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Critical Writing


Fine art textile artist1) SLOW ART: Contemporary Woven Tapestry in the Twenty-First Century

Fine art textile artist2) Review:Australian textile art and artists 4 Australian Weavers ( BSW Gallery, Exeter, UK )

Fine art textile artist3) Review:Anne Jackson textile art Different Perspectives ( BSW Gallery, Exeter, UK )



Anne Jackson Textile fiber artist based in England

Tapestry 08
British Tapestry Group

Catalogue essay written by Anne Jackson


SLOW ART: Contemporary Woven Tapestry in the Twenty-First Century

Woven tapestry is produced by intertwining threads on a vertical warp to form a strong, dense, textile structure. In its traditional manifestation it is associated with long walls and grand buildings, monumental and luxurious in its enrichment of space. Over the centuries, art that is flexible, durable, expressive and rich has been produced by highly-skilled tapestry designers and artisans. In the twentieth century, individual weavers began to emerge. These were artists working to their own designs, individually expressing ideas and feelings within the paradigm of the painter, sculptor or installation artist, rather than making work to fulfil "the principle role tapestry has played…as an expensive and slow, though skilful, (mode of) fine art reproduction."(1) Since the mid-twentieth century, tapestry artists have sought the recognition of their medium as 'fine art' within the Western canon. This has proved to be problematic, largely due to the identification of textile art forms with the domestic, 'feminine' sphere, rather than with the wider public arena. In spite of tapestry having developed through similar channels to painting and sculpture, and after great efforts in the twentieth century, it is still largely associated with the decorative arts in the eyes of the critical establishment.

The historic roots of woven tapestry run deep. Ancient fragments of Nazca textiles from Peru, and Coptic weaving from Egypt, are preserved in museums worldwide. Sumptuous hangings have survived which originally decorated and warmed the walls of European princes, emphasising their wealth and status.(2) Historic records show that tapestry workshops in medieval and early modern times were often thriving businesses, employing highly-skilled artisans who worked with sumptuous materials. The idea of the individual artist-weaver began to emerge through the Arts & Crafts movement in late nineteenth century England. It grew through the teaching philosophy of the Bauhaus in Germany, and the work of Jean Lurçat, a painter who revitalised tapestry in France after World War II, collaborating with the weavers at Aubusson and launching the Lausanne Biennales. This series of international exhibitions was extremely influential in developing the reputation of tapestry as an art form.(3)

In the UK, the foundation of academic courses and departments, such as at Leeds and Edinburgh Universities, grounded tapestry in the field of Art and Design education. At Edinburgh, Archie Brennan, an apprenticeship-trained weaver and Director of the Dovecot Studios, encouraged the combination of technical skill with the expression of ideas, and the cross-fertilisation between the professional studio and the art college was very fruitful. In Sussex, the tapestry studio at West Dean provided another vibrant centre of learning and training. These studios "worked with internationally known artists, (which)
helped to promote the medium. They encouraged and inspired students to explore their own ideas and to develop new approaches to the techniques."(4)

Around the world, especially in the 1960's and 70's, the teaching of tapestry, the characterisation of the 'Art Fabric' movement through books and publications (often associated with a new acknowledgement of women artists), and the commissioning of large-scale textiles for new public buildings, widened the audience and the market for tapestry.

In recent times, however, progress has slowed. Historical and cultural developments have not favoured the advancement of this ancient 'noble art'. Across Europe, the impact of the downfall of the Soviet Union has been felt deeply by weavers, especially in countries where the state formerly provided degrees of support and sponsorship for tapestry artists, often in the form of commissions and exhibitions. The Lausanne Biennales ended in 1995 amid political and financial pressures, and conflicting visions of tapestry as textile art. Under the influence of contemporary critical thinking, academic institutions are inclined to devolve tapestry into more general departments, or close it down altogether. Students, accustomed to screen- or lens-based approaches to creative expression, are finding less appeal in such a labour-intensive medium. Around the world, there is the relentless rise of consumer culture, with its emphasis on cheap and immediate gratification and globally-produced goods which are appealing, exotic and inexpensive.

