Monumental Tapestries by Jacqueline Surdell Invoke Forests as Portals to the Divine
“Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches. All images courtesy of Secrist | Beach, shared with permission
Monumental Tapestries by Jacqueline Surdell Invoke Forests as Portals to the Divine
October 1, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert
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Jacqueline Surdell (previously) likens her process of looping and knotting rope to painting. She considers a roving line of interwoven fiber to be that of a gesture, one that might surge and swell across a canvas.
A lifelong athlete, Surdell gravitates toward a demanding, physical practice that often turns her body into a shuttle as she weaves on an oversized loom from a lift. Monumental steel bars stretching more than 20 feet wide hold the resulting hefty compositions of industrial nylon and cotton cording, which the artist creates through repetitive movement not unlike that which goes into training for competition.
Detail of “Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain, and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches
Surdell incorporates a range of influences into her latest body of work on view at Secrist | Beach in Chicago. For her solo exhibition, The Conversion: Rings, Rupture, and the Forest Archive, the artist takes transformation and reverence as a starting point. In particular, she draws on what she calls “a cosmic connection” to her great uncle Paul, with whom she shares a birthday and who died in a forested area during the Battle of the Bulge.
Connecting nature to narrative, the artist also loops in her Catholic upbringing and biblical undertones, particularly as it relates to places of epiphany. She considers forests to be “sacred thresholds,” and in this line of thinking, her dynamic works become portals to the divine. “Looking out into the forest is very different from a painting of the forest because it is more about storytelling and mythmaking,” she shares in a video interview.
Printed polyester fabric makes several appearances in this new body of work. A photographic snapshot of sunlight streaming through a lush forest canopy augments the darkened “Penance of Leaves,” while “Paul” features a vivid sunset. Nature, for Surdell, is not passive. Instead, it’s an active participant in preserving collective memory and an inviting site for transcendence.
The Conversion is on view through November 15. Find more from Surdell on Instagram.
“Paul” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 90 x 140 x 12 inches
Detail of “Penance of Leaves” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 74 x 81 x 15 inches
“Penance of Leaves” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, and steel, 74 x 81 x 15 inches
Detail of “My Roman Empire” (2025), cotton cord, nylon cord, and steel, 74 x 90 x 12 inches
“Desire Path” (2025), nylon cord, cotton cord, polyester fabric, steel, 49 x 73 x 7 inches
“My Roman Empire” (2025), cotton cord, nylon cord, and steel, 74 x 90 x 12 inches
Detail of “Suddenly, she was hell-bent and ravenous (after Giotto)” (2024), nylon cord, steel, polyester fabric, steel spool top, steel chain, and meat hooks, 165 (body) x 252 (pole to pole) x 7 inches
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