161 people, 246 shapes, 18 countries

Paula Armstrong, England

Once again this week  I return to the Sheila Hicks Weaving as Metaphor book. I continue with my reading of an inspiring essay by Arthur Coleman Danto, an American art critic and philosopher.  A while back I talked about Plato's views on weaving in his treatise/book The Statesman and it is from his essay that I presented my ideas.  I continue finding it fodder to feed the fire  of my weaving crusade. Danto  was an influential  art critic, philosopher and author. He stated in this essay: "The aim of state making is justice, which means , in effect, weaving together the various social virtues without allowing one more than the other to dominate. And it is that which makes weaving so apt a metapor for statemanship. The task is 'to make the city as a whole as happy as possible....not modeling our ideal of happiness with reference to any one class.'" Somehow this quote segways with Paula Armstrong's message.......

Paula Armstrong, England

Paula Armstrong from  England writes: "I have had fun weaving the shapes so thank you for the opportunity.
For me your remit is instructional and inspirational, seeing what amazing depth can be achieved just with pure hues, and I am glad to have learnt from that.  Thank you!  Such community projects give me hope. I see every tapestry as a droplet of love raining down where it is needed most.’
I don’t have my own website, but please enclose my thoughts about the tapestry project on your blog.
Warmest best wishes"

Paula Armstrong, England

. 

TAPESTRY EXHIBITION

Contemporary International Tapestry Hunterdown Art Museum
https://bay178.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mgELT5h-V-5BG3NQAjfeSnjA2&folderid=flGbikzK3Du0OFrL8wDy-ruw2&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&n=31905927

CALL FOR ENTRY

ATTENTION ARTISTS
WORKING IN TEXTILE, FIBRE MEDIUMS

Gladstone Hotel Presents
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - Hard Twist 10 – Memory
August 27 to December 27, 2015
Submission Deadline April 30, 2015
Juror’s Selections Announced May 28, 2015


Hard Twist 10 – Memory, the tenth annual edition of the Gladstone Hotel’s signature show of textile-based art, invites artists to explore the many and complex relationships between cloth and memory.

Memory winds its way through textiles, a constant thread that runs through the earliest archeological fragments, the latest experimental synthetics and everything in between. Textiles hold memory, recall memory, record - and occasionally obscure - memory. In some recent incarnations they even have memory.

There are only three criteria; work must:

• be textile or fibre related
• explore or express ideas connected to this year’s theme
• be designed to hang on a wall or be lightly suspended from a ceiling – we are unable to accept free standing work due to the nature of the exhibition space

Hard Twist has become an important annual event within the Canadian textile art community as well as being a signature event for the Gladstone.

Hard Twist 10 Jurors:
Melanie Egan - Head of Craft, Harbourfront Centre
Elizabeth Elliott - Textile Artist, Toronto
Sarah Quinton - Curatorial Director, Textile Museum of Canada
Helena Frei and Chris Mitchell – Hard Twist curators
Britt Welter-Nolan – Managing Director Artistic Projects, Gladstone Hotel (ex-officio)

Hard Twist Hanging/Installation - Physical Criteria:

• All pieces must be able to be hung/installed securely – the gallery space is part of a fully functioning hotel
• The hotel's cable-and-hook security mounting system can accommodate most work that is designed to be wall-hung.
• Artists whose work is accepted for the show must follow the exhibition guidelines of the Hotel as it it is a heritage space.

Admin fee: $100 + HST = $113 (to be paid to hotel only on acceptance)
There is no submission fee


Hard Twist Entry checklist:
Please include the following in your submission:

• Complete the Submission Form Here
• Send your images to: hardtwistshow@gmail.com
• Create a Proposal - pdf or word formats only please
  • Project Description (1 page maximum)
  • Image reference list

Hard Twist Submissions: deadline April 30, 2015

• There is no submission fee; the admin fee is paid to the hotel only on acceptance.
• Entries may be submitted by email or surface mail
• If sending your submission by surface mail, please send 4 hard copies of your proposal, contact information, bio, artist's statement, details of proposed work and image list along with a CD and include a SASE for return of entries if you want them returned. Entries which are accepted will be retained.

