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Tapestry Topics Feature Article
A Quarterly Review of Tapestry Art Today |
page 9
Spring 2004, Vol 30 No 1 |
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| They are interested in experimenting with traditional textile materials and processes to a point but they are painfully aware of the constraints of time and the demand on their time, both academic and personal. They are searching for ways to validate their practice in relation to contemporary theory and issues that are generated in studio, liberal studies classes and in contemporary art writing. They are also moving through educational systems with curricula that promote a more interdisciplinary and conceptual approach, often at the expense of processes that demand more time for technical training and hand skills. As an artist and educator, I am often excited by the work that our students are producing. It is expressive, witty, and innovative. It alludes to contemporary theory in meaningful ways and presents interesting critiques of contemporary culture. But as a tapestry maker I am also saddened by the fact that many students, though interested in the results of the process, feel unable to work within the demands of the tapestry medium. My frustration is compounded as I look for contemporary theory and writing about tapestry that discusses tapestry in ways that acknowledge a specific history, links between process and content; time and ritualized activity and presents tradition not as something to be avoided but as a platform to move from and as a means to provoke reflection and critique. The current groundswell of theory and language linking contemporary textiles to pre-linguistic semiotics, the feminine, the corporal, and even the haptic is only partially useful to a discourse about contemporary tapestry. Tapestry remains something of an anomaly. Its social and narrative history and the disciplined language of process bring to bear other considerations. These must be articulated as a potential means to affirm, confound or conflate the personal, political and provocative images that inhabit contemporary tapestry weaving. We may be convinced that it is important and meaningful to retain a framework of skill, process, narrative and history as a baseline for identity. However, I feel we are doing a poor job at bringing knowledge and appreciation of this to a broader audience of museum administrators, gallery curators, critics and most importantly the next generation of artists. A lack of substantive writing about tapestry is partly to blame. There are good reference sources, my well-thumbed copy of the catalogue for the exhibition "The Narrative Voice"11 is a good example. This small catalogue provides four excellent essays written by Alice Zrebiec, Michael Thomas, Archie Brennan and Janis Jefferies, as well as artist statements from the five tapestry artists. It contained more words than illustrations and provides insight into what tapestry is, through discussion of the power and dynamics of a specific history, process and individual vision. Individual artists like Marcel Marois, Sharon Marcus, Ann Newdigate, Diana Wood Conroy and others have contributed to the more general writing on tapestry. I don’t feel that writing about tapestry should always fall on the shoulders of the makers. It is increasingly important to encourage curators, historians, critics and other academies to take up this cause, particularly if we want to reach a broader audience. I think ATB 4 may have missed an important opportunity to contribute to the understanding of tapestry in an expanded field by not including a more extensive essay as part of the documentation for the exhibition. I hope this might be a consideration in the future. |
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| 11 Dr. Alice Zrebiec, et al., Tapestry the Narrative Voice exhibition catalogue 1989. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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