TRANSPARENT WEAVING

We ran across the weaving of Ethel Stein at the Art Institute of Chicago last fall. She is a mater weaver who, at 96 years old, is only now coming into the recognition that her work deserves. She does her weavings on a drawloom, which allows her to control each warp thread separately. In this manner she is able to create weavings that are deceptively complex.

Some of her work has an abstract dimensionality. And then other works, such as the one above,  are true one point linear perspectives. And they are transparent! You can see other shapes and forms thru the planes of her weaving.

The time, mastery and craft required to execute this piece is mind boggling. Each thread is individually controlled. Compare that with the relatively elementary process of putting one watercolor tone on top of another.  Duh.

Ethel Stein’s work should serve as an inspiration to us. First of all she sees the need for transparency in her work. And second she is able to execute this transparency with a material, process and dedication which you might think was simply not possible.  I for one certainly could not focus for that long.

Not one to let an inspiration go by, I did this drawing in Chicago the morning after we saw the exhibit.  Because her work has such an abstract dimensionality, I thought it would be fun to try to explore and incorporate that dimensionality into one of her geometries.