In response to these circumstances, and looking further ahead in the twenty-first century, several new initiatives have been launched. In Europe, these include the foundation of the British Tapestry Group and European Tapestry Forum, which aim to provide opportunities for exhibition and professional development, and to raise the status of tapestry as an art form. These organisations are encouraged by the clear evidence of public support for tapestry exhibitions. In the UK, attendance numbers are always high. In Denmark, Germany and France, when the European Tapestry Forum exhibition ARTAPESTRY was shown in 2005-7, visitors routinely came to see the exhibition from neighbouring countries.

Although popular with the public, tapestry does not fit easily into the dominant artistic discourse of our time, which privileges high technology, new media, the instant and seemingly effortless. The proponents of Modernism, the dominant cultural discourse of the twentieth century, discounted anything that showed evidence of effort or 'skill of the hand' in making. At the present time, "we are still left assessing work within established (Modernist/Post-modernist) cultural conventions…it could be considered that in recent years it has been taboo to 'make' anything that might be process-led, to practice an art that relies upon its making for its form and content or transformation of materials through process, and have it seriously critiqued."(5)

For artist-weavers, the day-to-day discipline and rhythm of the work, the desire to express ideas and feelings through this particular medium, continue. The exploration of surface, colour and texture, choosing and handling materials and creating unity from previously disparate elements, is still satisfying. The "underlying progressive nature, the sequential growth inherent in the structure"(6) produces visible evidence of a good day's work, fixed as solidified time on the warp. "The structure enhances the
image …Single fibres are like letters of an alphabet or numbers; with them one can form words to create poetry or a formula to develop a new rule."(7) By its nature, the woven image is integral to the tapestry rather than being applied to a surface. As the structure is built up, the image is created. The twist of each particular thread in the weft, coarse or fine, intensifies its vibrant quality, as the fibres absorb and reflect light. Practitioners also explore new materials, such as recycled plastics and reflective or fluorescent yarns, in order to create "the surface you get from weaving (which) you don't get anywhere else. It's rich, it's tactile, it's got depth. It's not a thin layer, it's dense. Materials are crucial - it's to do with what can happen by placing yarns. There's enough happening if you get it right to make the piece sing."(8)

Tapestry is a medium of rhythms. When artist-weavers speak or write about their work, the sense of rhythm is a repeating motif. There are the physical movements involved in doing the work, likened by Magdalena Abakanowicz to "the natural rhythm of my body, to my breath."(9) Kay Lawrence speaks of "the connection between the processes of weaving and the rhythms of the body…a contemplative quality in the practice of weaving".(10) There is a strong sense of physical connection to the work, of embodiment.
For all weavers there is also the everyday rhythm of going into the studio and getting on with weaving. The labour-intensiveness of the medium requires an almost monastic discipline, without which the final tapestry will never appear.
Finally, there are the visual rhythms within the object itself. The warp, running through or underneath the image, like the beat in music, is sometimes barely perceptible, but its unbroken linear quality is always there. It contributes to "tapestry's undeniable ability to bring together disparate images on one picture plane."(11)

In expressing their ideas, some weavers immediately engage with the warp, working without a cartoon - the paper image or drawing created to serve as a guide in the making of the tapestry. Some use the cartoon as a reference, departing from it at times to "improvise on the warp."(12) Others work directly over a drawing, collage or painting, in dialogue with the image, using the interaction as a way of interrogating the original idea. Tapestry is always "a decision-making experience".(13) Every pick or knot involves choices, of colour, thickness, tension, and faithfulness to the underlying idea or cartoon. This intensity of labour and thought gives tapestry a presence, a monumentality, even when the work is miniature in scale. The viewer registers, however subconsciously, that a great deal has gone into the making of this object. Often gestures or marks are made quickly and spontaneously at the cartoon stage, then slowed to glacial speed while being made part of the tapestry surface. This characteristic communicates to the mind and eye a density, a gravitas. The viewer knows, even without consciously recognising, that seriousness of intention and commitment went into this series of transformations. Whether medieval or contemporary, the sense of gesture caught, distilled in time, and slowly built up on the warp is a key characteristic of tapestry.

