Anne Wilson: Local Industry

This is the first public exhibition of the Local Industry Cloth, produced in 2010 by 2,100 volunteers alongside 79 experienced weavers at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The cloth, 75’ 9” long, was created over the course of three months during the artist’s project Local Industry, part of the exhibition Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave.

The Local Industry Cloth was formed entirely from donated fibers, often from mills facing closure throughout the southeastern United States. The thread was prepared on hand-crank bobbin winders by any visitor to the KMA. Wound bobbins were then used by experienced weavers to compose this single bolt of cloth, made up of only stripes, on one loom setup inside the gallery space. After making, the cloth was donated to the Knoxville Museum of Art by the artist alongside an “Archive of Production” identifying all contributors to Local Industry. The “Archive of Production” is on view alongside the cloth during this exhibition.

Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave was a project organized by the Knoxville Museum of Art and visual artist Anne Wilson to investigate the global crisis of production and skill based textile labor. The catalog Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave with essays by Glenn Adamson, Jenni Sorkin, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Laura Y. Liu, and Philis Alvic is available for purchase in the museum gift shop, and is now available through distribution by WhiteWalls and the University of Chicago Press.

Check out more exhibit images here.