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Jane Kidd
The 25 years of the American Tapestry Alliance have paralleled my own history as an artist and educator. My first solo exhibition was in 1975, and I began teaching at the college level in 1980; . . My choice to express ideas through the tapestry medium has never faltered.
In my role as an educator I have been passionate about the viability and integrity of the tapestry medium and have introduced hundreds of individuals to the process. I have experienced the satisfaction of seeing some of these individuals continue to develop their artistic vision through tapestry and pursue tapestry as a primary means of expression. …It provides a meaningful voice for a small number of people who are able to embrace the physical demands and constraints of this time consuming medium.
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below: Jane Kidd, "Possession: Imprint/Impact #2," 54" x 25", 2006.
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below:
Jane Kidd, "Wound Up," 72" x 48", 1985. Collection of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton.
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Sharon Marcus: The Context, 1977- 2007
I began working in tapestry during the late 1970s . . . fascinated by the possibilities for pictorial representation in tapestry. Between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s my weaving reflected that interest, as I utilized my photographs, manipulated digitally, as a basis for designs woven in the Gobelin style. My work during this time coincided with the growing interest in classical tapestry on the West Coast.
…The tapestry medium seems to be evolving also as artists increasingly engage in more experimental approaches. My own work has changed considerably in the last ten years, moving away from the use of cartoons and the pictorial image to shaped pieces in which I seek to create a sense of the archetypal object.
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below: Sharon Marcus, "Recollections I," 43" x 5-17", 2005;
weft-faced eccentric tapestry with wool warp and linen and wire weft with mixed media.
Photo by Bill Bachhuber.
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below:
Sharon Marcus, "Secet Garden," 44" x 69",1985; cotton seine twine warp and wool weft.
Photo by Bill Bachhuber
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Julia Mitchell
When ATA was born in 1982, I had been weaving tapestry for 17 years, professionally for 7, and had already experienced much of the blank-faced misunderstanding of the medium that we have all become so accustomed to. I was primarily weaving on commission. . . Since [1985 I] have been combining gallery and museum exhibition with a dogged pursuit of whatever commissions I can find. . . [and] also started teaching tapestry design and weaving at my local arts center, a pursuit that gives me great enjoyment.
. . . A good tapestry to my mind is a piece of art that is designed specifically to be just that and nothing else. Its physical, woven form is integral to its design and vice versa.
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below: Julia Mitchell, "Waterlilies," 66" x 48", 1980; wool weft on linen warp. Photo by the artist
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below: Julia Mitchell, "Edge of the Pond II," 30" x 30", 2006; wool and silk weft on linen warp. Photo by Ron Hall
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Judy Schuster
For 30 years my work has explored various ways of presenting duality in people, the ambiguities, contradictions, conflicts and complements arising from opposites. . . I am interested in optical illusions, figure-ground relationships, scale and focus illusions, color transitions, and chromatic tensions from the juxtaposition of complementary colors…
In my first tapestries I wove an organic shape, the face, on one set of alternate warp threads tsuperimposed on a grid that was woven on the other warp threads. . . These juxtaposed, disrupted images, such as in "Roy," represent the contradictions and connections inherent in individual personality, or dichotomies in technology and art vs. craft media…
[Recently]. . .Seeking a quicker, more immediately gratifying medium, I returned to painting--not faces, but landscapes using watercolor and acrylics … and painted directly with my hands, not brushes because I could not resist "hands-on.” My other current direction is weaving segments of faces, using beads in a small format. I enjoy the pointillist color mixing that can be achieved with beads and like that intimacy of working small. Eventually I plan to group these segments into larger fractured images. So, I am back to my continuing interest in disrupted images and closure.
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right: Judy Schuster, "Beaded Faces," on the loom, 2007
Below: Judy Schuster, "Roy," 55" x 74",
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left: Judy Schuster, "Dualitiy," 35" x 46"
below: Judy Schuster, "Cruciform Landscape"
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1988 "World Tapestry Today"
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Cecilia Blomberg
Over the years I have been part of several ATA shows, but my first experience in 1988, stays with me. … The image was of Lukas, a man with a little café on a beach on Cyprus … The tapestry was especially challenging as Lukas is in shadow and had resembled a werewolf in the first version. All the reflections on bottles, glasses and glass plates were easy compared to getting his face right. . . .It has now been a while since I saw Lukas II as I joined an international team to recreate the Hunt of the Unicorn set at Stirling Castle in Scotland. My two-year contract is up in July 2007. …I am curious to see how my new medieval weaving skills will influence my future work.
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below: Cecilia Blomberg, "Lucas II," 39" x 55", 1987.
right: zecilia Blomberg, "Unicorn tapestry," on the loom, Stirling Castle, 2007.
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