BY BRIDGET BALCH

Art takes countless forms--from canvas and paint to marble and chisel, artists have utilized what was available to create something beautiful.

Two new exhibits at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center--Community Artist Series: Fiber Art, which opened Sept. 14, and Quilt National, to open Oct. 5--showcase how local and national artists have used all kinds of traditional and nontraditional materials to take their art beyond the canvas.

According to Lynette Reed, one of the local artists whose work will be displayed in the Fiber Art exhibit, fiber art is a multiple-medium form of expression.

The materials that the artists behind this exhibit have incorporated into their pieces include yarn, textured cloth, willow branches, metal coils, a freshwater pearl, silk, beads and a church's altar cloth, to name a few.

Rita Brown, another local artist whose tapestry weaving work is featured in the exhibit, says she learned to weave 50 years ago.

Brown said she uses all kinds of yarn, colors and patterns that are usually inspired by what she sees in nature.

The museum will continue its focus on textile art this fall with the Quilt National exhibit, which it has on loan from Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio.

The traveling exhibit features work from artists all over the country who competed with fellow quilters for a spot in the show.

The museum will be displaying 25 pieces, about one-third of the traveling exhibit, simply because there is not enough space for the entire collection.

"We're getting a lot of calls from fiber art and quilt enthusiasts," said Ellen Killough, president and CEO of the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center.

"The quilters in this area get real excited when something like that comes here," Killough said.

She believes that these two overlapping exhibits give the community a chance to compare and contrast local and national artwork.

The museum also has some historic fabric work from Fredericksburg's past, so visitors to the exhibits will be able to see how quilting and material artwork has drawn from the past and how it has evolved.

"It's part of the fabric of Fredericksburg," said Killough.