Preamble
For your convenience, I have listed below posts that also focus on rugs.
Navajo Rugs
Persian Rugs
Caucasian Rugs
Turkish Rugs
Navajo Rugs of the Ganado, Crystal and Two Grey Hills Region
Navajo Rugs of Chinle, Wide Ruins and Teec Nos Pos Regions
Navajo Rugs of the Western Reservation
Navajo Rugs of Chinle, Wide Ruins and Teec Nos Pos Regions [1]
Navajo Rugs of Chinle Region
Due north of Ganado on the State Highway 63, Chinle sprawls at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly, a Navajo sanctuary.
Chinle, Arizona.
A national monument, but still under Navajo ownership, Canyon de Chelly was the last refuge of the diné (Navajo people) during their times of greatest trouble. The canyon slashes a series of gorges into the red sanstone of the Defiance Plateau. Sheer, smooth walls rise nearly a thousand feet to surround monolithic spires taller than Manhatten skyscrapers. Ancient ruins cling to niches in the mineral-stained walls.
In memory of oldtimers Chinle rugs were tightly packed and of generally good quality from the turn of the century to the 1930s. As for design, they were undistinguishable from rugs made throughout the reservation: black border, big central diamond in terrace red, gray and black.
At Chinle today many, but not all weavers, spin and dye their yarn. The weft is relatively coarse, and during weaving weft threads are not packed down hard. The result is a thick, textured rug. Some weavers incorporate the Crystal wavy-line weft treatment into band designs.
Comment [1]: Doubly distinguished in this two-faced weave in border-to-border strikes and small geometric designs by Mabel Burnside Myers.
Courtesy: Read Mullan Collection.
Navajo Rugs of the Wide Ruins Region
Wide Ruins Community School.
Another region participating in the so called vegetal revival surrounds the trading post of Wide Ruins, Burnt Water and Pine Springs. The land of cedar breaks, sandy water courses and rolling roadways lies along the south-central border of Navajoland.
When, in 1938, Bill and Sallie Wagner Lippincott took over the Wide Ruins post, they induced their weavers to turn to colors extracted from nature and imparted to reservation-grown wool. The Lippincotts refused to accept inferior weaving. They encouraged a return to old-style elements - connected diamonds and triangles, lines of rhomboids and alternating straight lines extending from edge to edge without a border.
Comment [1]: Two-faced Wide Ruins rug by Agnes Smith of natural and vegetal-dyed handspun yarn, with 35 wefts per inch each side, 23 x 39 inches.
Courtesy: Ray Gwilliam Collection.
Comment [1]: Warm and lively threads radiate from this tapestry in vegetal dyes by Philomena Yazzie, winner of first prizes at the 1971 New Mexico State Fair and 1972 Arizona State Fair.
Courtesy: Read Mullan Collection.
Comment [1]: A vegetal-dyed handspun rug by Ellen Smith.
Courtesy: Ray Gwilliam Collection.
Comment [1]: A touch of pink excites this Wide Ruins rug done in 1960 by Lottie Thompson. Stripes of tiny trapzoids are reminiscent of Navajo weaving of more than a century ago.
Courtesy: Read Mullan Collection.
Navajo Rugs of Teec Nos Pos
Trading Post at Teec Nos Pos.
Nothern most of Navajo weaving regions is Teec Nos Pros (Circle of Cottonwoods) near Four Corners, where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico join at a common point. At a surveying monument, it is possible for agile visitors, on hands and knees, to occupy four states at once!
The weaving region encompasses the area around Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, and Beclabito, New Mexico.
Comment [1]: A black and gold border brightens this weaving by Hilda Begay in Teec Nos Pos style, 27 wefts per inch, 55 x 72 inches.
Courtesy: Ray Gwilliam Collection.
Comment [1]: Worthy of blue ribbons is this Teec Nos Pos tapestry of commercial yarns by Ruth Yabany, 85 x 144 inches.
Courtesy: Clay Lockett Collection.
Comment [1]: Teec Nos Pos tapestry of commercial yarns. Weaver unknown. 43 x 62 inches.
Courtesy [1]: Read Mullan Collection.
Reference:
[1] D. Dedera, Navajo Rugs, Northland Publishing, Flagstaff, Arizona (1990).
Adria Colorado
Adria Colorado (right) and friend.
Adria Colorado's unmistakeable marks are bold and employ innovative combinations of fabrics and prints.
