The Textile Artist: Sculptural Textile Art: A practical guide to mixed media wire sculpture

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Yu-Mei created knitted fabrics that became an installation and performance as a dancer tried to open up the large boxes, revealing the fabrics within. The knitted textiles expanded and contracted in relation to the movements of the dancer, echoing the interactive spirit of her MA graduate work but exploring this new, gallery lead context. The story of Judith and Joyce Scott is one of the most gripping stories in the art world. Born with Down Syndrome, the now internationally acclaimed sculptor Judith Scott was separated from her fraternal twin Joyce at the age of seven. Due to an undiagnosed loss of hearing in early childhood, the artist was labeled as uneducable and sent away from her family to a private care institution. As there was no deeper understanding of disability and mental health at the time, Judith Scott spent over three decades separated from her sister, deprived of any educational or aesthetic stimulation. In 1985, however, her sister Joyce became her legal guardian and decided to bring her to her home in California. Two years later, Judith was enrolled in the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, where she eventually discovered her talent for fiber art. Although the patron of the work is widely believed to be Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William the Conqueror's half-brother, the individual Anglo-Saxon artists who created the work remain anonymous. It is likely, however, that the intricate needlework was executed by a team of female embroiderers. Unlike most art during the Romanesque period, it displays a detailed secular scene as opposed to Christian subject matter. The work functioned as militaristic propaganda, narrating the Battle of Hastings from the Norman perspective.

Creative identity is an ever-evolving, abstract concept that can and should be adapted to new challenges and briefs. Varied experience is key, and potential employers and collaborators should celebrate the varied lenses through which new artists and designers view their briefs and roles. After all, it is this kind of adaptive learning and making with transferable knowledge that fuels innovation and swerves away from tradition towards proactive problem solving. It was later in 2022 that Yu-Mei submitted a project proposal to the TextieilMuseum’s Textile Lab in the hopes of earning the opportunity to collaborate for her project ‘Soft Sculpture’. Bryony then brought Ulfred’s form to life by adding his features and more layers of fabric skin that gave colour and texture to his coat. Everything is held together with a needle and thread. Bryony uses an array of upholstery and darning needles, along with upholstery threads, for sculpting and construction. Then six-ply embroidery cottons are used for visible and functional stitching.

Vintage Fairs

Great ideas often come to me, but thinking about ideas in your head and working with actual materials are very different experiences. I make a lot of discoveries while working on pieces that I never could have thought of in advance. Although their work has been associated with land and environmental art, their wrapped pieces play a significant role in the history of textiles. Textiles have the reputation of being small-scale and fragile and the wrapped works challenged these misconceptions about the power and presence of textile art. By enveloping buildings in fabric, their artworks blurred the lines between architecture and fine arts and this statement was enhanced through the use of an iridescent, silvery-blue fabric. The reflective qualities of the fabric changed during exposure to sunshine and wind and through specifically structured pleats in the wrap, enhancing the overall sculptural appearance of the completed work. I especially love sea creatures, they are artwork by themselves, and I’m always blown away by their beauty. Whenever I have the opportunity, I enjoy watching documentary films about the deep ocean. I'm constantly amazed by creatures that I’ve never seen before. There are so many creatures that we haven’t discovered yet. The ocean is full of mysteries.

Though Ahmed works in painting, video, and installation art, the Azerbaijani artist is most known for his fantastical carpets and embroideries. In these works, he playfully riffs on traditional weaving patterns, creating new rugs (though sometimes ripping apart old ones) that feature optical illusions, acid drips, and pixelated glitches. Ahmed’s process begins on the computer, where he uses Photoshop to create these psychedelic distortions. He then prints the design to-scale on paper before handing it off to a team of 20 to 25 weavers. This is very typical for me, as I’m always thinking about the experience people have when seeing my work. I want my art to offer both a visual and tactile interactive experience.’ c.1900 Embroidery design by May Morris, worked by May Morris and Theodosia Middlemore for Melsetter House, OrkneyThe tools are rusty and many are broken. I wanted to explore ways of working with these objects, either by working into them or by adding other materials, to create something unique. As Bryony Jennings tells her students, don’t cling to the rules of stitching when creating something in 3D. Experiment with shapes and forms, and don’t be too precious about your materials. With this realisation reached, Yu-Mei began to “examine the boundaries in different disciplines” which allowed her to work in “an interdisciplinary movement from fibre art to Installation”. Taking on a variety of commissions and consultancy roles simultaneously allowed her to trial new approaches for her refined knitting methods. The same structures and knit knowledge that she honed during her MA were now being applied to different knitted design briefs. Photographer: AUR The styles and types of textile art created in any given period has been shaped by numerous factors including fashion, innovation, and availability of materials, and these elements of social, cultural, and technological change have consistently impacted the appearance, design, and production of textile art. Hannah Ryggen was a modernist textile artist whose works engage both with the formal experiments of twentieth century art and the folk traditions of her native Norway. Working partly under the influence of Northern-European Expressionism, and coloring her pieces with dyes grown in her garden, she produced organically colored, experimental tapestries that were nonetheless steeped in tradition, telling stories of love, life, war, death, and hope in a potent visual language. Ryggen was a political artists: anti-fascist and bitterly opposed to the political dictatorships that overran Europe during her lifetime. Among those leaders Ryggen most despised was Adolf Hitler. In this tapestry she depicts the consequences of his Nazi invasion of her town in Norway in 1940 during World War II. As author Figgy Guyver explains, the title refers to “the date that martial law was declared in Trondheim by occupying powers,” while the piece “depicts the tragic execution of prominent citizens”.

