by Margaret Kusner ·
Friday, October 18, 2024
The exhibit currently at Fivesparks, “Over and Under Through the Warp: The Art of Tapestry,” features the work of Tapestry Weavers in New England (TWINE), whose members are dedicated to the education and practice of this handwoven art form. Rebecca Mezoff states in her comprehensive book “The Art of Tapestry Weaving,” that “True tapestry can only be woven by hand.”
Tapestry is in progress with cartoon in background to guide the weaver when to change color and direction. The warp is spaced so that the warp threads don’t show. (Courtesy photo)
I asked exhibiting artist Kristin Kelley-Munoz to take me through the exhibit to learn what to look for in the displayed tapestries. Historically, tapestries were woven reproductions of paintings to hang on drafty walls; in fact, a few workshops still commission skilled artisans to make tapestries of paintings by famous contemporary artists. Today’s tapestry weaving is viewed as an art in itself and reflects styles and traditions from around the world.
Kelley-Munoz is passionate about the expressive aspect of tapestry and advised me to look at it as art. Like all true art forms, creating a tapestry requires mastery of the materials and techniques as well as command of the elements and principles of art and design. For example, knowledge of color theory is required when creating variations of a color by blending strands of yarn.
Weaving is like drawing with straight horizontal lines. So imagine creating images with straight lines of dyed yarn that run horizontally (the weft) over and under threads that are vertical (the warp). Unlike textile weaving, which involves a continuous line of weft yarn from one side to the other by weaving over and under the warp threads, tapestry involves discontinuous weaving of weft lines of color to create the shapes and curves of the desired image. Also unlike textile weaving, the up and down warp lines are not visible.
To maintain the design, tapestry artists usually create a picture, called a cartoon, to hang behind the loom so they know when to change color or direction. Kelley-Munoz said that being both designer and technician can be conceptually challenging, and physically demanding in the coordination and dexterity of the hands while sustaining a posture before the loom.
Tapestries by Minna Rothman, “Wind Doesn’t Know for Borders,” and Julia Mitchell, “Irises in the Japanese Manner,” demonstrate the near perfection that can be achieved in the art. Leslie Ardison’s two small tapestries, created for the Envision Art Gallery in Wichita, Kansas, which is run by blind artists, display the tactile aspects of tapestry.
One can appreciate the visible imperfections in some tapestries as examples of all the discrete skills and artistry that have to be considered in creating a perfect tapestry, such as maintaining a consistent tension on the yarn, or creating a pleasing composition that directs the eye around the whole piece.
“The yarn is always in your hands,” said Kelley-Munoz, musing that perhaps the hands’ direct contact with the medium of the wool, while creating images with it, is the very definition of being an artisan, this “overlap between art and craft.”
A reception will be held Sunday, Oct. 20, from 3 to 5 p.m. The show closes Saturday, Nov .9.
Minna Rothman’s “Wind Doesn’t Know for Borders,” a tapestry inspired by wind being a symbol of freedom. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)