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    4 Surface Design Journal

    w h o s w h o

    Surface Design Journal is a quarterly publicationof the Surface Design Association, a non-profiteducational organization.

    SURFA CE DESIGN ASSOCIATION

    Our Vision: To inspire creativity, encourage innovationand ad vocate for artistic excellence as the global leader in textile-inspired art and design.

    Our Mission: To promote awareness and appreciation of textile-inspired art and design throughmember-supported benefits, including publications,

    exhibitions and conferences.

    Our Objectives:

    To provide opportunities for learning,collaboration and meaningful affiliations

    To mentor and support emerging artists,designers, and students

    To inform members about the latest developments and innovations in the field

    To recognize the accomplishments of our member To encourage critical dialogue about our field

    To inspire new directions in fiber and textiles To raise the visibility of textiles in thecontemporary art world

    Surface Design AssociationP.O. Box 20430 Albuquerque, NM [email protected]

    Executive Director Diane Sandlin512.394.5477 [email protected]

    Assistant Executive Director Susannah [email protected]

    Adver tising Manager Karen [email protected]

    Surface Design Journal Editor Marci Rae McDade503.477.7015 [email protected]

    SDA Digital Publications Editor (Website, NewsBlog, eNews)Leesa Hubbell [email protected]

    Surface Design Journal Art Director Dale E. Moyer [email protected]

    Web Site Manager

    LM Wood [email protected]

    Printed in Hanover, PennsylvaniaThe Sheridan Presswww.sheridan.com

    Executive Board:President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jane Dunnewold Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanne Raffer Beck Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ann GrahamTreasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Melinda Lowy Board:Representative of Representatives . . . . . Astrid Bennett Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Susan Taber AvilaMember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Karen HamptonMember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Deborah Kruger Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vivian MahlabMember . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeanette Thompson

    President Emeritus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jason Pollen

    SUBSCRIPTION / MEMBERSHIP The Surface Design Association membership: $60 a year ($35 forstudent with ID). $30 ($20 student) of each members dues shallbe for a years subscription to Surface Design Journal. Subscriptionsare available only to members. Outside USA: add $12 for Canadaand $20 for all other countries. US funds only.Send Subscription/Membership correspondence to:Surface Design Association, P.O. Box 20430 Albuquerque, NM 87154.Visa/Mastercard accepted.

    2013 Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved.Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.Surface Design Journal (ISSN: 0197-4483) is published quarterlyby the Surface Design Association, Inc., a non-profit educationalorganization. Publications Office: 2127 Vermont Street NE,Albuquerque, NM 87110. Periodicals Postage Paid at Albuquerque,NM, and additional mailing offices.

    POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Surface Design Journal:Subscriptions, P.O. Box 20430 Albuquerque, NM 87154.

    Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

    mailto:[email protected]://www.surfacedesign.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_3/[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.sheridon.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.sheridon.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_3/[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.surfacedesign.org/
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    e d i t o r i a l

    COVER CREDIT: NATIVIDAD AMADOR Untitled Detail, traditional hook-tambour embroidery on fabric, 27.6" x 20.9", 2010.Drawing byALEJANDRO SANTIAGO . Featured in the 2011 Museo Textil de Oaxaca (MTO) exhibitionPinthila Bordados de Natividad Amadoren relacin a otros artistas . Shown courtesy of MTO, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: Jaime Ruz Martnez. The complete piece is shown ABOVE .

    A Taste of Latin America

    Fall2013

    One of the most rewarding aspects of my job isresearching material culture. The trove of textile arttreasures and traditions I discovered for the theme of Latin American Fibers is as diverse as the region itself. Withdozens of countries spanning two continents, each storyin this issue offers a taste of fascinating work by contem-porary artists who either hale from or are inspired by thiscomplex part of the world.

    A potent trend throughout Latin America isthe transformation of traditional textile techniques intocontemporary art forms, beautifully illustrated by thestitched detail on our cover. Mexican artist NatividadAmador achieves this stunning surface design with hook-tambour embroidery commonly used to embellishwomen's blouses. The finished piece (shown here) is

    Amador's reinterpretation of a painting by her mentorAlejandro Santiago. A special exhibition of these fiberhomages was presented in 2011 at the Museo Textil deOaxaca, Mexico. Museum Director Hctor ManuelMeneses Lozano discusses their dynamic curatorialprogramming in a related Q&A article.

    Betsabe Romero's softening of macho carculture treads new ground through the streets of MexicoCity and abroad. In the highlands of Peru, the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco fosters global appreciationof ancient craft practices to preserve them and open newmarkets. Fiber workshops taught by American artists inGuatemala strive toward similar goals, with the help of the fair trade organization Mayan Hands.

    The political and creative interactions of so manySpanish-speaking countries is discussed in the in-deptharticle Latin American Textile Art...in process by CostaRican artist/educator Paulina Ortiz, President of the Ibero-American Textile Network (Redtextilia). Joanne Matteraoffers a first-hand assessment of fiber-based art includedin the growing array of international art fairs that takeplace each December in Miami, Florida, home to one of the largest Latin American communities in the US.

    I hope you enjoy this initial overview of LatinAmerican textile artists and their stories. We look forwardto featuring many more in future issues of the Journal!

    Marci Rae McDade [email protected]

    C o r r e c t i o nSDJ Summer 2013, Vol. 37, No. 4

    In the Exposure section on page 54, welisted the technique for Gary Schmittspiece Five Tools (2012) as beedle felting.You may have guessed, but the term isneedle felting! We apologize for anyconfusion this may have caused and look forward to seeing new works in woolfrom this talented artist.

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    http://www.surfacedesign.org/users/marci-mcdademailto:[email protected]://www.surfacedesign.org/users/marci-mcdademailto:[email protected]
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    6 Surface Design Journal

    Velocity and Memory B e t s a b e R o m e r o

    b y P a m e l a S c h e i n m a n

    Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

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    8 Surface Design Journal

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    Fall2013

    in semiotics during undergraduate studies incommunication at the Iberoamerican Universityin Mexico City and a masters degree in art histo-ry in Paris. Her work is saturated with referencesto ancient Mexican art, colonial motifs renderedby native craftsmen, and typical images that arecontemporary pop iconsan art movementdubbed neomexicanidad. She also plays directlywith the manipulation of materials.

    Tires are symbols of mobility, the cos-mos, and the eternal female principle. Tires slicedlike an orange peel spiral to the ceiling. Instead of white walls, Romeros tires are ornamented likeprecious ceremonial objects. She uses chicle(think Chiclets), a substance once harvestedunder slave conditions from sapodilla trees intropical zones along the east coast of Mexico,that was fashioned into decorative objects andchewed to abate hunger. Tire treads are carvedinto cylinder seals, an ancient form of Aztec writ-ing and printing, some as big as tractor wheels.Inking and rolling her own designs, Romero hasprinted everything from fabric to gallery floorsand walls, and even city pavement.

    Meetings at the Intersection/Encuentros

    en el cruce (2011), shown last spring in the 8thInternational Fiber Biennial at Snyderman-WorksGalleries in Philadelphia, reveals Romeros contin-uing embrace of Mexican textile traditions andher ability to position this work within diversecontexts of installation, fiber art, and printmak-ing. In the piece, two pure white cotton shawlsfrom Tenancingo (a rebozo-making center) arecrisscrossed at right angles with two tires placedvertically astride the center point. The textiles areprinted with positive and negative patterns inparallel stripes like the security wall runningbetween the two countries.

    In Mexico, the all-purpose rebozo is usednot only as outer protection, but also to swaddlebabies and carry bundles (firewood, produce,etc.), freeing the hands. It is a vehicle for Romero,a symbol of mobility, of migration, of the eternalquest for a better life. At the same time, her rebo-zos connect to the female body, to nurturing , andspanning the earth. She associates warpsstretched in the act of weaving on a backstraploom with horizon lines and flat landscapes.

