Art Review: Liz Collins at RISD Museum
Liz Collins is a renowned artist whose textile-based practice has captivated audiences with its intricate details and mesmerizing compositions. Her work often explores the delicate balance between holding things together and letting them fall apart, creating a sense of tension and beauty in her pieces.
One of the most memorable installations by Liz Collins was “Cave of Secrets” at the New Museum’s exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon” in 2017. This immersive environment invited viewers to engage with the work and socialize within its lush surroundings. The same ethos of inclusivity and craftsmanship can be seen in her mid-career retrospective, “Liz Collins: Motherlode,” currently on display at the RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island.
Curated by Kate Irvin, “Motherlode” offers a comprehensive look at Collins’s body of work, spanning from her early fashion designs to her more recent textile-centered visual art. The exhibition showcases her evolution as an artist, from her knitwear line showcased at New York Fashion Week to her collaborative performance project, “Knitting Nation,” and her monumental fabric works.
Collins’s deep understanding of textiles and their manufacturing processes is evident in her use of scale and color to animate her abstract compositions. Whether it’s the intricate details of “Royal Embrace” or the delicate balance of “Euphoria II,” her works exude a sense of craftsmanship and artistry. She often plays with the idea of unraveling, creating pieces that seem on the verge of coming apart, like in “Head” and “Crying.”
While the exhibition focuses on Collins’s career trajectory and process, it also touches on her influences, including traditional weavings from Mexico and Ghana, as well as artists like Niki de Saint Phalle and Eva Hesse. However, some critics feel that the exhibition missed an opportunity to delve deeper into the feminist and queer histories of craft and material that inform Collins’s work.
Despite this, “Liz Collins: Motherlode” is a must-see retrospective that showcases the breadth and depth of Collins’s artistic practice. For those unable to visit the RISD Museum, an exhibition at Brooklyn’s Powerhouse Arts features a large-scale wall-hanging and installation inspired by Collins’s work. And for those who do make the trip to Providence, a visit to the Costumes and Textiles gallery and study center at the museum offers a glimpse into the rich traditions that inspire Collins’s creations.
In a time when textile-based art is gaining traction in the art world, Liz Collins’s use of machines and mills to create her pieces adds a unique layer to her work. By exploding the intimacy often associated with handmade textiles, Collins draws on histories of craftsmanship and production to create pieces that are both visually stunning and conceptually rich.
“Liz Collins: Motherlode” will be on display at the RISD Museum through January 11, 2026. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the intricate and captivating world of Liz Collins’s artistry.
