Contemporary Tapestry – “Southwest Passing Forward”

Weaving is a tradtionally female task or art form.  The preparation of textiles in general has been, across cultures, within the domain of the feminine.  A really great book for more depth and breadth on weaving and textiles as women’s work is Elizabeth Wayland Barber’s “Women’s Work: The first 20,000 years:Women Cloth and Society in Early Times.”

In the middle ages, Tapestry as an art form was more respected than paintings were, it was a way of showing off economically, patronizing the arts, and keeping your castle warmer and less drafty all at the same time.  In the Renaissance, tapestry faded as a premier art form.  The industrial revolution further marginalized the socio-political importance of textiles, as cloth was now cheap and plentiful (factory woven).

In the past century tapestry has begun to re-claim a place in the world of fine arts and contemporary tapestry is now found in museums, private collections, and public institutions around the world.

I chose to focus on specifically southwestern tapestry in this virtual exhibit because the southwestern united States has a rich weaving history from navajo rugs and tapestry blankets to the hispanic Rio Grande styles.  The area is today a thriving modern textile and fiber arts area.  I spent a few weeks there a couple of summers ago, at the New Mexico Fiber Trails Festival, and actually saw a couple of the pieces you’ll see below.

This is a collection (gallery exhibit) of contemporary women tapestry artists.  The pieces have been selected to explore the theme of a transition into the future.

“Carribean Doorway” – Donna Loraine Contractor -2002

I chose this one because of the cross cultural references.  Turquoise has a rich history in (especially native) history of the southwest, and also evokes the tropical ocean.  Such cross-cultural references place this artpeice specifically in its own modern context in a globalizing world.  The image of the open door suggests transitions and the welcoming of change, while acknowledging the aspects of the unknown.  I think its use of color is really gorgeous.

“Image Unfolding” – Rachel Brown 1997

I chose this tapestry because of the way in which it takes traditional motifs – the sort of zig-zaggy chevron bits – seen at the top and bottom of the tapestry, and changes and reworks them, as though they are being seen through a pool of water.  This sort of refraction and reflection is the process that any traditional art form undergoes as the modern world reuses and reinvents it.

Its particularly cool to see this being done in light of the geometric styles of both navajo and hispanic traditions of southwestern weaving.

Rachel Brown was born in 1926.  She went to Radcliffe College for a BFA and then Harvard Graduate School of Design.  In 1956 she moved to Taos and began weaving.  Her first exhibit of her tapestries was in 1964 at the Santa Fe Museum of International Folk Art.  She own and operates Weaving Southwest in Taos New Mexico.  In 1994 she received a Life Time Achievement Award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.

“Halcyon Daze” – Rebecca Mezoff – 2006

I just really really like this one.  I think its utterly gorgeous.  It does tie in thematically, because the bold and saturate colors are pretty typical of southwestern art,  the spiral is symbol of growth and change as well as ancient wisdom. Also the sort of blurred line effect in the background mimics a textile resist-dye effect called ikat that is a very traditional technique in Japanese (and other pacific) weaving traditons, it’s cool that she integrates other geographical old or ancient and traditional weaving references into her modern tapestry.  Its another way of playing with the global dynamics of our world heritage.

“Meridians” – 2007 – Rebecca Mezoff

The windows in the piece above function similarly to the motif of the door, as a site of transition.

Rebecca Mezoff says of herself “I grew up in northern New Mexico. I lived in other parts of the United States after graduate school, but finally returned here in 2004 to re-experience the slower passage of time and the beauty of the mesas, mountains, arroyos, and people who live here. My experience of nature informs my life in many ways and the diversity and mystery of the natural world certainly is one inspiration for my weaving. Natural phenomenon contribute heavily to my design process and frequently the colors coming out of the dye pot were something I watched in a Colorado sunset or found on a rock face somewhere between Abiquiu and Gallup, New Mexico.I became interested in weaving as a child standing by my grandfather’s 60-inch Macomber loom while he wove curtains. Many years later I came across my own loom and I started weaving myself in earnest. I began tapestry weaving in 2004 at Northern NM College in El Rito, NM doing traditional Rio Grande tapestry. My current work is more contemporary in nature, but I still draw inspiration from the weaving traditions that surround me. I currently use two or three-ply wool yarn for all of my pieces. I dye the yarn myself using synthetic acid and natural dyes. The rhythm of the loom and the slow process of dyeing and weaving forces me to slow down and pay attention to the essential nature of what I am creating in my art and in my life. The outcome is often unexpected and has the potential to lead me to a new place. The metaphor of weaving a life is always present for me as I work, and weaving becomes a way of expressing interconnectedness of all life forms, one thread at a time.I currently live between Santa Fe and Taos, NM on a mesa overlooking the Rio Grande river.”

“Blue Windows” – Skaidrite McKeag – 2009

I thought this one was really cooled and tied into the theme in a new way with the architectural influences that are apparent in the piece.

“Embers” – Skaidrite McKeag – 2007

THis one also exemplifies some architectural influence.

Both of McKeag’s peices are particularly cool in the way they take some of the geometric abstract-ism that’s more prevalent in the modern painting world and interprets it with fiber.

McKeag was born in Latvia in the 1930’s.  Her mother wove.  She moved to Taos in the 1960’s with her husband and devoted herself to weaving.  Her work has been shown in many galleries.  She is a long time member of the American Tapestry Alliance.

“Fiesta Vision” -Karen Benjamin – 2005

“Ventana I” – Karen Benjamin – 2005

“Adobe Curves” – Karen Benjamin – 2006

In all of Benjamin’s pieces above, you see the theme of the window as a place of transition, the bold colors of the southwest, and in the last tapestry, she incorporates a path or trail which is evocative of the continuing journey of tapestry as an artform.

Karen Benjamin started her art career as a painter. In the late nineties she began weaving, mastering the techniques and beginning to apply them to the geometric forms that inspired her.  She has become one of New Mexico’s top tapestry artists.

She says she “firmly believes that meditative space and mood are expressed better through weaving that any other medium – that weavings’ quiet, accumulative working process shows up as content in the completed piece.”

Karen Benjamin received the Best of Show award at Fiber Celebrated ’99, an international juried fiber art exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum

http://www.americantapestryalliance.com/

http://weavingsouthwest.taoswebb.com/

http://www.newmexico.org/hispanic/learn/weaving.php

http://www.nmfiberarts.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry