time and helped set the tone for the potential of the Workshop itself. 

Art

From the Archive

On a long table meant for screen printing, there is a scrap of plaid fabric. A dust jacket has been laid on top of the fabric. In the background, two people work on printing a pattern for a different artist.

Two books stand upright on a tabletop. They are decorated with the same pattern as the scrap of fabric beneath them.

Artist Bio

American, born 1946, Oklahoma City, OK. Lives and works in Encinitas, CA. 

Kim MacConnel is a leading figure of the 1970s artistic movement known as Pattern and Decoration. He is known for his bright paintings full of swirling lines and geometric patterns. MacConnel completed both his BA and MFA at University of California San Diego. He has since returned intermittently to his alma mater as a lecturer, professor, and chair of the visual arts department. MacConnel first began to show with the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York, NY, credited for launching the careers of many artists associated with Pattern and Decoration. MacConnel has exhibited once at the Venice Biennale and five times at the Whitney Biennial over the course of his career. Solo exhibitions of his work have been displayed at The Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne, Germany; The Marion Kugler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; and The Mayor Gallery, London, UK; among others. His work resides in public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Berardo Museum, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; and Ludwig Múzeum Budapest, Hungary. His work is represented by Luhring Augustine, New York.