‘Nancy Koenigsberg: Crossed Wires’ at New York Gallery

^{“Sky Blue Sky,” 2025, coated copper wire, 18 x 18 x 6.5"}

“As I move ahead with my work, I also reflect on my inspirations and beginnings.” So begins the artist statement from Nancy Koenigsberg ’49 for her recent exhibit, Crossed Wires, at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York, which was on display in December and January.

Originally from Melrose Park, PA, Koenigsberg majored in philosophy at Goucher and had a successful custom needlepoint business in New York for many years. She enrolled in the New School in 1974 for a degree in fibers, and after graduating started the Textile Study Group of New York with five other students. The group invited fiber artists to give lectures and present their work, and it’s still active and growing today.

Koenigsberg has been working as an artist ever since. Her textiles and mixed media sculptures are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as many other museums and private collections. She has exhibited around the world and has done commissions for many organizations. In 2022, she was named a fellow by the American Craft Council.

In Crossed Wires, the 98-year-old Koenigsberg used her long-time urban surroundings for her work. “The grid of New York City’s streets and the regularity and repetitiveness of the building facades has become part of my DNA,” she wrote. Her show featured wire sculptures made of copper and steel narrow-gauge wire, which are woven, knotted, and crocheted to create free-standing and wall-mounted grids. “The grid and a variety of detail were also an important part of my early work with fiber, a first love that continues to engage me though I’ve moved from yarns and fabric to industrial materials.”  

See more of Nancy Koenigsberg’s work at https://www.nancykoenigsberg.com.