Your everyday life isn’t something you’d expect to find woven into a tapestry, but that’s exactly was Billie Zangewa does. After completing a degree in fine arts at Rhodes University, Zangewa mainly worked with oil paints, only working with textiles to create bags. After moving to Johannesburg, Zangewa began working in the fashion industry, which ignited her interest in silk “paintings.” Based in Canada and Japan, Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam creates large scale, interactive crocheted environments. Crochet is usually done on a small, wearable scale, but MacAdam pushes the boundaries of the technique. Woods of Net (2009) is one of her textile playgrounds, made specifically for the Hakone Open-Air Museum, located just outside of Tokyo. A large, colorful netted web is enclosed inside a wooden shelter, contrasting the crochet's movement with the rigidity of the super-structure. The crochet is inspired by, and interacts with, the architectural elements, challenging ideas of structure and stability.

George Weil (Fibrecrafts)

Whenever I’m working on something, it often opens up new doors that drive a piece in a whole new direction, revealing more possibilities. During this time, the publication CACAO Magazine reached out to Yu-Mei, offering the opportunity to contribute to a collaboration with Coca-Cola. Her brief was to capture the ‘Real Magic’ of everyday life in some way- a challenging concept given the restrictions on everyday life at this time. However, Yu-Mei’s unique idea went on to inspire an exciting body of knitted fabrics, captured within the photography for the campaign. Photographer: Poyen Chen I always feel like the possibilities are endless and the ideas keep expanding. I already have so many ideas and have discovered so many things that I probably won’t be able to make them all while I’m still alive. After moving to California in 1986, Judith Scott, who was deaf and had Down Syndrome, was enrolled at the Creative Growth Art Centre in Oakland, an organization that offered creative space for people with disabilities, by her twin sister and legal guardian, Joyce. At the time, Scott showed little interest in art and had been relatively unexposed to art as she’d spent more than three decades as a ward of the state of Ohio. Then, in 1987, artist Sylvia Seventy introduced Scott to textiles and from there, Scott’s artistic career took off.

Soft Sculpture is an experimental series challenging the traditional image of textile form. By blending knitting craft with experimental material, this series showcases a refined relationship between materials, form and texture. The pieces are knitted by inlay techniques combining up-cycle d bubble wrap during the knitting process. The uniquely chosen material characterised by its light weight and flexibility, creates sculptural and weightless pieces conceiving a new possibility of textile form.” Photographer: Yu-Mei Huang Photographer: Yu-Mei Huang Today, she continues to work with silk to create depictions of her own life through the medium of tapestry, which is typically associated with religion as opposed to ordinary day-to-day life. Zangewa’s works are autobiographical but prevailing themes evolve as her life does. Each of Zangewa’s works are hand-sewn and, according to the artist, are her way of “expressing [herself] and embracing [her] femininity.” The fabric murals created by Zangewa are evocative and elevate the most mundane tasks to a higher level. Billie Zangewa, “Mother and Child,” 2015 Remembrance was initially designed for the now-closed SCIN Gallery (London, UK). While out walking one day, a large artwork in SCIN’s window caught Benjamin’s eye. Upon entering the building, Benjamin discovered the upstairs gallery showcased interesting textiles, artworks, and objects inspired by a ‘materials library’ for architects and interior designers housed in the building’s basement. Sweden-based artist Ulla Stina-Wikander transforms old household objects and turns them into art. She takes outdated technol—such as mixers, irons, and sewing machines—and covers them in vibrant cross-stitch designs.Car boot sales were a weekly highlight of my childhood so, by nature, I’m a gatherer and collector of the worn out, unloved and discarded. I find beauty in the detritus of the everyday, including old clothes, household linens and timeworn draperies carrying the marks of time and discarded memories.’ Artist Tammy Kanat thinks beyond the conventional rectangular loom to create massive organic shapes. The pieces often resemble nature. Some of her most recent creations look like flowers blooming on the wall with tantalizing combinations of earthy hues, wrapping, fringe, and knots. Produced in Persia (now known as the country of Iran) and featuring 800 knots per square inch, this richly decorated, pure silk carpet, would have been an extremely expensive and time-consuming product to create. Carpet weaving has played an important role in Persian culture for hundreds of years and this piece was created during the Safavid Period (1501-1732), one of the most fruitful and creative times in Persian art. Surviving carpets from the period are some of the most elaborate and detailed weavings in existence. As author Cecil Edwards notes, this is the timeframe in which Persian carpet manufacture "rose from a cottage métier to the dignity of a fine art". Very few traditional sculpting materials can compare to textiles’ unique combination of strength and lightness. Woven fabrics can be remarkably durable, yet also float upon the slightest breeze. Even a single thread weighing less than a butterfly’s wing can bring muscle to a sculpture. Textiles can also be manipulated in incredible ways through folding, pleating, tearing and more.