On April 5 – June 2, All that Remains: a Holocaust Exhibit in Fiber – Artist Leslie Klein opens her Exhibit in the Downstairs Gallery at the museum. The exhibit features a special event with Leslie Klein on Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
The mixed media and fiber artist, constructs garments and uses hand-dyed, airbrushed, silk-screened, and embellished fabrics to address her perspective on the Holocaust and Judaic themes.
This series has been an ongoing endeavor, a body of work created over the past 20 years. It consists of conceptual art clothing, wall hangings, drawings, soft sculpture, and installation pieces. The work addresses the historical events of the Holocaust in layers of meaning and imagery, and the juxtaposition of fabric and design, and in the use of familiar symbolic images as innocuous decorative elements until one looks closer.
The exhibition, because of its subtle imagery is appropriate to audiences of all ages. Several pieces in the exhibition were specifically designed to allow younger viewers to learn about such events as the Kinder transports and life in the Warsaw Ghetto that are both sensitive and compelling.
Klein’s latest creation will have its debut at VHM and is entitled “Barbed Wire and Pearls: An Ode to the Deportation of French Jews.” The piece depicts a jacket inspired by the late fashion designer Coco Chanel.
