In an exhibition of new work, Angela Fraleigh continues to address issues of gender and power, reaching deep into the past, myth and folklore to challenge and transform the confining—and often vilifying—narratives about women, both broadly in life and in the context of the art-historical canon.
Threaded with Moonlight, 2023, acrylic, watercolor, oil, amethyst, lapis lazuli, hematite and jade on canvas. © Angela Fraleigh
“I am a research-based painter,” explains Fraleigh. “My work examines the relationship between stories and beliefs, dominant narratives and cultural power dynamics, mythologized heroes and contemporary values. I’m interested in how historical narratives, and the images that accompany them, express and influence beliefs about contemporary women and gender—and how we might upset those beliefs in favor of a more complex, inclusive lineage.”
Fraleigh upsets those beliefs by lifting her female protagonists out of limitation and placing them in empowering visual scenarios, and emboldening them with the voice to spin alternative narratives that rewrite the past and reimagine the future.
A thousand Years ago Tomorrow, 2023, acrylic, watercolor, oil, amethyst, lapis lazuli, hematite and jade on canvas. © Angela Fraleigh
Fraleigh’s latest body of work was inspired by the Allentown Art Museum’s extensive textile holdings and, drawing from traditions across centuries and cultures, explores women’s labor, weaving in particular, as a source of female power. Angela Fraleigh: Threaded with Moonlight will be on view in the museum’s Scheller Gallery through April 21.
Allentown Art Museum associate curator, Claire McCree says, “Drawing on this material from the museum’s collection, Fraleigh selected textile motifs with traditional meanings of abundance, good fortune and protection, using them to construct an environment for her female subjects that brims with magical possibility. Fraleigh is interested in the hidden stories, intentions and invocations that women may have embedded in such textiles, and so the textiles’ presence in the gallery invites these makers’ voices into the space, too.
Study of Witch with Distaff, 2023, ink, watercolor and garnet on cotton rag paper. © Angela Fraleigh
McCree continues, “In Threaded with Moonlight as well as other bodies of work, she focuses on the importance of storytelling as an act of power, engaging with folklore and fairy tales as a means for women to share secrets, question the status quo and imagine better possibilities.”
Threaded with Moonlight is anchored by three large paintings that incorporate global textile designs traditionally used as invocations for protection or good fortune. “Installed in front of a painted silk drape, the trios of female figures in each painting evoke the Fates or Norns, the goddesses who spin to determine destiny in Greek and Norse tradition,” explains McCree. “Yet these figures might also be human women, engaged in the everyday work of textile production—labor that, with its divine associations, offered opportunity to harness supernatural power. These paintings lay the foundation for the rest of the exhibition with their exploration of textile-making as a potential act of power and their incorporation of textile motifs from the museum’s collection.”
Installation view of Threaded with Moonlight. Courtesy Allentown Museum of Art
Fraleigh adds, “In these works, I place women at the forefront as creators with the capacity to imbue their craft with meaning and magic…I position these patterns not only as a complex subversive language but also as talismanic symbols…I’ve long been interested in what power people have available to them and how they use that power…In my paintings, I incorporate various symbols sourced from the museum’s textile collection. Flowers and stars symbolize fertility, abundance, celestial harmony and the passage of time. Labyrinthine patterns confuse evil spirits, while geometric motifs offer strength and protection…The use of moonwater, ground crystals, and gemstone-infused paint add other layers of meaning. The silk drape behind my figures alludes to the tree of life, symbolizing fecundity. These symbols collectively create a complex, subversive language expressing dangerous dreams, desires and protective charms.”
Center of a Whirling Sky, 2023, acrylic, watercolor, oil, amethyst, lapis lazuli, hematite and jade on canvas. © Angela Fraleigh
Fraleigh’s paintings loom large. Weaving abstraction and realism, they are lush and sensual, vibrant and reeling with figure and form. Fraleigh has lifted these women from the shadows of the past and painted them into a context of palpable power, beauty, wisdom and strength.
“My female protagonists are complex, multifaceted, powerful and subversive figures, that hopefully defy or upend stereotypical associations,” says Fraleigh. “They seize everyday tasks as opportunities for communication, harnessing power and forging new possibilities. Disrupting the traditional notion of docile femininity associated with textile work, these women embody strength, agency and a connection to supernatural forces.”
Study of Arachne, 2023, amethyst, black tourmaline, hematite, watercolor and aluminum on cotton, linen flax, hemp, esparto, seed, flower petal and recycled rag paper. © Angela Fraleigh
McCree adds, “Fraleigh’s paintings invite you to keep looking. Their technical mastery, vibrant colors and monumental scale capture the viewer’s interest, and their visual and conceptual complexity rewards close observation, yielding deeper layers of meaning. Her reimaginings of historical narratives offer rich opportunity for inspiration, reflection and discussion.” —
Angela Fraleigh: Threaded with Moonlight
Through April 21, 2024
Allentown Museum, 31 N 5th Street, Allentown, PA 18101
(610) 432-4333 • www.allentownartmuseum.org
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