Address your email entries to: hardtwistshow@gmail.com

Address surface mail entries to:
Hard Twist
c/o The Gladstone Hotel
Attn: Chris Mitchell/Helena Frei
1214 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON
M6J 1J6

AMERICAN TAPESTRY ALLIANCE

ATA invites tapestry artists from around the world to submit works to American Tapestry Biennial 11.  Entry to ATB 11 is open to all tapestry artists who design and weave their own tapestries (defined as "hand-woven, weft-faced fabric with discontinuous wefts"), either individually or collaboratively (all assistants shall be named). Large scale works are welcome. Multimedia work will be considered as long as the primary medium is tapestry.  Entries must be one-of-a-kind and have been completed after January 2012.  Entries may not have been shown previously in any ATA exhibition, including the Unjuried Small Format show.  Artists may submit up to three pieces, but a maximum of one piece per artist will be accepted.

ATB10: Don Burns, "Autumn" 67" x 38," wool, linen, silk, cotton. Photo: Don Burns

Venues

South Bend Museum of Art
July 2 - September 25, 2016
http://www.southbendart.org/

University of Texas
Dates to be announced
http://gallery.unt.edu/

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
March 1 - June 18, 2017
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/ 

Click here for the Online Entry Form,
or download an entry form for mailing.

Thank You Sheila Hicks

Over the many years I have been tapestry weaving, I have often been surprised by those people that tell me they too used to weave tapestry. People I hadn't expected in the fibre art circles I mingle with. Fibre artists who I greatly admire and who have journeyed far from the rigid structures that define the traditional tapestry technique. Recently I had the great privilege of visiting the highly esteemed fibre artist, Susan Warner Keene, at her Toronto Studio in Parkdale. I was taken aback when Susan showed me her own tapestry weaving forays from many years ago and I just loved it. She also showed me this book (above) on Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor, and I it completely enchanted me. She told me that Kai Chan, another one of my favorite fibre artists who has an exhibition at the David Kaye gallery opening  this Saturday, studied with Sheila Hicks in Paris in the 1960s. 

What I love about this book is its lack of pretense, simplicity and authenticity. The pages of the book themselves have an artisinal quality, and the front of the book is pristine with an embossed white on white grid like structure, referencing weaving.  Freedom of constraints and expectations emanates in each work. One never gets the sense that she was ever concerned with what anyone else thought about her creations nor that she was trying to impress anyone. 

Each work is a for me a meditation and captures the now, the moment she occupied at the time. They are imbued with a sense of humility in that they make evident that they are very much handmade and does not try to achieve technical excellence, exploring instead  new possibilities and new ways of thinking about textiles and tapestry.  I find it refreshing even after 50 years since she has created many of these pieces. It is a documentation of the pursuit of  a creative path. What is ground breaking is that she is one of the first people to take fibre art in this direction, to not be concerned with textile as practical and useful, to see the beauty in the textiles and fibres themselves and to use them as a painter uses paint and brushes,  and a sculptor their respective tools, that is to say, to see textiles as implements of making art. There are also a number of essays written by other people which are very interesting but more academic. From one of these essays I learned how much Plato esteemed weavers which I have mentioned at other times. 

Rachel Miller

Rachel Miller
Professor/ Studio Head, Textiles Department
Crafts and Design
Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
(905) 845-9430 X:2379
Email: rachel.miller@sheridancollege.ca

Website: http://craft.sheridancollege.ca
Blog: http://sheridantextiles.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sheridan-Textiles-Program/279413128748618

Left to right: Joe Lewis, Rachel Miller, Melanie Siegel, Line Dufour, Rikki Blitt. 

A few weeks ago I was on a jury to look at submissions for the Edge of the Forest exhibition, organized by the Surface Design Association (Canada). The main organizers were Melanie Siegel, Michelle Zikowitz and Rikki Blitt. The three jurors were Joe Lewis, Rachel Miller and myself. Rachel is a professor and studio head of the the textiles department at Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.In Septmeber she went to see the Fate, Destiny and Self Determination exhibition at Craft Ontario and wove the shape above. 

