An ethnography of a creative career in the arts . . .
Gloria Ross (1923-1998) described her work as the translation of paint into wool. This remarkable book, written by textile scholar Ann Lane Hedlund, features Ross's decades-long collaboration with twenty-eight acclaimed modernist painters and sculptors, including Helen Frankenthaler (Ross’s sister), Kenneth Noland, and Louise Nevelson, and with several dozen traditional-yet-innovative weavers in New York, France, Scotland, and the Southwestern United States.
2012 Website Stats from WordPress
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 1,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 3 years to get that many views.
The Desert Tapestries of Louise Nevelson
Guest Lecture by Ann Lane Hedlund, “The Desert Tapestries of Louise Nevelson: 1972-1997,” Wednesday, November 14 at 7 p.m. in Tucson, Arizona.
Dr. Hedlund will present a richly illustrated talk about a unique series of handwoven tapestries designed by world renowned sculptor/collagist Louise Nevelson, orchestrated by Gloria F. Ross, and woven under the direction of Archie Brennan at the Dovecot Studies in Edinburgh, Scotland. The translation of Nevelson’s torn paper collages into large-scale woven works represents an intriguing collaboration. Inspired by a visit from the East Coast artist to the American Southwest, the resulting artworks were evocatively named “Desert” (MFA-Boston), “Dusk in the Desert,” “Landscape,” “Mirror Desert,” “Night Mountain,” “Reflection,” and “The Late, Late Moon.” These are also illustrated and described in Hedlund’s 2010 book, Gloria F. Ross & Modern Tapestry (Yale University Press).
Recital Hall adjacent to the Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery
Pima Community College, West Campus
Center for the Arts Complex
2202 West Anklam Road
Tucson, AZ 85709
520-206-6942
Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.
Center for the Arts Box Office hours Map and Directions Accessibility Information
Tapestries Made After Paintings: An Illustrated Discussion
Tapestry Weavers West is sponsoring an illustrated lecture by Dr. Ann Hedlund
ICB: Gallery 111
480 Gate 5 Road, Sausalito, California
Saturday, February 18, 2012
at 10:30 am
Tapestries Made After Paintings:
From the Dovecot to Ganado, from Brennan to Begay
In the right hands, a tapestry made from a painting becomes a new and different work of
art. In each of the tapestry projects that éditeur Gloria Ross orchestrated, the interactions
of the weavers and artists whom she included varied, and so did the woven results.
Between 1970 and 1980, she and the Dovecot’s team of Scottish weavers, led by
Archie Brennan, created forty-eight tapestries from designs by eight famous painters
and sculptors (Jean Dubuffet, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Adolph
Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, Jack Youngerman).
From 1979 to 1997, she brought purpose-made designs by one painter (Kenneth
Noland) to six individual Native American weavers who produced twenty-five unique
tapestries. In addition she worked with French tapestry weavers throughout both
periods, interpreting the work of more than a dozen American painters and sculptors
into the woven medium.
In this richly illustrated talk, Ann Hedlund will compare two of these enterprises—one
in Scotland and one in the American Southwest—to open discussion about what can
happen when a tapestry comes from a painted or collaged image.
Questions? Contact Alex Friedman – 415.310.2460 /AQSFriedman@gmail.com
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 47 trips to carry that many people.
A few (of the many!) Summer/Fall tapestry events
On August 1-5, 2011, Navajo weaver Marilou Schultz is offering a workshop called “Weaving in the Pines” at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ . For more information visit http://www.navajorugsart.com or call Marilou at (480) 332-2906.
On Saturday, August 6, 2011, author Ann Hedlund will give an illustrated talk, “Louise Nevelson and Archie Brennan: From Collage to Tapestry,” to the Santa Barbara Fibers Arts Guild in California. For more information, contact Jeanette Warren at artery2@verizon.net . On Wednesday, September 14, 2011, she will speak about Gloria Ross’s tapestry career in the “Lunch & Learn” program at WILL (Western Institute of Lifelong Learning) in Silver City, NM. On Wednesday evening, October 13, 2011, she will present “Gloria Ross & Modern Tapestry: Evolution of a Unique Arts Career” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. For details, go to www.tapestrystudies.wordpress.org and visit the Events page.
The Amerind Foundation’s next weaving workshop with Navajo weavers Barbara Ornelas and Lynda Pete is scheduled for Oct. 31 – Nov. 4, 2011, with a warping workshop scheduled on Nov. 5. Lodging and meals at the Amerind in Dragoon, AZ, are available for participants. For more information, contact Carol at ccharnley@amerind.com
For other indigenous weaving workshops, visit Mary Walker’s website and http://www.weavinginbeauty.com/instruction.html . There are many from which to choose!
Planning for the upcoming 13th Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America TEXTILES AND POLITICS, to be held on September 19-22, 2012, in Washington, DC, is underway. TSA has announced that the online submission process for the CALL FOR PAPERS with a deadline of October 1, 2011, is now available at www.textilesociety.org.
CIETA (Centre International d’Etude des Textiles Anciens) will convene its General Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 3-6, 2011. Watch for more information about this conference at http://www.cieta.fr/ .
For MANY other tapestry-related events around the country and world, visit the websites, join the memberships, and subscribe to the newsletters of the American Tapestry Alliance and the Textile Society of America.
Brennan & Glueck featured in NYC panel at SOFA
Legendary Scottish weaver Archie Brennan and New York Times writer Grace Glueck will join author Ann Hedlund to discuss her new book, GLORIA F. ROSS & MODERN TAPESTRY, on Friday, April 15, 2011, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm in New York City. Art historian Derek Ostergard will moderate (or better yet, “enliven”) the discussion.
The SOFA art expo (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art) will host this illustrated panel discussion, “TAPESTRY BECOMES MODERN ART,” at the Park Avenue Armory’s splendid Tiffany Room in Manhattan. Join us to explore questions like “Why make tapestries in the first place?” –”What goes into designing and making an original tapestry?”–”When are tapestries considered works of art (versus reproductions)?” — “How do modern tapestries fit into the contemporary art world?”
For more information on SOFA and its excellent programs on April 14-17, 2011, click: SOFA-NYC. For more about the speakers and their presentations, click HERE.
An illustrated 2011 catalogue with Hedlund’s latest article, “From Collage to Tapestry: Louis Nevelson, Gloria Ross & The Dovecot Studios of Edinburgh,” is available from SOFA. Many thanks to Anne Meszko, Kate Jordan and the excellent organizing team at The Art Fair Company!
Heard Museum lectures continue . . .
For more about the Heard Museum’s March 2011 programs about modern Navajo weaving in celebration of the exhibition, A Turning Point: Navajo Weaving in the Late 20th Century, click here: GFR Tapestry Program’s website. Ann Hedlund’s lecture, “As the World Turns: Navajo Weaving Joins the Art World,” on Sunday, March 27 at 2 pm in Phoenix, Arizona, will include commentary on the interactions between Gloria Ross, Kenneth Noland, Ramona Sakiestewa, and Navajo weavers Mary Lee Begay, Irene Clark, Sadie Curtis, Rose Owens, and Martha Terry.