    A whole range of domestic clothsthick striped twill for scrubbing ( jerga ), flannel for pol-

    ABOVE:BETSABEROMERO Altar for Chavela Vargas and Carlos FuentesTissue paper hot-air balloons, silkscreened with floral motifs,hand-decorated sugar skulls, breads representing souls, carved forklift tire, 2012.

    The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. Collection of the artist.LEFT:BETSABEROMEROCaught in Flight/Atrapadas al vueloFive tires, carved and printed on jerga,

    variable dimensions, 2010. Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. Collection of the artist.

    B E T S A B E R O M E R O

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    BETSABEROMEROBirds Scream/Aves en un gritoThree colors of cut tissue paper silkscreened with birds, PET frame,41.7" diameter each, 2010. Installation view at Museum of San Ildelfonso, Mexico City, Mexico; featured in the artist's

    retrospective exhibitionBlack Tears/Lgrimas Negras. Collection of the artist. DetailINSET.

    10 Surface Design Journal

    ishing, dish towels and bath towels that absorbodors of cooking and the bodyhas been incor-porated into recent installations or communityworkshops associated with her exhibitions. Forexample, Romeros use of jerga (made into thelong-sleeved pullover shirts called Baja Hoodiessold in America) is emblematic of how she trans-forms homely cloth into art. Cities That Go Away/ Ciudades que se van (2004) consists of four yel-low-striped spans of jerga rising from carved tiresspaced apart on the floor. These converged at theceiling of the Havana Biennial, while local Cubanswere invited to bring a household cloth to beprinted as a souvenir.

    A more elaborate variation, Caught inFlight/Atrapados en el vuelo (2012) features six 60-meter lengths of jerga printed with stylized birdssuspended from an atrium in the Kennedy Centerin Washington, D.C. The strips, gradated in red,orange, and yellow like the sun, give the impres-sion of the bars of a cage, the flight path of migrating birds, and the underside of a warpedloom. Romero believes that although immigrantscover lots of ground in their ambition for a better

    life, they are likely to end up in the same low stra-ta. They carry their culture along with them.

    Last November, volunteers from theMattie Rhodes Center, a social service organiza-tion, helped Romero create two altarpieces forthe annual Day of the Dead celebration at theNelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,Missouri. One was dedicated to Mexican novelistand essayist Carlos Fuentes; the other, to thepopular folk singer Chavela Vargas. Hand-paintedsugar skulls, bread souls, and other offeringswere arranged on three-tiered and suspendedtables. Silkscreened tissue paper fashioned intohot air balloons ( globos de Cantoya ) illuminatedthis sacred space. According to tradition, deadsouls return and feast on the essences of food,drink, flowers, candles, clothing, and smokesoffered on altars. Museum goers responded over-whelmingly to an invitation to attach messagesand objects to a series of ribbons hanging frommassive columns. Such public engagement ingeneral, and outreach to Latin community mem-bers, especially youth, has become an integralpart of Romeros art.

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    BETSABEROMERORemembered Ogives (circular arches)/Ojivas de la memoriaCut tissue paper, silkscreened, paint on wall,dimensions variable, 2010. Installation view at Art Museum of Sonora, Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico;

    featured in the exhibit Almost Touching the Sky/Al ras del cielo. TOP: ArtistBETSABEROMERO.

    Fall2013

    Another workshopwith papel picado (the craft of cut tissue paper, usually madeinto tiny flags or strung as col-orful banners in the street) wastaught in conjunction withBlack Tears/Lgrimas negras ,Romeros 10-year retrospectiveof 83 pieces presented at theprestigious Ancient College of San Ildefonso in Mexico City in2010. The exhibit includedRemembered Ogives (circular arches)/Ojivas de la memoria(2010), a symphony of tissue-paper circles, riffing on color admixtures andshadow, real and painted on the wall, as well aspatterns of silkscreened sailing ships. Birds Scream/Aves en un grito (2010) contrasts stunningbeauty with a disquieting note of alarm referred

    to in the title. Seven tissue-paper forms float par-allel to the ceiling. Silkscreened on each surfaceis a shower of leaves and petals, like drops of blood, superimposed on a random pattern of gold Aztecs in full regalia.

