|
Woven Sculpture As an Art Form
By Judith Schwartz
Although associated primarily with fabric and two-dimensional swaths
of cloth, weaving as a medium provides a large range of
possibilities for sculpture. Designing three-dimensional scenes and
free-standing woven sculptures challenges the weaver on two levels:
the artistic challenge of design, color and texture creation and the
technical challenge of creating a sculpture from soft materials.
I began three dimensional weaving some 15 years ago with a small
natural addition to a 2-dimensional wall hanging. It led me to
thinking about a weaving with multiple layers of warp to create a
deep picture and a greater 3-dimensional effect. In recent years
this has led me closer and closer to free-standing woven sculpture.
I am, by the way, a purely amateur weaver who simply loves the
medium. The maxim that has guided me was provided by a friend.
Having searched the mighty internet to find the technical
instructions for what I wanted to do, I realized that no one else
seems to be doing what I was attempting to do, so I had no
"teacher". My friend came along and said "If the methods aren't
available, you have to invent your own". And so I have.
Every art form has its technical demands, and weaving certainly has
its own. The weaver has to be able to create a taut warp on which to
weave his creation. In ancient times the tautness was aided by tying
stone loom weights onto the warp strings. I've used this method,
among others, with my latest weaving. Having found a number of
ancient weights in the fields around my home where a prehistoric
village once stood (I live in Israel where archeology keeps popping
out of the ground around you), I put them to 21st century use.
Let me start by saying I rarely use a loom. I work primarily with a
simple wooden frame that anyone can nail together and that achieves
the necessary tautness for the warp. When I began weaving with
multiple warp layers, the technical problems were easily solved. By
using a frame that was 2 or more inches deep, I could drill holes in
the top and bottom for each warp level as I added it. I planned the
basic picture I wanted to achieve by drawing the parts of the scene
that would be on each warp layer on small sheets of cellophane and
placing one transparent sheet on top of another to see how it would
look as a completed item. By the way, I can't draw at all! So my
sketches were simply supplements to what I saw in my head. The plans
of course vary as the work progresses, but the basic idea is there
as a guide. Only a portion of the total scene is, of course, on each
warp layer.
I found in most cases that working from back to front was easiest,
though I had to vary this at times to get the right perspective
(perspective is the most difficult part for me since the only art
instruction I've had in my life was as an 8 year old). Perseverance
sometimes takes over where learned perspective fails.
My newest challenge is free-standing or hanging sculpture. The first
technical problem is how to hold the warp taut for a 3 dimensional
sculpture, and for this I asked an ironworker in town to build me a
three dimensional frame to use as a "loom". This 3-D frame should
allow me to attach the warp strings in whatever direction I want the
sculpture to go. A future article or website can go into how this
works...once it does!
My suggestion to other weavers? Feel free to do what your
imagination tells you, whether it's impossible or not. Use whatever
materials you can get. Wool is hard to come by these days in the
area where I live, so I use synthetic yarns as well as wool, string,
ropes, raw wool, nylon stockings...whatever. I also don't feel
sinful if I add a bit of crochet or embroidery here and
there...sometimes even macramé. In museum catalogues it's called
"assorted stitchery". That term equates with "feel free".
Three dimensional and sculptural weaving can demand your full range
of emotions, can provide as many frustrations as other art forms,
and as many challenges, and in the end can bring the satisfaction of
accomplishing something that is truly beautiful. My walls seem to
agree with me, as do visitors who happen by my home. I suggest to
the "everyone" who's out there to try it as an art form...and visit
my website if you want to see how mine came out. By the way, I'd
also be happy to hear from you!
To see the actual weaving, feel free to drop in to [http://sites.google.com/site/wovensculpture/]http://sites.google.com/site/wovensculpture.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judith_Schwartz
http://EzineArticles.com/?Woven-Sculpture-As-an-Art-Form&id=1955091
BACK
|