EXHIBITIONS

The Art is the Cloth
Walton Gallery
George School
1690 Newtown Langhorne Road
Newtown, PA 18940
215.579.6695
December 4, 2014 to February 9, 2015
Gallery hours:
Monday—Thursday, 9:00 a.m. —6:30 p.m.
Friday, 9:00 a.m. —4:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 1:00—5:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk and Artist Reception:
Thursday, December 4, 3:00—5:00 p.m.
Gallery talk begins at 3:00 p.m. and will be immediately followed by the artist reception.

American Tapestry Biennial 11
Call for Entry

ATA invites tapestry artists from around the world to submit works to American Tapestry Biennial 11.  Entry to ATB 11 is open to all tapestry artists who design and weave their own tapestries (defined as "hand-woven, weft-faced fabric with discontinuous wefts"), either individually or collaboratively (all assistants shall be named). Large scale works are welcome. Multimedia work will be considered as long as the primary medium is tapestry.  Entries must be one-of-a-kind and have been completed after January 2012.  Entries may not have been shown previously in any ATA exhibition, including the Unjuried Small Format show.  Artists may submit up to three pieces, but a maximum of one piece per artist will be accepted.

ATB10: Don Burns, "Autumn" 67" x 38," wool, linen, silk, cotton. Photo: Don Burns

Venues

South Bend Museum of Art
July 2 - September 25, 2016
http://www.southbendart.org/

University of Texas
Dates to be announced
http://gallery.unt.edu/

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
March 1 - June 18, 2017
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/ 

Click here for the Online Entry Form, 
or download an entry form for mailing.

Giving and Receiving

As American Thanksgiving approaches, and Christmas not far off, one's thoughts turn once again to thankfulness for what we have, and to the acts of giving and receiving, of generosity of spirit and in action.  This are imporant elements of building connection to others, of deepening bonds, of building community. These are moments to celebrate the good things of life, love and relationships. With that in mind, the international tapestry project Fate, Destiny and Self-Determination/le sort, le destin et l'auto-determination continues to grow as it receives more shapes and  people  continue to give  to it. The project has received 230 shapes from 160 participants from 18 countries. The project continues to accept woven shapes of any material within certain parameters. If you would like to participate in this project contact Line Dufour at linedufour.tapestry@gmail.com and I will send you more information. Exhibitions are confirmed for the installation for 2015 and other venues are under negotiation. All participants names are included as part of the exhibit. 

Catherine Constantin France

Pamela Anne McNeil, Richmond Hill Ontario

Marylis Costevec, France

Marylis Costevec, France

Jamileh Emdadian wove this tapestry. She didn't use a cartoon and wove it intuitively. 

Barbara Heller won first place prize at the HGA (Handweavers Guild of America) juried show, entitled Small Expressions,  juried by Gerhardt Knoedel, a very successful and well respected textile designer. The exhibition was held at the Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts. http://fullercraft.org/

Michael Rohde won the HGA award for his tapestry, Meridian. 

Linda Needles senT this along - a tapestry commission in Scotland 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/09/view-from-edinburgh-alison-watt-butterfly-tapestry

Order a catalog of the tapestries included in the touring US exhibition Art of the Cloth, in which one of my tapestries was selected. The beautiful catalog for The Art is the Cloth is 48 pages. It
includes an image of every piece of every participant in the exhibit, in
color. Now available from WEBS, the yarn store (www.yarn.com). Just fill in *The
Art is the Cloth* in the search box at the top of their opening page--and
you will be whisked away to the right location to place your order.

