Necromancy supposedly involves communicating with the dead, but trichromancy is all about romancing dye and communicating through textiles. Jeannie Catmull, cocurator of "Trichromancy: Color Divination" at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, said the made-up word combines "necromancy" and "trichromatic" — referring to the three cones in human eyes that help process color. The exhibition, which showcases dye techniques in fiber, is a visual feast.
More than 130 diverse pieces by some 60 artists are on view: weavings, quilts, embroidery, crochet, sewn garments, jewelry, and felted wool and silk slippers.
Kris McDermet's three hooked and braided fabric works — each one at least six feet in size and consisting of multiple parts — address environmental and social justice issues. They are so visually pivotal to the show that Catmull and cocurator Fern Strong sited them in the gallery space first before organizing the rest.
The 30-by-70-inch "Privilege" comprises two wool and silk tapestries draped over a wooden stand. On the back panel, a hooded figure adorned in bright-orange silk pushes a shopping cart filled with belongings past trees made of wool. A light built into the stand illuminates the unhoused person. The front panel of "Privilege," framed by braiding, depicts a cozy home interior. A window-like cutout in the fabric allows viewers to see the two contrasting images.
McDermet's "Awakening" is made of 10 fabric pieces that together measure 52 by 78 inches. At its center is an oval braided rug decorated with hooked berries; smaller pieces, filled with berries and leaves, surround it. In "Quiet Beauty," her wall hanging made of wool, silk, felt and beading, a braided blue river flows across a coral-colored field and among hummingbirds, flowers, butterflies and lanterns.
Stacey Piwinski's 56-by-84-inch handwoven fabric work "Portrait of a Virtual Community" is big enough to cover a bed. Each color within it tells a teacher-student story. "The pandemic hit, and she was teaching online classes, and she would pick a type of yarn for every student that she met," Catmull explained.
Fellow teacher Billie Smith's "Number Quilt," an unbleached muslin wall hanging, was created for her eighth-grade math classroom. It features 100 squares that represent natural numbers; stripes represent their factors. The procion (fiber-reactive) dye in the squares and stripes provides color against a black background.
Alfredo Ratinoff created the 28-by-34-inch yarn-and-fabric piece "Little Red Rides Through the Alchemy of Time and Color" using the Waldoboro rug-hooking technique. This means looping yarn higher than usual before cutting it at the desired height; the result is three dimensional, like a topographical map. The process is time-consuming. Using a circa-1880s shuttle to loop, Ratinoff took a month to create "Little Red," who is pictured on horseback, surrounded by a lush, textured forest.
Rosalind Daniels' abstract expressions of the colors and shapes of Vermont's mud season include "Twenty Taillights," with original photos of car taillights printed on quilted cotton and stitched over. Barb Ackemann hooked her wool tapestry, "The Bridge at Cushendun," based on a photograph she took in Northern Ireland. Despite the medium, it mimics a realistic painting.
"Trichromancy" is a vibrant exhibit in which each fiber and stitch communicates a story.