Tag: Jacquard

Influence and Evolution Introduction: Michael Radyk

March 28, 2015 0 Comment
Michael Radyk Flocked

Swan Point (Flocked Again) Jacquard, woven of wool, recycled vinyl coated polyester, cotton and linen, photo by Tom Grotta

Dimensional weavings by Philadelphia artist, Michael Radyk, will be on display in Influence and Evolution: Fiber Sculpture then and now, opening April 24th at browngrotta arts in Wilton, Connecticut and continuing until May 3rd. Radyk has a BFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia and an MFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. He has been awarded residencies from the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia and the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland. Radyk has also

Detail of Swan Point (Flocked Again), photo by Tom Grotta

Detail of Swan Point (Flocked Again), photo by Tom Grotta

received a Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant and been awarded the Presidents Prize at the exhibition FOCUS: Fiber 2014, held at the Erie Art Museum and sponsored by the Textile Art Alliance, Cleveland Museum of Art. Among the works we will feature in Influence and Evolution will be weavings from Radyk’s Swan Point series. Swan Point was inspired by research, drawings, photographs done at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island. For Radyk, Swan Point holds an important place in textile history. Lucy Truman Aldrich, the greatest single donor to the RISD Museum’s textile collection is buried there, along with other notables including early textile manufacturers and industrialists. Aldrich, who was one of the first western women to travel to Japan and China,

Michael Radyk Swan Point Swan Point (Flocked) Jacquard, woven of wool, recycled vinyl coated polyester, cotton and linen. Each work varies depending on the size, cutting, flocking. The woven structure is related to quadruple cloth. photo by Tom Grotta

Michael Radyk, Swan Point (Flocked)
Jacquard, woven of wool, recycled vinyl coated polyester, cotton and linen. Each work varies depending on the size, cutting, flocking. The woven structure is related to quadruple cloth. photo by Tom Grotta

donated a beautiful and inspirational collection of Japanese Noh and Buddhist priest robes to RISD. The color and flocking in the works in the Swan Point series comes from the off-white monuments there that are covered in a kind of slow dust. The works in the Swan Point series are Jacquard textiles created to be cut and manipulated after being taken off the loom. “I was trying to bring the artist’s hand back into the industrial Jacquard weaving process,” Radyk says. Influence and Evolution opens at 1pm on April 24th. The Artists Reception and Opening is on Saturday April 25th, 1pm to 6pm. The hours for Sunday April 27th through May 3rd are 10am to 5pm. To make an appointment earlier or later, call: 203-834-0623.

Art Update: What’s On in America and Abroad

May 8, 2014 0 Comment

 

Recall, Ane Henricksen, 2010. photo by Ane Henricksen

Recall, Ane Henricksen, 2010. photo by Ane Henricksen

Several artists represented by browngrotta arts are included in exhibitions in Europe and the US this Spring. Among the largest is Artapestry3 at the Jean-Lurçat Museum of Contemporary Tapestry in Angers, France. This is the third is edition of Artapestry3, an initiative launched by the European Tapestry Forum (ETF). The event contemporary  offers visitors an unusual perspective by aligning the works of 25 international textile artists, including Ane Hendricksen and Grethe Sørensen, with the Museum’s collection, which includes work by such artists as Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, Thomas Gleb, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Jean Lurçat. Also included in the exhibition are examples of traditional tapestry works whose iconographic repertory has inspired contemporary creation. The exhibition is structured around nine major themes that enable comparisons between the contemporary pieces that form part of Artapestry3 and the more traditional works from the Angers’ collections. Among these themes, in the Vitality section, a visitor may discover the Red Sun tapestry by Alexander Calder (1919-1976) alongside the lively motifs of Ariadna Donner’s The wolf crossed the road. In the Object section, visitors can admire Temps passé by Pierre Daquin (1936) next to Ivete Vecenáne’s The Bowl. The exhibition runs through May 18th. For more information visit the event website: musees.angers.fr/expositions/en-ce-moment/artapestry3-angers-allers-retours/artapestry3-angers-allers-retours/index.html.