    As a woman and aMexican, Betsabe Romero isadamant that her artwork beaccessible through a multiplici-ty of textures and meanings.Her low-tech recycling of materials and central themesof the border, migration,memory, religious faith, andconstant transformationimpact audiences fromGuatemala and Honduras toSlovenia and Germany.Refashioned cars, tires, andcloth printed with tracks or

    traces of cities left behind hold universal appealand a strong relevance today.

    Romeros website is www.betsabeeromero.com .Her next solo exhibition will be at Juan Ruiz Gallery in

    Miami, Florida, ( www.juanruizgaleria.com ) November26, 2013January 31, 2014 during the Miami Art Fairs.

    Pamela Scheinman is a photographer, writer,scholar and educator who divides her time betweenNew Jersey and Mexico City.

    B E T S A B E R O M E R O

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    http://www.betsabeeromero.com/http://www.juanruizgaleria.com/http://www.betsabeeromero.com/http://www.juanruizgaleria.com/
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    SILVIAPIZA-TANDLICH

    San Rafael de Heredia, Costa RicaStill In Time (double-sided, bothshown) Microfiber, handmade batik,handmade beads, hand-dyed andcommercial yarns, cotton chains,hand appliqu, couching, batik,embroidery, crochet, hand quilting,69 x 24 with extension, 2011.

    This piece was included in the 14thInternational Triennial of Tapestry od 2013 in Poland.Galera Octgonowww.galeriaoctagono.com .

    CLAUDIAE. DOMINGUEZ

    Myrtle Beach, South Carolina(Born in Mexico City, Mexico)Hysteria Amate paper backed with cotton, silk, cottonand gold threads, hand embroidery, 24 x 36 , 2012.www.claudiaedominguez.com

    EVELISEANICETRTHSCHILLING

    Porto Alegre, BrazilTextured SunsetBlack cotton tulle, yarnresidue from industrialknitting manufacture(made in southern Brazil),textile collage processedin a pneumatic heat

    press, size medium, 2013.Studio Contexturawww.contextura.art.br

    E P O S U R EX

    62 Surface Design Journal

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    http://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlichhttp://www.galeriaoctagono.com/http://surfacedesign.org/users/claudia-dominguezhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/claudia-dominguezhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/claudia-dominguezhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/claudia-dominguezhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://surfacedesign.org/users/claudia-dominguezhttp://surfacedesign.org/users/evelise-ruthschillinghttp://www.galeriaoctagono.com/http://surfacedesign.org/users/silvia-piza-tandlich
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    Fiberart International 2013:Exhibition of Contemporary

    Fiber Art Pittsburgh Center for the ArtsThe Society for Contemporary Craft

    Fiberart International 2013 , a triennial exhibi-tion organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, opened at the Pittsburgh Center forthe Arts and the Society for Contemporary Craft(April 19August 18, 2013) with simultaneousevening receptions and an International FiberartForum the following day. Jurors culled 79 piecesby 63 artists from 10 countries, which wereselected from 1,259 proposals by 525 artists from

    36 countries. Fifty-two artists are first-time inclu-sions in this prestigious show. This years selec-tion was made by jurors Kai Chan, fiber artistfrom Toronto; Paulina Ortiz, textile artist fromCosta Rica; and Joyce J. Scott, an internationallyactive Baltimore-based artist.

