Renowned fabric artist has latest installation at American Dream

Al Urbanski
'Stay Golden,' an Oklahoma-inspired new work from Rachel Hayes, hangs above Primark and H&M in American Dreams retail wing.

Rachel Hayes, whose renowned, large-scale fabric art has decorated deserts, parks, tundra, and buildings, has installed her latest work inside American Dream, Triple Five’s mammoth dining, entertainment, and retail palace in New Jersey.

Stay Golden, which hangs above Zara, H&M, and Primark in the retail wing of the Meadowlands property, will have special appeal to visitors from Oklahoma. Hayes, who lives and works in Tulsa, got inspiration for the work from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about her home state and the film “The Outsiders,” set in Tulsa.

“Throughout the various patchwork-sewn panels, the main color of light gel is ‘Oklahoma Gold,’ a rich ochre, which references the musical, ‘Oklahoma!,’” Hayes said. “The title alludes to a line, ‘stay gold, pony boy,’ from ‘The Outsiders.’”

Hayes’s work, which joins American Dream’s permanent art collection, encompasses a full three stories of space below wooden barrel-shaped, vaulted ceilings. The artist used strips of textiles and theater lighting gels to create panels, loosely based on the log cabin and jelly roll techniques of building with small pieces to create a large composition. 

Hayes’s work has been exhibited at the SculptureCenter in New York, the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. She recently collaborated with the Italian fashion house Missoni, culminating with a solo exhibition during Milan Design Week.

X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds