Visual Art: Florence Knoll exhibit opens at Kirkland Museum

Florence Knoll, Defining Modern, a traveling exhibit that has already appeared in New York and Boston, among other places, opened yesterday at the Vance Kirkland Museum. Knoll, an award-winning 1950’s designer who was educated in both London and Chicago, “defined corporate interior design” while also making, “modern American design an international style.” Her aesthetic is noted for it’s “reductive light,” “open spaces,” and “woven fabrics.” The exhibition has the warmth and coziness that should perhaps exist in any design museum or gallery (for while design is often associated with high-fashion, it’s also art that people bring into their homes and live by) as well as the dignified aura of a museum space. The exhibition further focuses rather extensively on Knoll’s biography, tracing personal and artistic influences. And on a side note: the sculpture garden at the Kirkland Museum is fantastic in the spring and summer months.

Florence Knoll: Defining Modern will be on-view at the Kirkland Museum, 1311 Pearl St, through June 29th. For more info visit www.kirklandmuseum.org