Working inside the box (part 2 of 2)

Last week I wrote about how a workshop with Rowen Schussheim Anderson "blew the lid off my traditional tapestry box."  I was, and am, excited by the prospect of incorporating mixed media and techniques into the traditional flat, weft-faced tapestry surface.

In the midst of these musings, I read about Irvin Trujillo's latest Best in Show weaving at Santa Fe's annual Spanish Market.  The piece is entitled Pensando en el Cajon or Thinking in the Box. As you would expect from Irvin, the piece was breathtakingly complex and exquisitely crafted.  His words quoted in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper article caught my attention:

"Irvin Trujillo, in discussing his winning piece, explained that while most artists are told to think outside the box, his weaving explores the concept of the box by going back to traditional roots.
'The box hasn't been defined yet,' he said of his textile, which took eight months to create.  'So we have to figure out the box before going outside.'" 

Irvin Trujillo of La Centinela Weavers in Chimayo, NM, describes his winning piece to
Barbara Crowley of Maine at the preview for Spanish Market.
Photo by Luis Sanchez Saturno of  The New Mexican

Wow!  Irvin comes from seven generations of Rio Grande weavers, and he feels the box hasn't been defined yet!  I am going to ponder that thought for quite a while.  Irvin's words, and even more, his stunning weaving, confirm that there is still plenty to be discovered and achieved inside the traditional box of weft-faced weaving, and within the various traditions within the tapestry field (Rio Grande, French, Navajo and others. . .).  Treat yourself and hop over HERE to see some of Irvin's work.   And of course the art of many other contemporary tapestry weavers who work within the parameters of pure tapestry also affirms this.  For proof of this, look no further than the member artists of the American Tapestry Alliance.

Many of us have discovered that working within limits can be paradoxically freeing and actually lead us to find new solutions for creative problems.  On the most basic level, if you've ever run out of a particular type or color of irreplaceable yarn before you've finished weaving, you know what I mean.  You have to find new solutions within the parameters you're working in, and often those solutions make for a more interesting piece in the end.

So, where does that leave me (and maybe you?), a contemporary weaver, excited by the modern anything-goes approach yet impressed and informed by what is possible in the traditional manner?

Darned if I know!  I'm headed back to the studio to see if I can find out where my work lies in relation to the box. . . .  Meanwhile, let me know in the comments--is your work inside the box?  Outside?  How does your conception of your relation to the box inform your work?

Blowing the lid off the tapestry box (part 1 of 2)

I've recently been mulling over the familiar metaphor of working "inside (or outside) the box" with regards to tapestry.  Last month I had the great pleasure of taking a week-long workshop with tapestry artist and art professor Rowen Schussheim-Anderson at the American Tapestry Alliance's retreat in Reno, Nevada.  I was excited by the promise of learning to use mixed materials and techniques, including collage (already one of my favorite approaches to design) in tapestry.  I am still excited and still exploring the possibilities.

It was fun to be introduced to so many new-to-me techniques, including weaving a window in the surface of the tapestry, adding novelty yarns, adding on surface embellishments such as wrapped and coiled pipe cleaners and bits of clothesline, and twining, crochet and beadwork techniques as part of the woven surface. Rowen told us our workshop weaving would not be a coherent work of art, and she was right, at least in my case.  It's a funky little thing, but it will be a good reminder to me of some of the things we tried.

Molly Elkind, mixed media sample from Rowen Schussheim-Anderson workshop, 2018.
That's my painted paper in the window.  

Speaking of funky little experiments, another thing we did was add large stitched marks to previous tapestries we may have done that we were not happy with.  I really liked the energy and added texture that stitches added to this very early tapestry of mine.  I'm definitely keeping this in mind for future work.

Molly Elkind, Pedernal study

We also did a number of sketchbook exercises including an approach to collage that I haven't tried before.  For me this involved enlarging a section of a topo map and using it as a template for a cut and pasted paper design.  I had always built up my collaged compositions intuitively on a blank sheet of paper, so this was a more challenging method.

Molly Elkind, paper collage from Rowen Schussheim-Anderson workshop, 2018

While I'm not sure the overall composition quite succeeds, I think some of these cropped details could make interesting small experiments. (To find them I cut 4x6" and 6x8" rectangles out of the center of sheets of white paper, forming makeshift frames.)

The most eye-opening thing for me about Rowen's workshop was simply being given permission to think outside the box, to let go of traditional notions of pure tapestry:  warp faced, using mostly wool wefts, perfectly flat and straight-edged.  My tapestry teachers up to now have been incredibly gifted practitioners of this traditional approach, and so I have worked within those parameters.  But I love the idea that a tapestry can itself be a collage, with various disparate and surprising elements layered and juxtaposed.  I've been saying to friends that Rowen's workshop "blew the lid off my traditional tapestry box."

Tune in next week to find out how my thinking did a 180 when I heard Irvin Trujillo's comments on working inside the box. 