    Over the course of its 21 presentations,

    Fiberart International has matured. The exhibitionwas established to celebrate innovative work rooted in traditional fiber materials, processes,and history and interdisciplinary arts that exploretheir boundaries. These tenets are still examinedwith great enthusiasm but perhaps with less of an evangelical zeal. Over the years, the exhibitand other fiber survey shows like ithas suc-ceeded in raising the profile of fiber arts. Should

    we continue to advance the field in form-specificsurvey exhibitions, or is it time to start thinkingabout different formats?

    Surveys like Fiberart International can beproblematic and challenging. As collections of individual artists works, some shows holdtogether better than others. Many artists includ-ed in the 2013 exhibit were represented by twoworks, which helped its cohesion. Several excep-tional pieces stood out.

    Embroidery, the au courant hip and hap-pening technique, was hard to miss in thisoverview. Whether machine embroidered or byhand, many pieces pushed fancy stitching to theedge of innovative experimentation. While fabricis hard to manipulate into exacting figurative art,embroidery lends itself more readily to drawingand painting. The best examples not only imitatethese traditional representative media, but also

    54

    Pittsburgh, P ennsylvania

    i n r e v i e w

    STEPHEN SIDELINGER (US)Big YellowEmbroidery on cotton,25 x 20, 2011. DetailTOP LEFT.

    SANDY SHELENBERGER (US)Textures 3 Encaustic, Japanese rice paper oncradled boards, encaustic medium, 32 x 24 x 1.5, 2012.

    Reviewed by Petra Fallaux

    Surface Design Journal

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    remain true to what makes fiber an art form with a character andlanguage all its own.

    A work that intends to blur the line between painting andembroidery is Elodie Sabardeils Palpatations. The vulnerability of thenaked figure and loose ends of thread dance in unison, beautifully

    expressing form and figuration in one idea.Stephen Sidelingers Big Yellow, an embroidered reinterpre-

    tation of one of his existing paintings, won the award for excellencein needlework. By staying true to the strong mark-making and lay-ered qualities of his expressive original, the stitching seems entirelyfresh in its voice: gestural and decisive.

    Sandy Shelenburger embroidered a square cloth with foursquares, leaving an open diagonal cross pattern. Her encaustic Textures1 and Textures 3 each use 12 repetitive black and white images of thissquare cloth organized in a quilt-like patchwork. With no actual stitch-es being present, the pieces raise awareness of how our experiencesare most often mediatedreal tactile experience versus its mere rep-resentation. Following Magrittes 1928 painting of a pipe accompaniedby the text ceci nest pas une pipe (this is not a pipe), Shelenburgercould have added the text this is not embroidery.

    Liz Aston also manipulates photographs of her own textilework in Exploding Lace View. She pushes perceptions of her lace asshe digitizes, scales up, and abstracts the original in hand-cut,starched, and dyed linen, taking it out of a traditional size and con-text and into the realm of contemporary art. A similar transformationoccurs when Carol Milne kiln-casts her knitted wax socks with leadcrystal glass and lost-wax casting technique to reveal socks that arefine art objects first and transformed textiles second.

    These inspired and compelling works actively probe theboundaries of textile art and challenge preconceived notions. As inany survey, these works are juxtaposed with more straightforwardfiber pieces: weaving, felting, knitting, crocheting, knotting, beading,

    Fall2013

    To order, please vi sit: www.An nJohnst on.netor phone 800.247.6553

    Quilters Boof Des

    ExpaSecond Ed

    $2

    Color By Accident:Low-waterImmersion Dyeing

    Color By DesignPaint And Print

    With Dye

    Also by Ann Johnston:

    NEW fromAnn Johnston:

    A complete dye workshopon DVD!

    Color by Accident: Exploring Low-WaterImmersion Dyeing is an extension ofthe techniques Ann introduced in her

    ground-breaking book, Color byAccident: Low-Water ImmersionDyeing. With over 250 samples offabric and 17 live demonstrations, Ann

    teaches how and when to vary her basicmethod, including how to

    mix colors without exact recipes create value blends several ways create many different textures explore dyeing on your own

    CAROL M ILNE (US)Fire & BrimstoneKnitted wax (stockinette stitch), kiln-cast lead crystal (glass),lost wax casting technique, 7 x 5 x 12 each, 2011.

