Anne Boudreau’s fabric constructions are assertively feminine in form, but decidedly not passive in attitude. Creating that sort of balance of forces is in fact the main focus of her work.

Boudreau was the artist in residence at the 701 Center for Contemporary Art from February through April. Anne Boudreau: A Delicate Balance, an exhibit of the work produced during her stay at CCA as well as several earlier pieces, will be on view at the space through July 5.
 

People familiar with the Columbia art scene will remember Boudreau from the years she was in graduate school at USC and immediately after. She was an active force in the area, curating a number of shows involving temporary environments and installations.

Boudreau is a New Orleans native and the influence of the Deep South runs strongly through her work. In particular, she addresses the conflicted, paradoxical roles that contemporary Southern women find themselves facing. She is adroit at deconstructing and re-presenting those stereotypes in a completely empowering way.

Her earlier work provides a context for the newest work and a transition to what she’s currently engaged in. B-Child (2002) is a mixed media 3D construction of wire, fabric, thread and paint that floats, like all of these pieces, suspended from the ceiling by nearly invisible monofilament. Its undulating form is clearly derived from a natural one, either flower or pod. But there the resemblance ends. The increased scale, unnatural color and changes in texture transform the delicate floral form into something with power and presence.

Flower-like forms are still evident in 3 Wishes (2008). Three golden toile hoops surround elongated protuberant stamens. But they’ve evolved into forms that could be read as lampshades at their current scale. They can also read as scaled-down ball gowns or hoopskirts. As lampshades, they simply evoke a playful quality. As hoopskirts, they take on a much deeper meaning. The silk and gold cage can’t contain the power within.

A number of pieces completed during the residency carry that garment reference forward with a definite gendered focus. All six of these pieces combine a single abstracted form of an article of clothing in black toile with the long painted silk stamens found in her earlier work.

Balance emerges again as a strong theme running through Boudreau’s work. The pieces can be paired, male and female — Doublet and Corset, Codpiece and Garter Belt, Cravat and Apron. All are based on earlier clothing forms that confine or protect depending on the gender of the wearer. Intensely colored stamen forms shoot from both top and bottom of the central forms.

As in 3 Wishes, the beautiful decorative structures — the confining stereotypes and constructs of male and female behavior and roles — can’t contain the more natural energy within that is evoked by the stamen.

There are several other pieces from 2009 that provide a visual counterpoint to the energy and color of these pieces. Water, Earth, Fire and Air are large, monochromatic, abstract forms around 4-by-5-feet each. Made from wire, seine twine and tea-stained organza silk, they float in the center of the gallery area and visually anchor the space. These are much quieter pieces. Their forms are very different, more simplified and geometric.

The exhibit also includes work done by members of the community of all ages from two outreach programs led by the artist during her residency. The work from both reflects an extension of the artist’s concerns and adds to the exhibit.
Although Boudreau’s work addresses issues that are particularly Southern in flavor, they do so in a way that goes beyond the borders of the Mason-Dixon line. Her latest work adeptly addresses the confining structures of not only feminine roles, but male as well. 

The 701 Center for Contemporary Art is on the second floor of 701 Whaley St. in Olympia. Visit 701cca.org for more information. Mary Gilkerson blogs at scartblog.com.