DEMONS, YARNS & TALES: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists

BEATRIZ MILHAZES Carioca, 2008 Wool background, silk floral motif, tapestry 2 x 2m (6′ 7″ x 6′ 7″)Edition of 5 Copyright Beatriz Milhazes.







Opening January 8, 2010 through February 13, 2010

James Cohan Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Demons, Yarns & Tales featuring hand-
woven tapestries created by thirteen internationally renowned artists, including avaf, Peter Blake,
Gary Hume, Jaime Gili, Francesca Lowe, Beatriz Milhazes, Paul Noble, Grayson Perry,
Shahzia Sikander, Fred Tomaselli, Gavin Turk, Julie Verhoeven, and Kara Walker. The
exhibition was created by the London-based art organization, Banners of Persuasion, who
commissioned each artist to design a tapestry, a medium foreign to his or her usual practice.
Three years in the making, the collection was briefly shown at the end of 2008 at The Dairy,
London and at Miami Basel and is now traveling to James Cohan Gallery for its premiere viewing
in New York. In addition, the gallery will be present a small-scale exhibition of drawings and other
relevant works by selected participating artists. 

Although Tapestry is more often associated with decorative or applied arts and has faded as a
primary art medium in the age of mechanization and mass-production, it has been continually explored by prominent visual artists such as Picasso, Kandinsky, Warhol and more recently Chuck
Close, Craigie Horsefield and William Kentridge. This exhibition actively invites viewers to re-think
and re-address this rich and complex historical medium in the realm of contemporary art practice.

October WHI Meeting

To those of you who missed the October meeting I have this to say, "you poor dears!"  What a great presentation given by Robyn Spady.  I have only been weaving for 7 years so almost everything she had to say was news to me but I think that even more experienced weavers were able to glean some new tricks from out her presentation.  From the Russian Joint to the treadling abacus (ingenious!) to the simple short cuts for determining sett, I found it all fascinating.  I took as many notes as I could but was really happy to hear that Robyn had a booklet of all her tricks that I could purchase for 2 dollars.  They were all gone by the time I got up there but I placed an order and am looking forward to receiving it.  ABK Weaving Center also ordered one so it will be  available for students to reference in the near future.

 I will admit that this was only the 4th WHI meeting that I've ever attended.  The others were slightly, well, soporific.  But I am ecstatic that I decided to go to this one and I will definitely be attending the next one.  Better get my dues paid.

a hair twister for fringe?  how long have you known about this?  and why didn't anyone tell me?

State Fair Weaving Winner

Emily Nie of the Madison Weavers Guild did WHI and her Guild proud at the Wisconsin State Fair.  Emily managed to take home two 1st place, one 2nd place, one 3rd place, one 4th place and the coveted Best In Show ribbon.  Emily came to WHI after winning a membership at last years State Fair.  She has been weaving for 20 years and used to teach at Beloit college.

Here's Emily with her woven dog coat. A couple nights previous to taking this I was woken up by my dog, whimpering and shivering on the bed.  She has a short coat and does not handle the colder temperatures very well.  I covered her with a blanket, decided to knit her a sweater and went back to sleep.  If I can WEAVE her a sweater all the better.  Maybe we can get Emily to share her pattern with us.  I'll have the best dressed Pit Bull in town. 

Annual Fall Yard Sale

The annual sale at Bazaar is going on Oct. 12th thru the 17th.  Bazaar is located in Waukesha for those of you interested.  You can find a map on their home page.  Save 15% -60% off all in stock fabric and trim. This is a good opportunity for all you quilters and sewers to stock up.

WHI meeting

The next Wisconsin Handweavers meeting is on Oct. 10th at Gaenslen school in Riverwest.  The meeting starts at 10:00 but as usual the library will be open a half hour prior.  This months program is entitled "Weaving TnT - Dynamite Tools'n Techniques for Every Weaver!" with Robyn Spady.  

Robyn Spady will present an interactive show and tell.  She will introduce a number of off beat tools, techniques and tricks to assist us in all phases of weaving.  From warping a loom to dealing with pesky problems to twisting fringes, she will cover it all.  You are invited to share your own tools, techniques and tricks during the program.

Robyn at her loom.

Spotlight on Teacher

There is a great write up on ABK instructor Susan Buss in the Riverwest Currents.  If you are interested in learning weaving from Susan or any of ABK's other instructors, you can sign up through the Milwaukee Recreation department. 

Art Walk

The Riverwest Art Walk was this past weekend Oct. 3rd and 4th at Susan Buss's house.  It was chilly but the rain managed to hold out.  We had a pretty good showing but would love to have more weaving's for next year!

We crammed everything into Susan's back yard.  It looked great.

Here are some of the weavings up close and personal.  The photo is of some of the students at the studio.  We would love to have student pieces to show next year! 

Susan's daughter is posing with Marcia's coat.  All hand woven on an inkle loom. Marcia is the Queen (capital Q) of the inkle loom.  I bow down to her.

Speaking of the inkle Queen....here she is sharing her knowledge.

Two of the teachers from ABK Weaving Center were representing at the Jazz gallery.  This rug was woven by Susan Buss

 

and this basket was made by the lovely Susan Leopold.  Nice work ladies!