Tradition and Depth
Markings #15 ©2007 43"x 43"
Rebecca Bluestone
Last night I attended a lecture by master weaver Rebecca Bluestone titled “The Rhythm of Color and Visual Texture in Surface Design” at the Lakewood Cultural Center.
Rebecca’s work is incredible. The surface draws you in with intense richness as she weaves with 3 different types of silk in each strand. (I’m no weaver so I’m not sure that I’m using the right terms). Her talk included a short video of her weaving at her loom and I found in rather hypnotic.
Exploring in Depth
She spoke about many things of interest but what really struck a cord with me was her unwavering use of traditional techniques to explore her art in depth. Rebecca has one loom. She weaves each piece with the same warp setup with the same process.
I can so relate. In a day when many contemporary textile artists are exploring dozens of new technologies, materials and processes I am still drawn to very traditional techniques. I’m content with simple dyeing, construction and surface stitching.
The process I use to create my textile paintings is very similar to how my grandmother made quilts. I love taking the traditional techniques and creating contemporary artwork. For me the newness comes in exploring my series in depth.
As Rebecca said - this way of working isn’t better than someone that explores many techniques and has a lot of breadth. It’s just another way of working. And it was wonderful to spend an evening learning about the work of a kindred soul in that regard.
Markings #15
Yet another piece from my solo show, Markings: Repetition and Pattern, now hanging in Boulder until March 19. Four more pieces to go then the installation images.
Detail:
Posted by Lisa in: Being an Artist
Tagged: markings series, Markings: Repetition and Pattern, Rebecca Bluestone, simplicity, Tradition
