"Superwomen" by Donna Rosenthal, on view in "New Fibers 2010" at Eastern Michigan University.

Image courtesy Fiber Arts Network of Michigan

There are many reasons to go see "New Fibers 2010" at Eastern Michigan University — not the least of which is the art on display.

But there's at least one overarching reason to look this show over carefully. And it's the same reason that's been the hallmark of these annual displays held in EMU's University Gallery the last four years: This Fiber Art Network of Michigan presentation is one of our few chances to catch art in the act of transition.

Art, of course, changes subtly. And more often than not, art's transitions have been slow enough to mark significant epochs with signal talents who define its tradition.

But the 20th century saw an unprecedented proliferation of mediums and methods in the visual arts, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the older, more stable arts like fiber.

Today's fiber arts take full advantage of the medium's surface design as sculpture, wearable art and papermaking, as well as the old schools of basketry, clothing and textiles. Likewise, the range of newly made man-made fibers (as well as the customary natural fibers) has made this art remarkably versatile.

It's little wonder that the juror for this show — Tracy Krumm, assistant professor in the Kansas City Art Institute's Fiber Department — makes this very observation of the way she graded the art in this exhibit.

"I committed myself," says Krumm in her juror's statement, "to representing a broad cross section of the fiber arts field. The challenge was to put together a body of work that represented, at the highest level possible, a dynamic synthesis of conceptual, material, and technical possibilities while keeping in mind that key word in the exhibition title: New.

"A group of work coalesced that sustained my interest after repeated viewings of hundreds of images. The selected works are ones that appeared to me to be the result of a developed vocabulary of thinking and making skills."

Krumm's First Place went to Tucson's Suzanne Hesh for her thread and acrylic painted embroidery, "Common Truth." Second Place (the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Award) went to Boca Raton's Amy Gross for her beads, ribbon, yarn, wire, paper; sewn and embroidered "Red Blooming Biotope" sphere. Third Place (the Michigan Surface Design Award) went to New York City's Donna Rosenthal for her vintage romance novels and comics, gel medium, glitter, and steel hanger, "Superwomen." And the Pat Williams Memorial Award (Williams was an EMU professor of textiles) went to Wellesley, Mass.'s Jodi Colella for her repurposed plastic newspaper sleeves "One Day."

The exhibit has grown in a more subtle manner as well. This year's show is marked by the number of entries from around the country. The only Ann Arbor artists on display are Lois Bryant, Deborah Campbell, Margaret Parker, and Ben Reynaert.

What all these works (and especially Krumm's prize-winners) have in common is their decidedly uncommon approach to the fiber arts. And this shattering of tradition is especially the case for Suzanne Hesh's modest appearing, yet exceptionally brilliantly conceived and executed thread, acrylic paint; embroidery, "Common Truth."

Using handwritten embroidery, Hesh has crafted a provocative wall sculpture whose material is so slight, it appears like a ghostly graffiti on the gallery wall. Her many knitted verbs, nouns, and adjectives — "inspired," "ignorance," "insight," etc. — have been stiffened with acrylic paint, then pinned just far enough away from the wall to create shadows of these words that's an exceptionally realized artwork of conscience.

My favorite work in the exhibit is similar to Hesh's work in orientation, even if it's a shade more conventional in its construction and appearance. Los Angeles fiber artist Connie Utterback has contributed a multicolored nylon mesh construction, "Nonlinear Iteration," whose two layers of stitched nylon mesh is far more multidimensional in its whole than it is in its parts.

"Nonlinear Iteration" consists of two lengths of horizontal and vertical stitched nylon patches running across the University Gallery's entry wall. The work's stitched strips create undulating, overlapping shadows whose chromatic waves cascade from foreground to background depending upon where you view the work. Quite simply, Utterback's handsome "Nonlinear" fiber kaleidoscope hums quietly in an exhibit of artworks whose otherwise quirky virtuosity beckons for attention.

"New Fibers 2010: A National Survey of Contemporary Fiber Art" continues through Dec. 10 at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center University Gallery, Room 210, 900 Oakwood Street, Ypsilanti. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and Thursday; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday-Saturday. For information, call 734-487-0465.