MOVIES/DVDS
Though it may be too late to see this movie at this location, keep an eye out for it. Keepers of the Loom, about Estonian weavers. You may be able to order it on their website. Thanks to Barbara Aikman who sent this along.
Location: Tartu College, 310 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1W4 Date: Saturday November 15, 2014 Bilingual: 4:00 pm (Estonian/English) English: 7:00pm (Voice-over)
Tickets: $10.00 each and available at the door or for purchase online at
www.keepersoftheloom.com/screenings
Trailer: www.keepersoftheloom.com

EXHIBITIONS
The international tapestry installation, Fate, Destiny and Self-Determination/le sort, le destin et l'auto-determination will be exhibited in Montreal at Trames gallery, situated in the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles. http://www.textiles-mtl.com/en/
Opening reception: January 31, 2015
Exhibition dates January 31 - February 27 2015.
More details to follow.

Mary Cost is showing Fractured Light, her newest work, at The Contemporary Tapestry Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
November 9th - December 6th
Gallery hours: Thursday - Saturday, 12:00 - 4:00 pm  
The Contemporary Tapestry Gallery
835 West San Mateo Road
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
(505) 231-5904
Contact: LaDonna Mayer: ladonna@ladonnamayertapestry.com

TAPESTRY WORKSHOPS
A 4 day Tapestry weaving workshop with Mary Zicafoose: New Stories: Tapestry and Ikat Techniques, March 4-7 2015, Omaha Nebraska.  Click on this link to see Mary's website: http://www.maryzicafoose.com/. To register and learn more go here: http://americantapestryalliance.org/education/workshops/new-stories-tapestry-and-ikat-techniques-for-weavers/new-stories-tapestry-and-ikat-techniques-for-weavers-registration-form/

Inspired Tapestry Weaving

Cynthia Miller, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

I first met Cynthia when I attended my first (and sadly my only) Convergence when it was held in New Mexico. We formed a quick bond. Even then, what impressed me most was her gentleness and her high regard and knowledge of Native American cultures. She writes:

 "Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this project. I am new to tapestry, and find the design process as challenging as the execution. I settled on blue as it represents water. I am fortunate to live in a city with beautiful lakes, ponds and rivers. That is where I found my inspiration for this piece." 

Isabel Magin, Netherlands

 Isabel Magin submitted 5 shapes for the Fate, Destiny and Self-Determination installation bringing the total number to 230 and 156 people from 19 countries.

She writes: A very good friend of mine, a weaver, Jennifer Bennett, informed me last August of your international tapestry project and I have since been following it on Facebook. 

Isabel Magin, Netherlands

She invited me to participate in your project and as I like the idea very much, I created a few shapes, which include ideas taken from some of my designs. 

Isabel Magin, Netherlands

I like your idea of this international project in which you invite others to join in and to use the social media to connect. It is a great way to find out more about weaving and other artists [doing weaving]. Your tapestries are so cheerful, what a wonderful splash of colours in this troubled world. 

Isabel Magin, Netherlands

I am Belgian and have lived in Scotland and Norway. I an now settled in the Netherlands. I graduated from design and tapestry at Edinburgh Art College where I met Jennifer Bennett. 

Isabel Magin, Netherlands

Tapestry has never turned into a full time occupation but it has stayed an important part of my life and I am still enjoying weaving and giving or selling some of my works but on a small scale. Congratulations for your recent exhibition. Just amazing and I wish you all the best with it. 

Jennifer Tweedie  taught herself tapestry weaving with youtube videos. Here is her first attempt. Presently Jennifer is learning how to weave fabric.

Anna Kocherovsky, Michigan USA handwoven tapestry

Anna Kocherovsky, Michigan USA handwoven tapestry

Kazumi Shinomiya, Japan 

tapestry, doubleweave and coiling

Kazumi Shinomiya, Japan 

detail of above

You can see these woven art works at the World of Threads

Fashion as Art, Art as Fashion

A recent submission (above)  for the Fate, Destiny and Self Determination international (tapestry) installation is from Maite Tanguy . She has distinguished hereself in her weaving practice in Paris France for the last 10 years by creating art /fashion fabrics for Haute Couture such as Balenciaga, Christian Lacroix, Celine, Bouchra Jarrar, and Proenza Schouler. She enjoys these collaborations and describes them as robust and envigorating experiences but also challenging and demanding in terms of productivity. She has had numerous exhibitions in Latin America and has participated in "Artextures" , an exhibition of fibre art in France directed by Marie Francine Brochard. 

