Ancient Sources for Contemporary Work: The Art of Louise Wheatley

by Courtney Ann Shaw, Ph.D.

Louise is grounded in an appreciation of the cultural and historical importance of weaving in ancient societies and old traditions. She started her training while in her mid teens, apprenticing at The Textile Museum under Textile Conservator Joe Columbus. She absorbed the conservator’s careful and meticulous use of hands, focusing for hours and days on the fabric of diverse cultures, often working on fragments of fabric. The process fostered an appreciation of weaving that holds its integrity even when it is a small fragment of its former self. She learned spinning and weaving from her “mentor”, fellow intern Nobuko Kajitani, who became Textile Conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Later, Louise worked on a Pre-Columbian collection at Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University before free-lancing at the Baltimore Museum of Art. – TT p16

above, Louise Wheatley, Crow Woman

Her work is remarkable for the extremely fine weaving (up to 60 threads per inch), the use of tapestry roundels, and the use of images close to her heart and home. Her interest in natural history, especially gardening, is evidenced in much of her work. By contrast, Ms Wheatley has a fascination with satellites and space, inspiring her to create Curved Space, a series of satellite images of the earth suspended on a wire frame. Louise also gleans images from literary sources. She likes her weaving to be an interlocking of these gatherings with her daily experiences. . . Doing weaving that takes a long time fosters incubation, allowing for more images to show up. – TT p16

above, Louise Wheatley, Shells
below, Louise Wheatley, Shells, detail

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