Contemporary artist-weavers approach the medium in a wide variety of ways. Some use the surface as a site for the depiction of landscape, or dream, or memory. Others convey challenging messages or information, while keeping the viewer engaged with rich surface qualities and imagery. Some artists see the association of 'textiles' with the domestic and decorative as a way of subverting ideas about femininity, and saying uncomfortable things. Others work with painterly abstraction, or sculpturally, exploring space and form. Many artist-weavers incorporate other media and materials into their tapestries, or create installations. Some move into other media entirely, or include tapestry as one part of their overall artistic practice.

In the early twenty-first century, in a digital, multi-media society, we can only try to articulate why such this ancient art form is relevant to our evolving world and culture. The desire to make these concrete, expressive artefacts is, apparently, tenacious in the face of an unsympathetic art world. Perhaps the present-day tapestry artist, raising his or her eyes to the enormous, vibrant, fifteenth-century Apocalypse Tapestries in Angers, France, feels part of a continuum, a maker of something with the potential to last beyond the present context. Judging by public response at tapestry exhibitions, the medium's ability to communicate and elicit responses is clear, as if it answers an essential need to acknowledge the human handprint in a technology-dominated world. As the challenges and limitations of contemporary culture are exposed, and questions arise about sustainability and unending technological progress, it is possible that there is still a place for such 'slow art'; rhythmic, of the body and corporeal; strong, vibrant, and rich in imagery and presence.

Ann Jackson

Notes and References

1. Pat Taylor, 'The West Dean Tapestry Workshop', ITNET Journal
Vol. 5, No. 3 (1994) p.18
2. In 1466 the Duke of Burgundy commissioned a suite of eight tapestries, paying "a sum with which almost as many stone-built town houses of several stories could have been built in the city of Bern at the time."
Elke Jezier-Hübner, 'A Noble Art: Burgundian Tapestries in the Historisches Museum', International Tapestry Journal Vol. 5 No. 1 (2002), p.4
3. Tapestry as an art form has developed in many parts of the world, including Australia, North America, Latin America and the Far East. For the purposes of this essay, I have focussed largely on the European context.
4. Fiona Mathison, correspondence with author
5. Janet Bezzant, Manchester Metropolitan University
'Reflexive Textile - Investigating the Subject/Object'
Conference Proceedings: 'Textiles: What is Critical?' a conference organised by the North West Textile Forum, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 29-30th September, 2000
6. Archie Brennan, interviewed by Sally Brokensha, International Tapestry Journal, vol. 4 No. 1 (2001), p.18
7. Jilly Edwards, 'Art Textiles of the World: Great Britain Volume 3', p.100 (Telos Art Publishing, 2006)
8. Sara Brennan, 'Art Textiles of the World: Great Britain', p.26 (Telos Art Publishing, 1996)
9. Magdalena Abakanowicz, quoted in Diana Wood Conroy, 'Janet Brereton: Knotted Against Fate', International Tapestry Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1998), p. 3
10. Kay Lawrence, 'Voyage: Home is Where We Start From', K. Lawrence & L. Obermeyer, 'Reinventing Textiles Vol. 2: Gender and Identity', ed. Janis Jefferies, p.64 (Telos Art Publishing, 2001)
11. K.T.Doyle, Review of 'Kate Derum, Afternoon Gestures-Tapestry Anecdotes', International Tapestry Journal Vol. 3, No. 1 (2000) p.24
12. Christine Sawyer, conversation with author
13. Shelly Goldsmith, 'Art Textiles of the World: Great Britain Volume 2, ed. Jennifer Harris, p.51 (Telos Art Publishing, 1999)

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Review:

Published in The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, No. 225, March 2008, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue 4, no.92, 2008, 'Tapestry Topics' (American Tapestry Alliance) 2008

4 AUSTRALIAN TAPESTRY WEAVERS
BSW Gallery, 29 Bartholomew Street West, Exeter, Devon, UK
10-31 May, 2008

Woven tapestry is often described as a medium that 'enriches space'. The intensity of skill and thought that goes into each work communicates itself to the viewer, consciously or unconsciously. This is true whether the work is large or small-scale. As well as being a rich and resonant medium, tapestry is also supremely portable; the exhibition of work by four artists based in Melbourne, Australia in Exeter, Devon, is testimony to this.

The BSW Gallery is a new venture in improving the visibility of woven tapestry as an art form. While tapestry is often included in mixed exhibitions, this is currently the only gallery in the UK which provides an opportunity to focus on this medium alone.
Contemporary tapestry, historically used to adorn high walls in churches, palaces or state buildings, is now also bought or commissioned by private individuals, often on a domestic scale for their own homes. The BSW Gallery is located in a space that elegantly navigates the line between these public and private spaces, showing large, miniature and three dimensional works in a restored Georgian merchant's house. The gallery rooms are welcoming, with high ceilings and graceful proportions. Large-scale tapestries have room to breathe, and small works beckon the viewer closer.

The artists represented in '4 Australian Tapestry Weavers' are interlinked, all based in Melbourne, and having worked at the prestigious Victorian Tapestry Workshop.
Most of the work in the show is miniature, the most feasible strategy for exhibition on the other side of the world; but it is intense and potent nonetheless. Portability doesn't compromise quality. The vibrancy of colour, as held in yarn, and the sheer evidence of time spent and skill exercised mean that each tapestry is a small world.

All the works shown are woven tapestries, with the exception of one on paper by Sara Lindsay. Entitled 'Trade: China Spice', it is a sequence of deckled paper rectangles, striped with mapping pens. Referencing stripes in woven cloth, it has resonances of Agnes Martin and Ben Nicolson, and provides evidence that medium matters less than the intention of the artist. It fits perfectly with the vision demonstrated in her four small, quietly insistent tapestries hung on the adjacent wall. Each of these pieces comprises a narrow horizontal strip of delicately-striped tapestry above a tightly-aligned row of pieces of rolled cinnamon bark forming strong, vertical lines. As well as echoes of trade and colonialism, the rhythm of the warp in tapestry is made explicit in the regularity of these organic shapes.

Joy Smith is well-known in the tapestry world for the wit and richness of her small-scale, jewel-like tapestries. Here, three works entitled 'This Goes with That', inspired by earrings, shoes and clothing found in charity shops, exhibit her extraordinary attention to detail in everyday things. The contrast-stitching depicted on tiny blue jeans and shoes is meticulous and perfect, and the beaded earrings are truly 'beady', rendered in individual picks of weft. There is a sense of the artist exploring these ordinary objects with loving attention.

The two tapestries entitled 'West Dean Topiary: Summer' and '…Autumn' are a humorous take on the effort and perseverance required to shape growing shrubs into that peculiar European art form, topiary. The artist may be drawing a parallel with making exquisitely fine woven tapestries; in any case, the medium seems appropriate to the message.

Robyn Mountcastle's main contribution is a series of fourteen miniature works. 'Via Dolorosa' lies within the ancient tradition of woven tapestry in ecclesiastical decoration. The series depicts the 'Stations of the Cross', more usually seen carved in stone on the walls of churches or cathedrals. The intense emotion of the theme draws the viewer into each of these tiny tapestry worlds. One finds oneself trying to read the symbolism of the abstract shapes caught in the warp and weft of each surface.

Tim Gresham's work shows the influence of his other medium, photography. The tapestries included in this exhibition hold resonances of Modernist architecture, focussing on abstract rhythms and patterns-within-patterns, executed in a palette reminiscent of concrete and modern building materials. These works defy the usual convention that tapestry is richly seductive, jewel-like and approachable in colour; however, on closer inspection of his works, the eye is rewarded with rich, optical colour-blending, creating both harmony and dissonance.

The four Australian artists in this exhibition are skilled weavers. Through their chosen medium their voices and intentions speak clearly in the gallery space. The exhibition has balance and rhythm, representing the strength of woven tapestry, this portable and potent art form, in a world-wide context.

Ann Jackson



REVIEW:

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Woven Tapestries by
Fiona Hutchison
Fiona Mathison
Fiona Rutherford
Jilly Edwards

BSW Gallery, Exeter, Devon, U.K.
6-21 September 2008

Published in: American Tapestry Alliance 'Tapestry Topics' Spring 2009 Vol 35 No 1, Canadian Tapestry Network Newsletter, Winter 2008/9

Four leading British tapestry artists recently exhibited at the BSW Gallery, Exeter. They represented a cross-section of professional practice in the UK. All four are experienced international exhibitors, executing major commissions and installations as far away as Japan. The 'Different Perspectives' of the exhibition title concerned the interpretations they bring to bear on their experiences of the human-made world and the natural environment.

Fiona Rutherford's tapestries, influenced by Japanese textiles, displayed a mastery of colour and design that made them almost dance off the walls. For example, in 'Present Past', a fine mauve stripe moved across a field of bright aqua, and another of almost industrial sea-green, with optical effect akin to a Bridget Riley painting.
Due to its historical evolution as a pictorial art form, there is often an assumption that a tapestry has a 'right way up', and is to be hung like a picture. Many of Fiona Rutherford's pieces could be hung vertically or horizontally according to taste, as the composition was not intended to be read pictorially. On some level, this conveyed a lightheartedness and ease that were part of the works' appeal.

Jilly Edwards' mixed-media series consisted of rolled tapestry fragments in small perspex display units, along with ephemera such as embroidered train tickets. Each piece could have its elements rearranged, capturing a sense of the non-linearity of remembered experience. She also exhibited a series of tiny, intensely-coloured abstract tapestries, each in a spacious frame, like a precious fragment of memory from a visual diary.

In Fiona Hutchison's two large-scale works, she dematerialised the conventional rectangular plane of tapestry into airy vertical strips. Clouds of pale, added filaments floated before them, appearing to be uncontrolled, but individually painted, treated and placed with painstaking care, giving an effect of flying sea-foam.
All her works expressed her love of the sea and sailing, including several small framed pieces where the quiet fineness of the weaving suggested calm water, reflections, or harbour elements. The scale and delicacy of these works invited close looking, while paradoxically evoking the vastness of the uncontrollable sea.

Fiona Mathison's work subverted the traditional structures and materials used to construct woven tapestry. She showed a pair of slender, cylindrical forms, curving from floor to ceiling, evocative of birch trunks in a wood, whose construction included furnishing fabric and monofilament wrapping. Small freestanding shadow boxes were related to her site-specific work in the gallery courtyard, a tall, bright, tree trunk-like form, reminiscent of the work of Nikki de St Phalle in its colour and humour. Entitled 'Mixed Fruits', it was woven of monofilament and long strips cut from fruit juice cartons. The effect was of flowing patterns, bark and cellular structures, as the freestanding tapestry form moved gently in the wind, changing with time and weather.

This show represented a synthesis of four very different approaches to tapestry weaving. It was carefully hung in the semi-domestic scale of the gallery space, so that each artist's work could speak clearly and be heard. The four perspectives on the world and weaving were united as a harmonious whole, a fitting achievement for a contemporary tapestry gallery; as creating coherence from diverse strands and materials is the technical heart of the weaver's art.

Tapestry is often unrecognised in contemporary culture. Judging by recent national press coverage, several professional arts journalists clearly have no idea that tapestry lives and thrives as a contemporary art form in the UK.
Exhibitions like this one make an important contribution to the rectification of this situation.

Anne Jackson


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