Mother of Pearl
The Barnes Foundation commissioned Claudy Jongstra to create a series of silk and wool artwork panels integrated into the architecture of the museum's central light court. Handspun silk yarn, gently felted into the wool surface of each artwork, mimics the texture of the limestone wall panels as though revealing a hidden softness within the stone itself. Adding a reflective delicacy, the natural fibres also serve to improve the acoustics of the space, absorbing ambient sound to calm and center the viewer's experience.
The legendary Barnes art collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, African sculpture, Pennsylvania Dutch decorative arts, and other important works was originally housed in Merion, Pennsylvania. In 2012, the collection was re-located to a new 93,000-square-foot LEED Platinum building, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects as “a gallery in a garden and a garden in a gallery."
Each of Jongstra's artworks contribute to the connection between art and nature felt throughout the museum.
In addition to the artwork panels in the light court, Jongstra created two artworks for the Garden Restaurant at the Barnes Foundation, which looks out on one of the museum's inner courtyard gardens.
Location: The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, US
Architect: Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
Year: 2012
Materials: Drenthe Heath wool, Merino wool, silk, handspun yarn
Photography: Michael Moran
