THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603210170
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Eastern and Western culture go back-to-back this month at the Pasquotank Arts Council Gallery.
In a rare showing, the gallery is exhibiting art from Eastern nomadic tribes alongside the work of three North Carolinians.
The gallery rooms are filled with original pieces from Eastern peoples, as well as local work that incorporates similar pieces and pays homage to Oriental-style painting.
Majid Elbers of the Outer Banks and her daughter Rabiah Hodges are so enthralled by tapestries from the Far East, Middle East and Eastern Europe that they use them in their own creations.
Elbers has a thriving business that merges collectible weavings from more than 60 ethnic villages around the world with her and Hodges' skills to handcraft anything from an eyeglass case to a wardrobe bag.
Elbers' textile buyer, Col. Stan Akins, has been combing Eastern back roads and villages for 25 years in a literal and figurative search for the ``fabric of the people.''
Speaking four languages and 16 dialects, Akins is often greeted warmly by villagers. It's not unusual for him to attend family ceremonies and share a cup of tea with village elders.
In turn, these nomadic folk share bits and pieces of their awesome work with him.
Most of the tapestries Akins collects are damaged. This works well for Elbers, who has such a deep regard for the work that she would probably not wish to cut up intact pieces to use in her own designs.
The tapestries, including rugs, blankets, saddlebags and cradles, are painstakingly constructed. Several women work together to handcraft a tapestry that could take several years to complete.
In keeping with the tone set by these artisans, Hodges uses only imported, hand-dyed and hand-spun fibers to create purses and bags, many of which incorporate sections of the nomadic weavings or ``kilims.''
She employs a honeycomb-style weave that complements the original tapestry.
``It's all spontaneous,'' she said. ``Each fabric is woven just for that bag.''
The bags are selling like hotcakes.
There are several themes throughout this show that weave it together in a harmonious tapestry of its own. The element of preservation is obvious with the Elbers-Hodges creations.
But the third North Carolinian in the show, Hobbsville's Judith Berryman, has also embraced this notion in her watercolors.
The very flowers Berryman paints, grown in her Hobbsville garden, came from a generation of seeds first planted by her great-grandmother.
She includes cranes and small wren-like birds in her paintings, coupled with delicately rendered lotus blossoms. Her watercolors are framed after an authentic Chinese style.
Berryman also reflects a love for pattern by using two strips of cloth at the top and bottom of her work to give it a scroll effect - another nod to the love of patterns that so fascinate Elbers.
Like Berryman, the tapestry weavers are totally fascinated by humble nature. The patterns on the tapestries include horses, foxes, birds and even spiders. Some are designed in a random fashion, while others incorporate more symmetry.
Bring home something from this show, and you've purchased a piece of life that exemplifies dexterity, patience, practicality and great beauty. And because Col. Akins collects more from love than money, the prices are not outrageous.
``He's an aficionado of the people and their cultures and their families and what they make,'' Elbers said.
Look for the 100-year-old blue-and-white Chinese vases, a waist-high leather horse and finely crafted wooden benches adorned by Elbers' and Hodges' East-West collaborative weavings.
This collection of works is lush in color, pattern and texture.
The show will be up until April 6. Who would've figured it would all come together in little old Elizabeth City? MEMO: Mary Ellen Riddle covers Outer Banks arts for The Carolina Coast. Send
mail to her at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head, N.C. 27959. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
From left, Rabiah Hodges, Judith Berryman and Majid Elbers have
combined talents for an exhibit of fabric works and watercolors.
by CNB