In his capsule collection 'Brokeback Mountain' (see following images), diversity, originality and comfort are the principles governing his designs. The collection is based on a mixture of fabrics and hand-drawn prints finished off with computer-made designs, those prints are the young designer's most unique element. 'Brokeback Mountain' takes us to the world of the Wild West. Desert landscapes, cacti, heat and a love story.
Showcasing Adria Colorado designs from his 'Brokeback Mountain' collection.
Adria Colorado's desert designs featured in his 'Le Maroc' men's collection. Full of color, creativity and originality, white garments are stained with color symbolizing Adria's world and the importance of his patterns.
Handmade and refined digital prints represent the DNA of the Catalan designer, who graduated from IDEP Barcelona. His designs are governed by comfort, originality and diversity.
Clothes designed for comfort from his 'Le Maroc' men's collection.
Although this designer has only emerged in the world of fashion recently, his men's collection 'Le Maroc' was presented in Ego's show room during Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in Madrid in 2012. No one was indifferent to it. He also worked as a part of a team for two collections with Martin Lamothe.
Simple designs are a hallmark of his work.
Colorado combines fashion design with a street avent-garde look, resulting in an expression of youth, joy, confidence and personality.
Avant-garde look from his 'Brokeback Mountain' collection.
View of the back of the collar featuring one of the pieces in his 'Le Maroc' collection.
Detail view of one of the pieces in his 'Le Maroc' collection.
The confidence of youth. One of a series of garments featured in Adria's 'Le Maroc' collection.
Reference:
[1] K. O'Meara, The Pattern Base, Thames & Hudson London (2015).
Introduction [1]
Art, design and rock 'n' roll, might sound like a cliché, but this is the simplest, most honest and coherent way of trying to explain this power trio of Brazillian illustrators who answer to the name of Bicicleta Sem Freio ('Bicycle Without Brakes').
Title (Year): Fruit Head (2012).
Media: Screen print.
Douglas de Castro, Victor Rocha and Renato Pereira met in the Visual Arts course at the Federal University of Goias. Bicicleta Sem Freio (BSF) came together as class colleagues who just wanted to have fun, create, draw and animate - whatever came into their minds. Most of their early work comprised of posters for rock concerts and cultural events. In a way this experience would directly influence the birth of the band - Black Drawing Chalks. Of the three, only Renato isn't in the band.
The main characteristics of this group are manual work, the care of typography and the drawings of girls - a lot of girls! With influences that go from Edward Mucha to James Dean, the boys explore, in a masterly way, the colors, shapes and curves of a variety of girls, always with a dose of unique psychedelic humour.
It perhaps wouldn't be exaggerating to say that they live what they draw. Sometimes that doesn't quite work, but most of the time the result is outstanding. The team effort has raised awareness on all continents, with the group lending their unique touch to customers around the world - not bad for three boys riding a bike at full speed without any kind of brakes.
Bicicleta Sem Freio [1]
Title (Year): Go Skate (2011).
Media: Screen print.
Title (Year): Alien Invasion (2013).
Media: Screen print.
Title (Year): Wolf (2013).
Media: Screen print.
Title (Year): Alien Invasion (2013).
Media: Screen print.
Title (Year): Fruit Head (2012).
Media: Screen print.
Title (Year): Go Skate (2011).
Media: Screen print.
Reference:
[1] M.Smith, People of Print, Thames & Hudson, London (2017).
Preamble
On this blog spot there are posts that center on my “Wearable Art” (e.g. scarves, digital or analogue created fabric lengths etc.) For your convenience I have listed these posts below.
