News-Gazette, February 15, 2025
A monumental weaving presides over Krannert Art Museum’s exhibition Making Place for the Arts at Home: Performance and Mid-Century Modern Architecture.
In Dot Replinger’s Sainte-Chapelle, thick bands of coarsely woven fabric hang over a rod.
The front strips crisscross into a mighty parabola, while those in the back drop down vertically. The ends hang loose; long fringes add a contrasting note of lightness.
Saturated tones of brown, green, azure, indigo, fuchsia, tomato red, tangerine, and goldenrod jump off the wall.
Replinger’s textile has the presence of a sculpture and the heft of architecture.
The densely layered pattern and jewel tones recall stained glass, and her title unmistakably connects the work to the vivid windows of the medieval Parisian chapel.
The architectural inspiration goes deeper still.
Her husband was legendary architecture professor John Replinger, who specialized in distinctive mid-century modern homes in the Champaign-Urbana area, including homes he designed for his family.
Dot designed this sculpture for the entry hall of their 1995 home in the Yankee Ridge area of Urbana (or did John design the entry hall for this work of art?).
Sainte-Chapelle stands out for its architectural qualities as well as the careful attention to setting and demonstrates a collaborative and generative relationship between architect and artist.
A weaving at this scale requires a large loom.
Dot had several in her home studio.
Unlike conventional studios at home—typically placed in peripheral parts of a house—John created large spaces for his own architectural practice and Dot’s textile arts.
Both studios are unusually visible and prominent from vantage points in the home, showcasing their creative work alongside living spaces.
From this home studio, Dot created original work and commissions large and small for a wide variety of clients and spaces, including Caterpillar headquarters in Peoria.
Her monumental weavings stand among the most significant sculptural textiles from the mid- to late 20th century in the U.S., and her custom clothing remains widespread in our community.
Read the full article about Dot Replinger in the News-Gazette
Author: Jon L. Seydl, former director of Krannert Art Museum
