Woven, 16x20, Naturally Dyed Wool & Plastic mounted on a Naturally Dyed Airbrushed Cotton Canvas
Note from the Artist: This piece was made as part my residency at Studio By The Tracks. The natural dyes used to color a majority of the wool include madder, chlorophyllin, Saxon blue, myrobalan, and pomegranate. The cotton backing is indigo overdyed on cotton, with the airbrushed designs inspired by SBTT artist John Miller's work.
I wove this tapestry primarily during SBTT's classes, while being witness to and participating in their accepting and generous community. In an art historical context, geometric forms like the square are typically associated with austere movements such as neo-plasticism and minimalism; for me, the square was bound up in this history until I started working at SBTT. Here, artists use simple, direct forms like squares and circles in innovative, expressive, and liberated ways. In this tapestry, the square becomes a proxy for the overlapping of voices in the classroom, the joy of recognizing sameness between self and other, and the alienation that can experienced through difference. The push and pull of color relationships in this work is rooted in modernist ideas, while also speaking to the tension of navigating the world as a neurodivergent person.