MEDIA ADVISORY

Editor’s note: Links to high-resolution images for download appear at the end of this release.

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Katharine Shilcutt
713-348-6760
kshilcutt@rice.edu

We Make Carpets to make US debut at Rice U.’s Moody Center for the Arts

The public is invited to the Moody’s free opening celebration June 9

HOUSTON — (May 22, 2018) — Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts has commissioned Dutch collective We Make Carpets to create a site-specific installation for its Central Gallery. This exhibition marks the first time that artists Marcia Nolte, Stijn van der Vleuten and Bob Waardenburg will show their colorful work in the United States.

We Make Carpets, Umbrella Carpet 2 (detail), 6000 paper cocktail umbrellas. Photo: Ewout Huibers

The public is invited to the Moody’s free opening celebration Saturday, June 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the artists will give a gallery talk at 11:30. The installation will be on view through Sept. 8.

Eschewing a preconceived plan, the We Make Carpets artists decide only the location, size and material prior to the intuitive, labor-intensive marathon by which they create their artworks. They call these pieces “carpets” in light of their early works’ rectangular shapes and intricate designs.

We Make Carpets often celebrates local materials in its works. For their Moody installation, the artists were inspired to use vibrantly dyed crêpe paper after visiting Houston and witnessing the production of handmade piñatas. “Crêpe Paper Carpet” will be constructed over a multiweek period in the Central Gallery, where floor-to-ceiling windows will allow it to be seen by viewers both inside and outside the building.

The simplicity and accessibility of material that characterizes We Make Carpets’ work began with the artists’ first collaboration in 2009. For a Dutch Design Week exhibition titled “Instant Nature,” they created “Forest Carpet” from pine cones and needles they collected on-site. They have continued to create works using everyday materials, including coffee stirrers, mussels, balloons, pasta and cocktail umbrellas.

Media interested in attending the event or interviewing the artists may contact Katharine Shilcutt, media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6760 or kshilcutt@rice.edu.

About the Moody Center for the Arts

Inaugurated in February 2017, Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts is a state-of-the-art, noncollecting institution dedicated to transdisciplinary collaboration among the arts, sciences and humanities. The 50,000-square-foot facility, designed by acclaimed Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan, serves as an experimental platform for creating and presenting works in all disciplines, a flexible teaching space to encourage new modes of making and a forum for creative partnerships with visiting national and international artists. The Moody is free and open to the public year-round Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.

Directions and parking:

The Moody Center for the Arts is best reached by using Campus Entrance 8 at the intersection of University Boulevard and Stockton Street. As you enter campus, the building is on the right, just past the Media Center. There is a dedicated parking lot adjacent to the building. For campus maps, visit www.rice.edu/maps.

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Image for download:

https://moody.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs1641/f/styles/hero/public/exhibitions/WE-MAKE-CARPETS-Umbrella-Carpet-detail-2_1000.jpg?itok=KfWPjFFt
Image courtesy of Ewout Huibers

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.