detail of  shape by Maite Tanguy

 She loves to travel and weave connection with others which she considers very important...weaving ...people and threads - the fibre that gives meaning to her life! In her 20s she acquired her skills at sewing fashionable clothes in Paris and at night she worked on her own creations, where she discovered her gift for colour and her passion for it. When she was unable to find the kinds of fabrics she wanted to sew, she decided that she had to weave her own in order to create the garments she imagined. When she was 30 her parents gave her a weaving loom and the process was an ecstatic experience and embarked in studying textiles and weaving at the atelier National d'Art Textile under Genevieve Dupeux. 

detail of shape by Maite Tanguy

Weaving for Maite is also about transmitting it to others and she has been giving classes for the last 30 years at workshops in Vanves, a suburb of Paris.

Winkles or periwinkles were a great source of creative inspiration for many of Maite's works. 

Maite says she loves fibre art because she loves to use it to share her stories and love for nature. After a rigorous spell of production fashion weaving she realized she needed more creative time, and time to express what was important to her. Marine life are great sources of inspiration for her work. 

Another important element for creative work is silence. She feels it nourishes her creativity, and helps her to release the flow of ideas, further  rejuvenating and revitalizing her in so many ways. Its all the sweeter when many opportunities like exhibitions, have resulted with her being true to her calling and direction and honouring what she needs to have her in life. 

Maite's website: http://arts-up.info/MBR/page_dediee/galerie.php?id=286

other websites featuring her work:

http://www.aiguille-en-fete.com/A-la-decouverte-de-Maite-Tanguy-creatrice-de-tissus-uniques-et-inspires_a1052.html

http://www.ateliersdeparis.com/pro.php?pro=911

Meanwhile back in the weaving class at the Toronto Weaving School, tapestry students have been impressing me immensely with their latest endeavours.

Gert Rogers created this lovely tapestry based on a photograph taken decades ago of her very fashionable sister. She framed the tapestry and will be giving it to her niece, her sister's daughter. 

Jamileh Emdadian just started taking my weaving classes only a few weeks ago and already she completed her sampler (which you saw in my last post). She created the design for this tapestry in a spontaneous way not working with a cartoon. 

Don't forget that the World of Threads fibre art exhibitions are going on in Oakville and they are opening this weekend. Check their website for all their locations.

Fashion as Art, Art as Fashion

A recent submission (above)  for the Fate, Destiny and Self Determination international (tapestry) installation is from Maite Tanguy . She has distinguished hereself in her weaving practice in Paris France for the last 10 years by creating art /fashion fabrics for Haute Couture such as Balenciaga, Christian Lacroix, Celine, Bouchra Jarrar, and Proenza Schouler. She enjoys these collaborations and describes them as robust and envigorating experiences but also challenging and demanding in terms of productivity. She has had numerous exhibitions in Latin America and has participated in "Artextures" , an exhibition of fibre art in France directed by Marie Francine Brochard. 

detail of  shape by Maite Tanguy

 She loves to travel and weave connection with others which she considers very important...weaving ...people and threads - the fibre that gives meaning to her life! In her 20s she acquired her skills at sewing fashionable clothes in Paris and at night she worked on her own creations, where she discovered her gift for colour and her passion for it. When she was unable to find the kinds of fabrics she wanted to sew, she decided that she had to weave her own in order to create the garments she imagined. When she was 30 her parents gave her a weaving loom and the process was an ecstatic experience and embarked in studying textiles and weaving at the atelier National d'Art Textile under Genevieve Dupeux. 

detail of shape by Maite Tanguy

Weaving for Maite is also about transmitting it to others and she has been giving classes for the last 30 years at workshops in Vanves, a suburb of Paris.

Winkles or periwinkles were a great source of creative inspiration for many of Maite's works. 