Naoko Serino installing her works as "Fiber Futures" travels to Spain.

Naoko Serino installing her works as “Fiber Futures” travels to Spain.

Fiber Futures: Pioneers of Japanese Textile Art, continues its travels. It is open at c art c., the Computense Art Center in Madrid, Spainthrough May 18, 2014. The exhibition features Japan’s most important contemporary textile artists, including, Naoko Serino, Hideho Tanaka, Kiyomi Iwata, Naomi Kobayashi, Hisako Sekijima and Kyoko Kumai. For more information visit: www.ucm.es/.

works by Jennifer Falck Linssen and Norikko Takamiya

works by Jennifer Falck Linssen and Norikko Takamiya

In the US, in Mesa, Arizona, Norikko Takamiya and Jennifer Falck Linssen join an inventive group of artists working with paper.Fold, Paper, Scissors runs through August 10, 2014 at the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum. The Opening Reception is Friday, May 9th from 7 to 10 p.m. (We’ll be there!) The Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum at Mesa Arts Center is at One East Main Street, Downtown Mesa, Arizona, for more information, call: 480-644-6560 or visit:  www.MesaArtsCenter.com.

Big Tera, 2007 - Tissage de coton 259 x 127 cm

Big Tera, 2007 – Tissage de coton 259 x 127 cm

Lia Cook’s work is the subject of a one-person exhibition at the Drapers Gallery in Liege, Belgium. Lia Cook: Icons Jacquard highlights faces woven in large scale on a Jacquard loom. For more information visit the Gallery’s site: www.lesdrapiers.be/events/lia-cook.

Installation News: Grethe Sørenson for Tronrud Engineering in Norway

April 9, 2011 0 Comment

Greyscale+Colour by Grethe Sørensen photo by Bo Hovgaard

In 2010, Danish artist Grethe Sørensen was commissioned to produce a site-specific, large-scale work of textile art for Tronrud Engineering in Hønefoss, Norway. Tronrud Engineering specializes in developing machinery within the industrial automation area. The firm’s new location, designed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta (Snoarc), is situated at Eggemoen, the largest natural flat plateau in Norway.

Tronrud-Grey by Grethe Sørensen photo by Bo Hovgaard

Detail Greyscale by Grethe Sørensen photo by Bo Hovgaard

The work that resulted was Fjeld og li og fjord, a title taken from a quotation from a Danish song about Norwegian landscapes which means “mountain and meadow and fiord.” For the work’s motif, Sørensen took as a point of departure the contours of the landscape around Eggemoen, and rendered these contours in three variations on the same theme — Contour, Greyscale and Color — one theme for each floor in the building. The textiles are integrated into the structure of the building; placed opposite the entrance doors on three floors above each other covering walls of 15 square meters each. Each piece consists of 5 panels of jacquard-woven fabric.

Tronrud-Black by Grethe Sørensen photo by Bo Hovgaard

Detail-Contour by Greteh Sørensen photo by Bo Hovgaard

The first floor shows a color fantasy of the landscape theme. This image is the first impression to visitors and it may be seen as an expression of the creativity that is one of the main characteristics of Tronrud Engineering. The second floor has the Greyscale. From a distance it gives a three-dimensional impression of the landscape. On closer inspection, it’s evident that it is made up of different patterns in black and white – typical digital patterns. These patterns reference Norwegian a traditional knitting pattern, “lusekofte,” a Norwegian sweater pattern, dating from the 19th century. It features a black-and-white design, and the name means “lice jacket,” after the isolated black stitches. The Greyscale motif represents tradition combined with innovation as an expression of the versatility and wide-ranging skills represented by the people in the company. On the third floor is the pure black-and-white image of the landscape with contours and a line in red. This piece expresses the sharpness, seriousness and precision for which the firm is known.

Portrait of Grethe Sørensen¸photo by Bo Hovgaard

The samples were woven by Sørensen on a handloom with digital single-thread control. The final pieces were woven on an industrial jacquard loom at Digital Lab, at the Audax Textile Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands.