Beyond the Dinner Table

An uninspired mind might look at a tablecloth and see simply a stretch of fabric designed to save your dining room furniture from errant spills. Artist Pip Brant looks at them and sees a world of expressive possibility. Her fiber-based art combines traditionally dyed and embroidered tablecloths with bold impressions of current events and arresting images woven right into the design. Floral motifs are juxtaposed with prints of fiery army tanks. Murder, nuclear annihilation, and political upheaval fuel her latest exhibition, “Pip Brant: The Flying Carpet and Other Reusables,” which opens today as part of the Florida Artist Series at the Frost Art Museum.

At tonight’s opening reception, attendees can stand back and absorb Brant’s often absurdist art and check out two controversial large-scale interactive installations. The reception takes place from 7:00 to 10:00, and at 8:00, professional biographer Meryle Secrest will host a discussion as the opening of this year’s Green Critics’ Lecture Series. Secrest will share from her newest tome, Shoot the Widow, which reveals the tribulations of documenting the lives of subjects such as Salvador Dali and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Fri., Oct. 12, 7-10 p.m., 2007