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    lace, and paper. While Fiberart International 2013felt complete and well-rounded, many pieces

    remain in the comfort zone of traditional materi-ality and techniques. Audiences may contemplateand admire their technical prowess, but the realexcitement comes from the art that explodes ourexpectations.

    In conjunction with Fiberart International 2013 , social medias darling event of the summerwas Knit the Bridge. The yarn-bombing of Pittsburghs Andy Warhol/7th Street Bridgebasked in glorious blankets made through acces-sible crafts (August 10-September 6, 2013). Thecolorful textiles were appealing to many con-stituents from the passerby to the participatingfolks from all walks of life. The Herculean effort toorganize the project (conceived by FiberartsGuild of Pittsburgh members and led by artistAmanda Gross) took over a year of preparation,gathering much momentum and support alongthe way. It was clearly a huge success when mea-sured as a community-led and based art project,

    claiming to be the largest yarn-bombing to date.Aesthetically, it was also a sight to

    behold. The dressing of the bridge was cleverlythought out: the 580 blanket-size panels left lotsof room for participants individual contributions.Black sleeves that encased the railings and pillarsunified and anchored the diversity. Machine knitsdressed the towers. There were so many fantasticvantage points: from your car or bus on thebridge or from underneath in a boat or kayak.Observing people interact on the bridge wasanother treat. They very animatedly pointed, dis-cussed and investigated. There is no doubt thatthe Summer of 2013 will be forever known as theSummer of Knit the Bridge .

    Fiberart International 2013 will travel to the San JoseMuseum of Quilts & Textiles in San Jose, California(November 6, 2013January 19, 2014), www.sjquiltmuseum.org ; and the Franklin G. Burroughs - Simeon B.Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

    (January 19April 24, 2014) , www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org ; www.fiberartinternational.org ;www.knitthebridge.wordpress.com .

    Dutch native Petra Fallaux is a writer, curator, quilt maker, and creative director at Springboard Design,based in Pittsburgh, PA. www.petrafallaux.com

    Surface Design Journal56

    Pittsburgh, Pe nnsylvania

    i n r e v i e w

    (continued from page 55)

    Knit the BridgeAndy Warhol/7th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania yarn-bombed by dozens of participants with handknitand crocheted panels (August 10 - September 6, 2013). Photo: John Polyak. DetailTOP LEFT .

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    http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org/http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org/http://www.fiberartinternational.org/http://www.knitthebridge.wordpress.com/http://www.knitthebridge.wordpress.com/http://www.fiberartinternational.org/http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org/http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org/http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/
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    70 Surface Design Journal

    i n p r i n t

    Indigo:The Color that Changed the World By Catherine Legrand Thames & Hudson, London and New York, 2012ISBN: 978-0-500-57660-7

    Long before Levi Strauss stitched up hisfirst pair of jeans in the 19th century, bluedye was among the worlds most covetedcommodities. While other sources of the color,including woad, became well known in the West,India is believed to have first developed the pro-cesses that yield a deep vibrant blue from theindigofera plant. Since its green leaves contain nohint of the dye that for centuries played a historicrole in international commerce, its development is

    close to a miracle wrought by human ingenuity.

