Koenigsberg says the grid featured in much of her work reflects the city streets she knows so well and is a “part of her DNA” as a New Yorker. As the work employs the regularity and repetitiveness of the grid, it also includes the nuances and intricacies found in both urban and natural environments and in the textile world she’s been immersed in for decades.
Image: installation view of Nancy Koenigsberg & Jody Guralnick at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery. Image above: opper Patches, 2016, coated copper wire, 25 x 21 inches.
Koenigsberg has a rich history of study and work in textiles. She founded a custom design needlepoint business which thrived for many years in New York City. With a desire to focus more on her own work, she closed the business and became a student again, studying for three years at The New School for Social Research. Her studies were life-changing and set her on her present course. To ensure the continuation of an artistic exchange, she and fellow students began the Textile Study Group of New York in 1977, holding monthly meetings for lectures, presentations, and demonstrations. They invited artists from around the world whose work was well-known and well-regarded internationally to present their work. Occasionally, presentations of historical importance or technical expertise were invited ensuring group members of a broad range of knowledge from ancient to the most contemporary textile practices. Koenigsberg is today President Emerita and still deeply involved in the group’s ongoing programming.
Image: Tumble III, 2023, steel and coated copper wire, 22.5 x 12.75 x 8 inches
Nancy Koenigsberg is on view at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery until 16 March 2024.