188 - Edward S. Lambert, "Dennis Rodman," Value: $900

176

Title: "Dennis Rodman"

Artist: Edward S. Lambert

Donor: Akemi Cohn and Larry Blount

Media: Screenprint on canvas

Dimensions: 56" x 91"

Value: $900

Ed Lambert used popular images from television and print media and combines them with textile and print techniques. His work 'Dennis Rodman' was inspired by the pop style of Andy Warhol and figuration found in comic books, Lambert began juxtaposing images of Dennis Rodman's artfully decorated figure (often captured by photographers other than himself) with traditionally revered examples of illumination, such as the Book of Kells, decorative motifs from Art Deco friezes, or fragments of design lifted from Ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Edward S. Lambert (1940 - 2011) was born in Superior, Wisconsin. His initial forays into fabric printing were limited to silk screens for sorority and fraternity posters, but by the time of his graduation with an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, he successfully transitioned those practical fabric printing techniques into fine art. He joined University of Georgia as professor in 1974, where he developed an appreciation for silkscreen and photo emulsion transfer processes. It was this latter process that became primary in his more mature works of the 1990s. His work is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

Lambert worked with both woven and nonwoven techniques and eventually focused on surface design, especially batik, direct dyeing and screenprinting. While at UGA, he traveled and gave workshops on pattern weaving, off-loom weaving, basketweaving, batik and dyes. Lambert was inspired by nature and was a frequent visitor to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens. Rather than trying to depict large landscapes, Lambert typically focused on small details from nature, repeating them in way that suggested a mandala or kaleidoscope view. Beginning with multiple designs for a painting, he drew an outline in black on paper the size of the final piece. He then traced the design onto the silk and applied wax resist to create the outlines, applied the dyes with a paintbrush, heated the silk to set the color and washed out the wax. Lambert said of his process: “I worked feverishly with drawings of microscopic views of nature, constantly trying to discover what their essence was in relationship to the silk ground on which I was working. What kind of line drawing reflected the softness and movement of the silk; How color moved on the silk surface and how that color related to the imagery with which I was working; How the movement of the fabric affected the imagery. It was a great adventure.”

In the mid-1980s, Lambert began experimenting with complex screenprints on heavy canvases, often inspired by popular culture and featuring images of pop stars such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Dennis Rodman. Lambert served as a member of the Piedmont Craftsmen from 1979 to 1998 and was involved with the American Craft Council, Southeast. He retired in 2005 and was a founding member of the Southeast Fiber Arts alliance in 2009. 

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