Thais Regina de Oliveira: 'A Carnival Surround' at Hillestad Gallery

"A Carnival Surround," an installation of textiles inspired by memories and interpretations of Brazilian Carnival by Thais Regina de Oliveira, is on display at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery through April 8.

The textiles are screen and intaglio printed, and represent the happiness, creativity and fantasy of carnival. The exhibition recalls the ebullient activity in social clubs, where people gather to dance and play dressed in costumes or colorful outfits.

The artist describes how the dance floor is decorated to create a fantasy world where people can have fun as part of a national celebration four days before Ash Wednesday. From Saturday until Tuesday parties and parades are held each night. When she left her mother country in 2006 to live in the United States, de Oliveira said she felt an emotion that has no direct translation into English, "saudade." This Portuguese word better expresses the longing, the nostalgia, the sorrow and the absence she felt.

With screen-printing bright, animated colors on silk fabric, she suggests the magnificent costumes made with sequins and feathers and invokes the confetti, rhythm, and characters of carnival. "All the feelings and images I had in my memory became part of my print designs," said de Oliveira, a master's degree candidate in the UNL Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design.

The Hillestad Gallery is part of the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design in the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences. The gallery is on the second floor of the Home Economics Building on East Campus, on 35th Street north of East Campus Loop. For more information, call (402) 472-2911 or visit http://textilegallery.unl.edu.

WRITER: Wendy Weiss