A Selection of My Scarves
Leaves Transformed: A New Collection of My Digitally Designed Fabrics
My New Silk Rayon Velvet Scarves@Purple Noon Art And Sculpture Gallery
My Fabric Lengths@QSDS
My Fabric Collection:"Oh, Oh Marilyn and Mona!"@Spoonflower
2013 Australian Craft Awards – Finalist
My Scarves@2014 Scarf Festival: "Urban Artscape" Pashminas
My New Scarves and Fabric Lengths
New Range of Silk Neckties - Karma and Akash
AIVA: My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
New Colorways For My 'Cultural Graffiti' Fabrics
Byzantine Glow: A New Collection of My Digitally Designed Fabrics
Wall Flower: A New Collection of My Digitally Designed Fabrics
Ink Fern - A New Collection of My Digitally Designed Fabrics
Celebratory Fireworks
My New Silk ArtCloth Scarves
New ‘Unique State’ Silk ArtCloth Scarves
UBIRR - My New Hand Dyed & Printed Fabric Design
Renaissance Man - My New Hand Dyed & Printed Fabric Design
Banksia - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Ginkgo Love - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Garden Delights I & II - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Wallflower III - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Rainforest Beauty - Collection My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Spring & Autumn Flurry Collection - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
La Volute Collection - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
Urban Butterfly - My New Hand Printed Fabric Design
Acanthus Dream - My New Hand Printed Fabric Design
“Cascading Acanthus” - My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed Fabric Design
My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed 'Rainforest Beauty' Pashmina Wraps Collection
My ArtCloth Tea Towels: A New Collection of Digitally Designed Products
Through the Land it Roared . . . ArtCloth Shawl
My New Hand Dyed and Hand Printed ‘Urban Codes - Series 1’ Collection
Urban Moonlight - My Post Graffiti Doily
My New Hand Printed Fabric Design - "Morocco" ArtCloth
‘Vine Glow’
“Bush Banksia’s” Collection"
Releasing My New - ‘Unique State’ ArtCloth Scarves
If you like any of my artworks in the above links, please email me at - Marie-Therese - for pricing and for any other enquiries.
Introduction
There are three basic ingredients (as opposed to definitions) that all artworks possess: (i) they need to be “engaged”; (ii) they are non-functional; (iii) they are aesthetic. Wearable Art is “Art” when placed in an art context, but when it is not placed in an art context, its functionality obscures the act of engagement. My ArtCloth scarves are wearable art. My scarves have been created using a range of fabrics and various hand dyeing and hand printing techniques. I am particularly fond of silk due to its ability to impart rich, luscious, intense colors, and yet retain its lustre and luxurious handle when dyed and printed using various media. My scarves are a unique creation, never to be repeated in color, tone or overall design. Some of the design elements may re-appear in other scarves, but the overall colors, printing/overprinting and design features is what ensures their uniqueness as a one-off specialty wearable art item to covet.
My ArtCloth scarves are unique, are imbued with color, texture and multiple layers. They are comfortable to wear and are thoughtfully designed, dyed, printed and finished. Special care instructions are included with each scarf. Each scarf is also individually signed by me.
My scarves are available in various galleries and art & craft outlets throughout Australia. For example, in the Hunter Valley (Australia) they are available from Cessnock Regional Art Gallery. They are also available via specialty artisan galleries such as, Lighthouse Arts in Newcastle and via my Art Quill Studio. Please email me at - Marie-Therese - for further information.
Inspiration/Method
The first Prime Minister of India, Nehru, said to his daughter Indira Gandhi: “Be Brave, the rest will to follow!" Underlying all of my work is this drive to take risks - to create bold, edgy, contemporary designs and so let my adrenaline drive my artwork. Nonetheless, discarding mainstream design elements is not in itself inspirational, but rather it is an important part of my inner core - to drive my work to create edgy design elements. Urban and landscape environments inform my images and works. My contemporary urban landscape themes include my interpretation of post-graffiti work. I operate my artistic skill set on these thoughts to project rich and vibrant landscapes on the cloth medium. The ArtCloth scarves I create rely heavily on researching design elements consistent with my worldview to create images from the “utten welt” and/or from life-forms threatened with respect to survival. I employ various surface design techniques to create the imagery for my scarves. These techniques include the initial image/mark making processes of drawing and designing which are followed by dyeing, discharging, hand painting, stencilling, stamping, screen printing, foiling and other processes on natural fibres. I have been honoured to receive numerous international awards for my printed ArtCloth textiles.
Releasing My New - ‘Unique State’ ArtCloth Scarves
Note: All photographs below are courtesy of Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique and Media: Dyed, shibori overdyed, mono printed, and silk screened, employing dyes, opaque and metallic pigments, and gold foil on rayon (Full View).
Size: 50 cm (wide) x 177 cm (length).
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Dyed, shibori overdyed, multiple discharge, sponged, hand painted, stencilled, and silk screened, employing dyes, discharge media, and transparent pigments on silk habotai (Full View).
Size: 72 cm wide x 75 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Hand painted dye colorwashes, and stencilled, employing dyes, glazes, transparent and opaque pigments on silk satin (Full View).
Size: 22 cm wide x 173 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Dyed, discharged, overdyed, over discharged, overdyed, hand painted, stencilled, silkscreened, lino blocked, and stamped, employing dyes, discharge media, glazes, transparent and metallic pigments on silk habotai (Full View).
