ARTAPESTRY6 Exhibition Catalog
Essay

A Deeper Resonance: the hidden and revealed narrative of tapestry.

“It’s the creation of image, surface and cloth all at the same time that is the magic.” 1 (LouLou Morris)

"Woven tapestry can articulate the links, transitions, gaps and intersections that are often hidden or silenced by dominant versions of history but which have always existed. It is capable of challenging linear narratives and artificial boundaries by providing the freedom to create across geographies."
(Sangeeta Banerjee)

What keeps the tapestry weaver coming back over and over again to a medium that takes so many, many (hidden) hours to complete? I do believe it is profoundly linked to both the statements above and the all-important word in parenthesis in my question - hidden. Hidden narratives and embedded time. For the viewer, a wall hung woven tapestry may be considered as a kind of painting, and certainly it has traditionally occupied a similar place within the environment. However, "for the weaver it is more akin to the composing of a piece of music" (Bob White). For the composer the music can only be heard when the piece is finished; for the tapestry weaver the entire piece is only revealed once completed. Throughout the process the composer works with dots and lines, and the weaver with shapes; the before and after is carried in the mind's eye of the weaver or the mind's ear of the musician. This has been touched upon by ARTAPESTRY6 artist Erica Tammpere when she says she is: "...interpreting various means of communications, such as voice and hearing, music and emotions, touch and embrace." 2

Alternatively, for the viewer, a three-dimensional tapestry may have all the characteristics of a sculpture, but it differs in one important aspect. Where the sculptor discovers the form by removing the surface, the weaver constructs the form from within. For tapestry weavers "all the warp threads are hidden. Nonetheless, they are the support that forms the structure and framework of the cloth" (Peta Jacobs) allowing the tapestry narrative to be present and visible.

Space-time-knowledge
The tapestry weaver sits with their tapestry for days, weeks, sometimes even a year or more, they have no choice as to the time spent with one work. The surface, created through the construction of the tapestry, emerges thread by thread, shape on shape, representing the application, over time, of haptic knowledge inserted into the space between the warp threads. In this process there has to be trust - trust in one's skill, trust in the process, trust in one's imagination - as ARTAPESTRY6 exhibiting artist Lise Frølund has written: "Will an image of a child materialize out of this tangle of threads of different material, colour, shape and gloss?" And again, ARTAPESTRY6 exhibiting artist Kirstin Sæterdal: "I love the making of a tapestry, building it up thread by thread as a manifest of hope."

Although this highly intimate, long term relationship between creator and creation is not immediately apparent, the experience of looking at the tapestry provides an opportunity for an unusual empathy with the intensity of the process of the making and the maker similar to that engagement with music.

"I now believe that time needs to be set aside and invested when viewing tapestries to allow the depth of ideas, intricacies within the narratives, and different layers to be revealed." (Annette Mills)

Structure and Surface
Acknowledging that the tapestry warp is usually hidden, there are times when the weaver may reveal this underlying structure in order to develop the narrative. ARTAPESTRY6 exhibiting artist Emma Nicole Straw leaves her warp threads exposed, unfettered and vibrant, as a means of making apparent the underlying energies of the work. While Nancy Koenigsberg places the whole structure on the outside. Seven over-layers of wire, woven as an open grid, offer a sense of vulnerability and a protective carapace. In both cases, their shifting nature challenges our expectations of the work.

I have written and spoken extensively elsewhere about the importance of textural engagement in these digital times (Here & Now catalogue etc). There is a societal hunger for textural experience - witness the constant caressing of the touch screen. This is coupled with a fascination and desire for the personalised and unique expression, which finds satisfaction in time-based/handmade activity. This notion is reinforced in Artapestry6, both by the extraordinary textural work of Wlodzimierz Cygan, and by Katarzyna Lavocat, when she states that: " ...the material’s three-dimensionality and its sensuality, [is] a fact not to be undervalued in the world where virtual reality is expanding."

Narrative and Tradition
A piece of cloth is never just a piece of cloth. Consciously and sub-consciously the cloth is the materialisation of the artist/maker's and the audience/owner's history, context, skill, sense of touch - yours, mine, that embedded DNA. Cloth speaks of and to the body, and the body responds. Given the chance people find its narratives accessible - even the most challenging subject matter is absorbed and reflected on by the viewer. Our materials resonate with our audiences, the cloth is textural, soft, gentle enfolding, no matter how strange or difficult the subject. This is our experience, it is also the experience we offer our audiences. As tapestry artists we have a huge advantage over other media in our relationship with our audiences and their aesthetic experience. The textile materiality of a tapestry brings an accessibility: we, maker and viewer, are familiar with the convention of narrative and tapestry, we are open to the story and the medium becomes the message.

This is a most precious heritage. As tapestry weavers we are the guardians of such a wealth of past practice holding social and cultural narratives across the centuries and between nations.

Our tapestry inheritance is so rich and engaging, but is it also entrapping? While acknowledging that the process is the means, by holding to the manner are we only re-producing what has gone before? Can we improvise and lay down new tracks, fresh lines of travel, without losing what we have? These difficult questions are present in the works in this latest ARTAPESTRY6 exhibition and the works demonstrate that, as Tim Ingold has written: "...it is not the language per se that ensures the continuity of tradition. Rather, it is the tradition of living in the land that ensures the continuity of language.".3 In other words, it is precisely by weaving the tapestries which reflect our living today that we ensure that tapestry weaving will continue. The tapestries may not always look traditional, as ARTAPESTRY has shown with each exhibition it organises, however every iteration is an acknowledgement that tapestry is alive and kicking hard, connecting the past to the future through the present.

" ...one is never weaving the past, present or the future - it is a continuum and transcends perceived time lines. It is just a matter of seeing it and acknowledging." (Elena Sparke)

Lesley Millar
Professor of Textile Culture, Director International Textile Research Centre
University for the Creative Arts
December 2020

1 Unless otherwise stated in the text, all quotations are taken from email responses to my question: "What does tapestry mean to you?" December 2020. The respondees are all artists involved in textile research and making, some of whom are tapestry weavers.

2 All ARTAPESTRY6 artist quotations are taken from their Exhibition Statements

3 Tim Ingold. (2000).The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London. Routledge.