Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My Pulled Tapestry - a Curator's Dilemma or Dream?


I just mailed off one of my favorite pieces, My Tapestry Spiral,  for an exhibit at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts in Tracy, California.  The piece is part of a California Fiber Artists'  exhibit taking place September 8 - October 27th.  The exhibit opens the 2012-13 Exhibit Season at the Grand Theater for the Arts and coincides with the Tracy Bean Festival.   This will be the first feature presentation of fiber art by the Grand Theatre. Do come and support fiber arts!

My Tapestry Spiral is one of my favorite pieces for many reasons.  First of all it was fun making a two dimensional tapestry take an unexpected turn into three dimensions.  This is a pulled tapestry; thirteen yards of tapestry woven in three colors with 182 triangular darts inserted as I wove.  Once off the loom, I removed the wedges and pulled the warp so the weft filled in the negative space thus forming a tight spiral - like a spiral staircase or one of those fusilli spiral pasta noodles. 

The other reason this is a favorite piece is that each curator gets to decide how to exhibit the piece.  Once out of the incredibly small box that this arrives in, the curator has lots of options how to exhibit the piece; on the wall, over a box, free standing...there are limitless options.  Once out of its packing container, the piece takes on an organic shape uniquely its own.  So in each show the piece looks different. 

Here are a few examples...












I can't wait to see how it is displayed at the Grand Theatre in Tracy.  Stop by and check it out.  The opening reception is on September 29th from noon until 2pm.  








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