Recall-Recapture-Remember fiber exhibit at Tansey Contemporary

I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the above-named exhibit the other day in Santa Fe.  An important family celebration kept me away from the opening last weekend, timed to kick off the 2018 New Mexico Fiber Crawl, but I hear it was a hoot.  The show remains up in Santa Fe through June 17, when it will travel to Tansey's Denver gallery for July 7 - August 5.

This exhibit, sponsored by the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) in collaboration with Tansey Contemporary Gallery of Santa Fe and Denver, showcases invited and juried artists from the Southwest region.

Tansey Contemporary Gallery, 652 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM

The show's theme was expressed in this way:  "Does our past build us, or do we build our past?  Things remembered can be as sharp as the current moment or so blurred that only a feeling remains."

This dovetails nicely with the questions I've explored in my Mary series, questions about the ongoing impact of the image and myth of the Virgin Mary for women down the millenia.  I was thrilled when my piece Mary (Yes) was accepted.

Mary (Yes) by Molly Elkind back left;
In Mind by Amanda Speer back right 

There is much to see in this show, and work by other Tansey gallery artists is also on exhibit so the space is chock-full of cool stuff to look at.  I would love to share all the fiber pieces with you, but time and space do not permit.  And in fact there is a complete slideshow HERE and an online catalog with artists' bios and statements HERE , so you can browse to your heart's content.  I recommend taking the time to read the artists' statements.  Here I will focus on the work of those weavers whose work captivated me on this visit.  I plan to revisit the exhibit and imagine I will find more work that pulls me in then.

For me it was a thrill to see this piece by Elizabeth Buckley in person after having only seen it on a screen. 

Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50".

Elizabeth's mastery of values, hues, subtle color gradation and transparency in tapestry are breathtaking.  She fully exploits the techniques of the medium to serve her image without letting the techniques become an end in themselves.  And the image itself conveys a sense of layers of deep time in the landscape, alluding to the sea that used to cover much of New Mexico.

detail, Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50"

detail, Elizabeth Buckley, The Veils of Time, 60" x 50"

I could study and learn from this tapestry for a long time. 

I could say the same of Cindy Dworzak's piece Circles.

Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37"

Again, my eye delighted in the subtle gradation of colors, the use of transparency, the masterful tapestry techniques employed . . . and all those overlapping circles!  Circles are probably the most difficult shape to weave in a medium based on the grid, and here Cindy has woven bunches. . .and made it look effortless.  I was interested to learn that for Cindy this piece recalls her mother's love of color and the complexity of her personality. 

detail, Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37"

detail, Cindy Dworzak, Circles, 39" x 37"

Speaking of grids, a couple of artists explicitly acknowledged the woven grid while at the same time bending it to their own will.  These pieces prompted me to wonder "How did they do that?"  I do recognize various shadow-weave patterns in Amanda Speer's piece but in the brief time I had I couldn't tease out how she managed to blur their edges and transition between them.  A look at her statement disclosed that she works with ikat dyeing.  This piece, with its mosaic of color and complex pattern set off by a black border, is dedicated to the 36 young people who perished in the "Ghost Ship" warehouse fire in Oakland, CA in December 2016.

Amanda Speer, In Mind, 38" x 38"

Jennifer Moore is well-known for exploring the possibilities of doubleweave.  She writes that this piece's design revolves around fractals based on the golden proportion.  The central rectangle spins off smaller, proportional rectangles in multiple generations. . . much as the human family reproduces itself and its cultures.  I have a very general understanding of how Jennifer wove this but I marvel at the nuances of color gradation and luminescence she achieves.

Jennnifer Moore, Introspection, 40" x 30.5" 

I must include a look at two more tapestry artists before closing.  Navajo/Dine' weaver Titus Steiner Cody wove a piece that is rooted in Navajo methods and imagery and yet feels utterly contemporary.

Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68"

Cody credits the influence of his grandmothers, both in teaching him to weave and in handing down the creation stories of the Navajo, which are pictured in this piece. Again, there is much to see and to study here.

detail, Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68"

detail, Titus Seiner Cody, Somewhere Triptych, 37" x 68"

Finally, Irvin Trujillo included a piece informed by a number of influences:  his own multiple-generation heritage of Rio Grande weaving, the patterns in a Tunisian headscarf he observed in a Santa Fe museum, and the protests of the Arab Spring that occurred during the time he wove the piece.  Because he was limited to a small loom at the time, the piece was woven in two strips and seamed down the center.  The weaving is of course meticulous. 

Irvin Trujillo, Emergence in Tunisia, 80" x 48"

I was interested to note that this piece is woven in half silk, half merino wool, at a very fine sett.

detail, Irvin Trujillo, Emergence in Tunisia, 80" x 48"

There is so much more to see in this exhibit than I have presented here so briefly, fascinating and gorgeous works in stitch, sculpture, quilting, and mixed media.  If you are in Santa Fe or will be in Denver in June, I urge you to see the show.  Or at least curl up with the online catalog HERE.