    Gradually, it found its way around theworld and was adapted to serve the specificneeds of particular cultures. Although the majori-ty of blue dyes today are synthetic colors pro-duced by industry, there are pockets on the plan-et where people still produce indigo as in past

    ages.Catherine Legrand, proprietor of an eth-

    nic clothing store in Paris, circled the globe insearch of people working with indigo in tradition-al ways and who remain conversant with the loreand rituals surrounding its production. Sherecords that journey in a visually seductive vol-ume, Indigo: The Color That Changed the World. Herhigh-resolution photographs that make cloth sing

    should convince the most indifferent browserthat the color known as blue gold merits what-ever it took to obtain it. Among the examples thereader encounters are the richly varied blues of worn fabric in Japanese boro , the contrast of bril-liant blue and white in resist-dyed African fabrics,the lacquer-like shine of blue-black clothing wornby the Miao people in China, blues enriched byconstellations of tiny patterns in India, and dark-est blue as a ground for brilliant embroidery inGuatemala. Diverse images of people at work convey the enormous range of conditions inwhich indigo dyeing takes place, from womendyeing at home with clay pots scaled for individu-al use to men working communally in vats thatoccupy prominent places in their villages.

    The books 300 pages in a horizontal for-mat could strain muscles accustomed to e-read-

    ers. Still, Lagrand correctly describes her approachas modest, not exhaustive. She provides a brief introduction to indigos history and the complexsequence of processes that extract the dye fromthe plant, leaving other technical aspects forchapters on particular geographical areas. Thereare references to dyeing processes, such as ikatand shibori, but no detailed information on thoseor on the looms that are mentioned in passing.However, there is a full explanation of calendar-ing, a method of beating fabric to make it shinyand water-resistant, that is used by the Miao.

    Occasionally supplementing the copiousphotographs are painted images of garments, butthese seem incidental. The authors voice comesthrough most authoritatively in her reports onpersonal encounters. I was disappointed that, inthe section on Horiyuki Shindo, his rectangulardyeing tub is depicted but not one of his contem-porary indigo sculptures. That omission, I assume,was to keep the focus on traditional artifacts.

    This is not a book to read from cover tocover but to take in a piece at a time. Movingthrough the chapters, I kept thinking of a NationalGeographic special in which a subject is coveredby selective anecdotes that send one elsewherefor the whole story. For that, one can start with

    the extensive bibliography on the final pages. Anindex would have been helpful. I wanted to cross-reference information in different chapters, butthat meant flipping back and forth through thebook. I tended to lose my way and surrender toblueness. www.thamesandhudson.com

    Patricia Malarcher, a studio artist and writer, wasformerly Editor of the Surface Design Journal.

    Reviewed by Patricia Malarcher

    Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Surface Design Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

    http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Indigo/9780500516607http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Indigo/9780500516607http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Indigo/9780500516607http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Indigo/9780500516607http://www.thamesandhudson.com/Indigo/9780500516607
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    HistoryFounded in 1977, the Surface Design Association is an interna-tional not-for-profit organization with an office in Sebastopol,California. SDA seeks to raise the level of excellence in textilesurface design by inspiring creativity and encouraging inno-vation through all its undertakings. Our current membershipof nearly 4000 national and international members includesindependent artists, designers, educators, curators and gallerydirectors, scientists, industrial technicians, entrepreneurs, and

    students.

    Publications and Website

    Surface Design Journal, the Associations quarterly magazine,offers in-depth articles on subjects of interest to contempo-rary textile artists, designers, and other professionals in thefield. Each issue is designed around a theme relevant to sur-face design and offers perceptive commentary unequaled byany other peer publication. Accompanying each article arefull-color reproductions of work by leading-edge artists.

    The monthly eNews spotlights time-sensitive information,including exhibition opportunities and initiatives.

    The online SDA NewsBlog features news of SDA memberactivities, reports on events relevant to surface design, andinformation on professional resources. The blog is located onthe SDA website (www.surfacedesign.org).

    The website includes ongoing updates on SDA conferences; agallery featuring members artwork; an international calendarof textile-related events; and a bulletin board listing opportu-nities for exhibitions, grants and employment.

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    The Surface Design Association sponsors major biennial inter-national conferences as well as smaller regional and interna-tional conferences. Programs feature distinguished speakersoffering perspectives on surface design, workshops anddemonstrations covering a wide range of contemporary andhistorical techniques, exhibitions, fashion shows, vendorexpos, and other events. Conferences have been held at differ-ent US and international locations.

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