Maite says she loves fibre art because she loves to use it to share her stories and love for nature. After a rigorous spell of production fashion weaving she realized she needed more creative time, and time to express what was important to her. Marine life are great sources of inspiration for her work. 

Another important element for creative work is silence. She feels it nourishes her creativity, and helps her to releasing the flow of ideas and creativity, further  rejuvenating and revitalizing her in so many ways. Its all the sweeter when many opportunities like exhibitions, have resulted with her being true to her calling and direction and honouring what she needs to have her in life. 

Maite's website: http://arts-up.info/MBR/page_dediee/galerie.php?id=286

other websites featuring her work:

http://www.aiguille-en-fete.com/A-la-decouverte-de-Maite-Tanguy-creatrice-de-tissus-uniques-et-inspires_a1052.html

http://www.ateliersdeparis.com/pro.php?pro=911

Angers France

Bernard Ossant, Angers France

 Bernard Ossant, Angers France

 Bernard Ossant, Angers France

Bernard Ossant, Angers France

Bernard Ossant, Angers France

Angers
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Angers,+France/@47.4693174,-0.5584895,2a,37.5y,331.17h,109.36t,357.7r/data=!3m5!1e4!3m3!1s15744416149321321357!2e3!3e9!4m2!3m1!1s0x480878da00e58e9d:0x40d37521e0d9c30!6m1!1e1

300 km southwest of Paris, Angers was once the capital of the Anjou region. It's  medieval centre is dominated by the Plantagenêts Château d'Angers, and is considered a world heritage site.  
Bernard Ossant recently sent me five more shapes for the international tapestry installation Fate, Destiny and Self-Determination/le sort, le destin et l'auto-determination. He is from around Angers in France. Angers is a mecca for many tapestry weavers all over the world. If you are in the region visit the Musee Jean Lurcat and the Contemporary Tapestry Gallery connected to it. http://musees.angers.fr/langues-etrangeres/english/musee-jean-lurcat-et-de-la-tapisserie-contemporaine/the-site/index.html 
You must also see the Apocolypse Tapestries at the Chateau   d'Angers. http://www.travelfranceonline.com/apocalypse-tapestry-angers-jean-lurcat/

EXHIBITIONS

New York, New York!

Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry
The Metropolistan Museum of Art, New York
October 8 2014 - January 11 2015
1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street)
New York, NY 10028
Phone: 212-535-7710 
(TTY: 212-650-2921)

"Nineteen extraordinarily large Renaissance tapestries adorn the walls of Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry. These pieces, measuring between twelve and thirty feet in length, weigh an average of one hundred pounds, and they took two weeks to install in the exhibition gallery. During the Renaissance, large tapestries hung from metal hooks and ropes, but today, with an eye toward preserving and protecting these delicate pieces, the Museum's Department of Textile Conservation utilizes a special hanging method that minimizes the risk of damage to the tapestries. The video above captures the process of hanging the Gluttony tapestry (one piece from a seven-piece series depicting the Seven Deadly Sins, designed by Pieter Coecke around 1532–34), now on display in the exhibition...." read more here: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/grand-design/blog/posts/hanging-the-tapestries

The Cloisters museum and gardens  opened to the public in 1938 and is affiliate with The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Located in northern Manhattan, on a four-acre lot overlooking the Hudson River, the modern museum building inspired by medieval European architecture Here can also be found many reproductions of medieval tapestries. Worth a visit if you are visiting New York.  
http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/history-of-the-museum/the-cloisters-museum-and-gardens 

From Lausanne to Beijeing fibre art exhibiton: http://art.china.cn/huodong/node_544071.htm

At the ROM http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries
Islamic Textiles 
http://www.rom.on.ca/en/activities-programs/events-calendar/cairo-under-wraps-lecture-series

Textile Museum of Canada, 55 Centre St, Toronto
http://www.textilemuseum.ca/
From Ashgabat to Istanbul: Oriental Rugs from Canadian Collections
http://www.textilemuseum.ca/apps/index.cfm?page=exhibition.detail&exhId=363