Size: 25 cm wide x 195 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Eco dyed, silk screened, and stamped, employing natural dyes, transparent and metallic pigments on silk (Full View).
Size: 24 cm wide x 130 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Dyed, discharged, overdyed, over discharged, shibori overdyed, hand painted, stencilled, silkscreened, and stamped, employing dyes, discharge media, glazes, transparent and metallic pigments on silk habotai (Full View).
Size: 25 cm wide x 190 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Multi dyed, shibori overdyed, mono printed, and silk screened, employing dyes and transparent pigments on silk habotai (Full View).
Size: 23 cm wide x 195 cm length.
Detail View.
Technique and Media: Dyed, shibori overdyed, and stencilled, employing dyes, and transparent pigment on silk habotai (Full View).
Size: 23 cm wide x 199 cm length.
Detail View.
Preamble
This is the twenty-third post in a new Art Resource series that specifically focuses on techniques used in creating artworks. For your convenience I have listed all the posts in this new series below:
Drawing Art
Painting Art - Part I
Painting Art - Part II
Painting Art - Part III
Painting Art - Part IV
Painting Art - Part V
Painting Art - Part VI
Home-Made Painting Art Materials
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part I
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part II
Quality in Ready-Made Artists' Supplies - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part I
Historical Notes on Art - Part II
Historical Notes on Art - Part III
Historical Notes on Art - Part IV
Historical Notes on Art - Part V
Tempera Painting
Oil Painting - Part I
Oil Painting - Part II
Oil Painting - Part III
Oil Painting - Part IV
Oil Painting - Part V
Oil Painting - Part VI
Pigments
Classification of Pigments - Part I
Classification of Pigments - Part II
Classification of Pigments - Part III
Pigments for Oil Painting
Pigments for Water Color
Pigments for Tempera Painting
Pigments for Pastel
Japanese Pigments
There have been another one hundred and thirteen posts in a previous Art Resource series that have focused on the following topics:
(i) Units used in dyeing and printing of fabrics;
(ii) Occupational, health & safety issues in an art studio;
(iii) Color theories and color schemes;
(iv) Optical properties of fiber materials;
(v) General properties of fiber polymers and fibers - Part I to Part V;
(vi) Protein fibers;
(vii) Natural and man-made cellulosic fibers;
(viii) Fiber blends and melt spun fibers;
(ix) Fabric construction;
(x) Techniques and woven fibers;
(xi) Basic and figured weaves;
(xii) Pile, woven and knot pile fabrics;
(xiii) Durable press and wash-and-wear finishes;
(xvi) Classification of dyes and dye blends;
(xv) The general theory of printing.
To access any of the above resources, please click on the following link - Units Used in Dyeing and Printing of Fabrics. This link will highlight all of the one hundred and thirteen posts in the previous a are eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms. All data bases in the future will be updated from time-to-time.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
The new Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will be hopefully useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all!
Oil Painting - Part VI [1]
The artist's interest in techniques of the past is neither that of the antiquarian nor that of the scientist, nor are artist very often concerned with the precise duplication of the technical effects of early painters in order to produce works that will exactly initiate their results.
Guy Ribes is one of France’s greatest forgers and studied draughtsmanship for 16 years in a silk workshop. In 1975, he then left for Athens, where he met the local jet set.That was when he began copying masterpieces.Ten years later, he met an art dealer in Paris and started producing fakes to order, from Matisses, to Renoirs, Modiglianis, Chagalls and Picassos… He didn’t copy existing paintings but instead created paintings “in the style” of renowned artists. He used only the materials and pigments from the relevant era and sometimes spent an entire year immersed in a painter’s work to understand how to mimic their style. In 2005, he was finally arrested by the police and stopped working as a forger… instead painting under his own name.
Artists are primarily concerned with learning as much as they can about their materials and methods so that their opinions as to the durability of works of art may be based on a knowledge of how different types of work have stood the test of centuries under all sorts of conditions. In analyzing the procedures of past ages, which were employed to create effects often entirely at variance with current artistic standards, they are interested in adapting them or principles to their own use rather than in the mere duplication of the old effects for their own sake.
ArtCloth is defined as artwoks using cloth as a medium rather than a canvas. Many artists from a diverse range of backgrounds have attended my workshops to learn my signature techniques using cloth as an art medium. They learn a myriad of techniques which can be adapted to their own style of creativity. The picture below highlights participants from one such workshop. To view their output click on the following link - In Pursuit of ArtCloth. This link will also give you highlights of many of my workshops in this new exciting area of Art.
Group Photo.
Back: From left to right - Suzanne Walcott, Cathy Griffith, Kathy Hawkins and Vicky Lowery.
Front: From left to right - Sarah Lazarus, Rhonda, Ha, and Tearza Stark.
From the viewpoint of a practicing artist all the data which have been accumulated from the two principal sources (literary research and chemical analysis) lead directly to a third source, which is most conclusive and valuable; this lies in the recreation of these techniques by reconstruction as well as by analysis. We know, for example, that the Egyptians used a size or water-soluble binder with their colors; whether it was gum arabic, glue or milk, is less of a concern, and a long and careful study into this matter would be antiquarianism, not valuable research. Should we wish for any reason to duplicate the effects of these painters it matters little which one or which mixture of materials we use as long as we get the results by obeying the simple and generously flexible rules for permanance in their application.
Ancient Egyptian art forms are characterized by regularity and detailed depiction of gods, human beings, heroic battles, and nature. A high proportion of the surviving works were designed and made to provide peace and assistance to the deceased in the afterlife.
Laurie, Doerner, Eibner, De Wild, and others among the modern writers on painting have expressed definite opnions on these matters; their conclusions may oppose one another on minor details, but they are based on more solid factual foundations than were possible a generation ago. Whether a little egg was added to the sun thickened oil in any specific case or a lot of Venice turpentine, resins, and oil of lavender added to the oil, is of secondary importance from this viewpoint.
Experimental painters are able to draw many conclusions from their experience, and is as good a position to analyze old methods by examination of a painting as are many professional experts.
Once more a word of caution is perhaps not out of place for those who delve into the documents of the past; the artist is advised not to rely too heavily on old writings as practical guides for painting. By about 1860, as a result of two decades of an intensive revival of literary research, the ancient books and manuscripts have been put into modern languages. This was followed by a period of study and interpretations on old methods so that by now our most authentic accounts of early procedures have been adapted and related to modern use. But sometimes points of argument are still brought up by persons who are not aware of old controversies and disputes which covered the same ground long ago.
Acwell's directed study of literature of this field is of inestimable value, but the practice of seizing upon isolated recipes and exhuming discarded and outmoded material has frequenty led to unfortunate results. Misguided attempts to discover the so-called secrets of the old masters (a theory that in itself is almost universally rejected) have cropped up intermittently from Sir Joshua Reynolds down to the present day; fresh use of old matters requires an authentic knowledge of the field.
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Materials: Oil on canvas.
Courtesy: Gilbert Stuart National (1784).
Rather than resume the 200-year-old search for the legendary "secrets" once used by painters, we should try to develop the very best medium we can create, regardless of whether it utilizes ancient materials or syntethic products of our own age. We know quite a bit about the properties that our paint must have for good brush manipulation and to survive the test of time, and we will know still more as we obtain further modern laboratory results of research done specifically for the benefit of artists.
Reference:
[1] The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques, R. Mayer (ed. E. Smith) 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, London (1981).
Chinle, Arizona.
Comment [1]: Doubly distinguished in this two-faced weave in border-to-border strikes and small geometric designs by Mabel Burnside Myers.
Wide Ruins Community School.
Comment [1]: Two-faced Wide Ruins rug by Agnes Smith of natural and vegetal-dyed handspun yarn, with 35 wefts per inch each side, 23 x 39 inches.
Comment [1]: Warm and lively threads radiate from this tapestry in vegetal dyes by Philomena Yazzie, winner of first prizes at the 1971 New Mexico State Fair and 1972 Arizona State Fair.
Comment [1]: A vegetal-dyed handspun rug by Ellen Smith.
Comment [1]: A touch of pink excites this Wide Ruins rug done in 1960 by Lottie Thompson. Stripes of tiny trapzoids are reminiscent of Navajo weaving of more than a century ago.
Trading Post at Teec Nos Pos.
Comment [1]: A black and gold border brightens this weaving by Hilda Begay in Teec Nos Pos style, 27 wefts per inch, 55 x 72 inches.
Comment [1]: Worthy of blue ribbons is this Teec Nos Pos tapestry of commercial yarns by Ruth Yabany, 85 x 144 inches.
Comment [1]: Teec Nos Pos tapestry of commercial yarns. Weaver unknown. 43 x 62 inches.
