Jouy-en-Josas, France — Demi Moore as a tree. Dancer and choreographer Stephen Galloway emerges in a flurry of flora. The self-portrait of the artist in a row boat in Monet’s waterlily-filled pond. These are just some of the 24 works on display by the American artist and photographer Tim Hailand in an exhibition currently underway in the Musée de la Toile de Jouy just outside of Paris. The works fuse the artist’s photographs with traditional textiles, offering up a particular and fluid vision of the natural world, a kind of magical garden, fittingly held in this museum devoted to the world famous Jouy fabrics. The show explores Hailand’s artistic methods from 2011 through these unique works blending with the archives of the Musée de la Toile de Jouy.

Trained in New York in the 1980s, Tim Hailand discovered the universe of the Jouy fabric in 2011 during an artist in residence stay in Giverny. The Jouy fabrics would become a source of inspiration that would deeply effect his works. Among the 24 creations on display, a bold combination of printing his photographs on fabric, several have been created especially for the exhibition from the archives of the Musée de la Toile de Jouy. The artist has dedicated the show, entitled Portals. Portraits, to his mother who encouraged him to draw and create things. The youngest of six children, he would often accompany his mother to cultural events. And pertinent to the fabric medium, he would also go with her to the local fabric store — they lived in the suburbs of Buffalo not far from Niagara Falls — where he watched her purchase yards of fabric, patterns, thread and buttons and then create clothing out of them.

The Musée de la Toile de Jouy, founded in 1977, is located in the Château de l’Églantine, in the heart of the scenic Yvelines region west of Paris. It was created to conserve the memory of the production of the world-famous Jouy fabric. The Jouy fabrics were produced in the Manufacture Oberkampf in Jouy-en-Josas, between 1760 and 1843. Jouy fabrics are cottons produced in over 30,000 patterns. A boutique offers a variety of items made with the fabrics in the Jouy repertoire. The current exhibition is on until March 23rd 2025. Workshops for children and adults, conferences and guided tours of the museum’s permanent collections are all on the agenda. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. Château de l’Eglantine, 54, rue Charles de Gaulle 78 350 Jouy-en-Josas, France. Tuesdays: 2pm until 6pm; Wednesdays to Sundays: 11am until 6pm. Tel: +33 (0) 1 39 56 48 64. https://www.museedelatoiledejouy.fr