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Brimming with Lush Texture, Mixed-Media Tapestries by April Bey Envision an Afrofuturist World
Art#acrylic
#afrofuturism
#graphite
#portraits
#tapestry
#textiles
#watercolorMay 5, 2022
Gabrielle Lawrence More
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Tender Embroidered Portraits by Ruth Miller Are Tinged with Expressive Colors
Art
#embroidery
#portraits
#tapestryJanuary 20, 2022Grace Ebert“Congregants,” 20 x 35 inches. All images © Ruth Miller, shared with permissionBeginning with a line drawing in pencil, U.S.-based artist Ruth Miller renders hand-embroidered portraits based on photos. Her wool tapestries and thread drawings layer stitches in yarns of both realistic and fanciful colors, creating expressive depictions that use the material’s texture to enhance light and shadow. “Coupled with realistic drawing, that tiny amount of physical depth brings the images closer, giving them a more immediate sense of presence… In the months that they’re still in my studio, the stories they tell become more concrete and nuanced in my mind, just as they would in a steadily lengthening conversation,” the artist writes.Miller’s works are often life-sized and take months to complete, a process she details on her site. “At work, I spend a good deal of time simply looking; first seeing, then wondering,” she shares. “Each of the pieces you see on this page changed me as the narratives within them took form within me.” (via Women’s Art)“The Impossible Dream is the Gateway to Self-Love”Left: “Teacup Fishing,” hand-embroidered wool on fabric, 58 x 31 inches. Right: “Our Lady of Unassailable Well-being,” hand-embroidered wool on fabric, 19 x 21 inchesDetail of “Teacup Fishing,” hand-embroidered wool on fabric, 58 x 31 inches“Duafe”Sketches for “Congregants”Detail of “Unspoken Truths”Photo by Ann Madden
#embroidery
#portraits
#tapestryDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story More - in Art
Industrial Materials and Rugged Topographies Converge in Jacqueline Surdell’s Knotted Tapestries
Art#chains
#ribbon
#rope
#sculpture
#tapestry
#textilesJuly 29, 2021
Grace Ebert“We Will Win: Our Banner in the Sky (after Frederic Edwin Church)” (2020), cotton cord, nylon, paracord, fabric, and ribbons, 84 x 108 x 12 inches, 120-inch bar. Photo by Ian Vecchiotti. Images courtesy of Jacqueline Surdell and Patricia Sweetow Gallery, shared with permission
Chicago-based artist Jacqueline Surdell sutures lengths of rope, fabric, and silky ribbons into sprawling abstract tapestries that hang from walls and standalone armatures in textured, colorful masses. Swelling clusters of knots and ties, loose weaves, braided tunnels, and dangling strands compose her three-dimensional compositions that are disrupted by sporadically used items like steel chains, volleyballs, and polyester shower curtains. Because of the scale of the pieces and the hefty materials, the artist often uses her body as a shuttle to weave the brightly colored fibers together on massive hand-built looms.
Surdell embeds parts of her Chicago upbringing in her wall sculptures, especially childhood memories of her grandmother’s landscape paintings and her grandfather’s job in South Side steel mills. These two experiences converge in her textured works by evoking vast terrains and the city’s industrial history through her use of commercial materials. Each piece offers further reflections on today’s world, with energetic and chaotic pieces like “We Will Win: Our Banner in the Sky” (shown above) responding to the fraught political landscape in the U.S. and destructive events like wildfires and loss of coral reefs sparked by the climate crisis.
You can find more of Surdell’s large-scale tapestries on her site, and head to Instagram to see her latest work-in-progress.Detail of “We Will Win: Our Banner in the Sky (after Frederic Edwin Church)” (2020), cotton cord, nylon, paracord, fabric, and ribbons, 84 x 108 x 12 inches, 120-inch bar. Photo by Ian Vecchiotti
“Sacrifice of Columbia: Destruction (after Thomas Cole)” (2020), cotton cord, nylon cord, fabric, printed polyester shower curtain, American flag jacket, steel battle rope anchor, steel chain, canvas tarp, acrylic paint drips, and wood armature, 84 x 96 x 12 inches. Image courtesy of Patricia Sweetow Gallery
Left: “Neon Hymn” (2020), braided cotton cord, paracord, enamel, and oil stick, 80 x 26 x 12 inches. Right: “Scylla III: The Pastoral State (after Thomas Cole)” (2020), cotton cord, nylon cord, paracord, printed cotton towel, steel frame, and volleyball, 27 x 27 x 1.5 inches (frame), 33 x 85 x 9.5 inches (floor extension). Images courtesy of Patricia Sweetow Gallery
“Straight-laced: The Consummation of Empire (after Thomas Cole)” (2020/21), cotton cord, nylon cord, paracord, printed polyester shower curtain, and steel, 96 x 64 x 14 inches. Photo by Ian Vecchiotti
Left: “Purging: Desolation (after Thomas Cole)” (2021), cotton cord, nylon cord, fabric, printed polyester shower curtain, and steel, 86 x 71 x 12 inches. Image courtesy of Patricia Sweetow Gallery. Right: “Untitled II” (2015), braided cotton cord, steel rod, and steel armatures, 60 x 60 inches. Image courtesy of Jacqueline Surdell
Detail of “Sacrifice of Columbia: Destruction (after Thomas Cole)” (2020), cotton cord, nylon cord, fabric, printed polyester shower curtain, American flag jacket, steel battle rope anchor, steel chain, canvas tarp, acrylic paint drips, and wood armature, 84 x 96 x 12 inches. Image courtesy of Patricia Sweetow Gallery
“Untitled XII (reflections on the water)” (2020), braided cotton cord, and steel, 60 x 144 x 12 inches. Image courtesy of Jacqueline Surdell#chains
#ribbon
#rope
#sculpture
#tapestry
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Lush Tufted Tapestries Document Ecological Changes in Argentina’s Landscapes
Art
Craft
Design#Argentina
#carpets
#landscapes
#rugs
#tapestry
#textilesMarch 25, 2021
Anna MarksAll images © Alexandra Kehayoglou, shared with permission
Designer Alexandra Kehayoglou (previously) creates exquisite pieces of flowing textiles that reference the rugged landscapes of her homeland, Argentina. In the creation of each tapestry, Kehayoglou transforms surplus carpet fabric into natural elements that range from a spectrum of Earth-colored mosses to clusters of trees and serpentine rivers that cut through the heart of her weaves. Entwined within each piece are fragments of the artist’s own memories, including witnessing waterways slowly recede and the alterations to Argentina’s grasslands.
Her latest works, a series called Prayer Rugs, depict animal footprints and small vegetative features of the Parana Wetlands located 50 kilometers from Buenos Aires. In recent years, the region’s biodiversity has been decimated by the wood and paper industries, which have facilitated the growth of non-native plant species that have since spread out of control. Additionally, human-made fires wreaked havoc during 2020, while livestock simultaneously trampled the once-luscious grassland.
Kehayoglou’s pieces document the foliage that has survived after years of this widespread exploitation and how, over time, local fauna has started to reappear: thistles grow through cracks in the dry Earth, deer leave mud-splattered tracks, and chirping insects dance upon youthful leaves. The artworks narrate the wetland’s change and growth, reflecting the pain caused by capitalism while turning the need for change into tapestries that reference Argentinians’ hope. Kehayoglou says:
Isolation made me think of my carpets as spaces where new forms of activism could be enacted. A type of activism that instead of focusing on paranoid conflict was silent, absorptive and, as I believe, more effective. My carpets, thus, became instruments for documenting ‘minor’ aspects of the land, which were otherwise overlooked as irrelevant. A focus on its micro-narratives that would open new doors for possible ecological futures.
You can see more of the artist’s rich tapestries on her website and Instagram.#Argentina
#carpets
#landscapes
#rugs
#tapestry
#textilesDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now!
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