A Celebration of Textile Art

Some may remember the series of articles that The Textile Blog produced on a number of contemporary textile artists. I thought it a timely reminder not so much to reflect on the articles themselves, but the idea of textile art as a title. Many still see the impossibility of the words 'textile' and 'art' being in the same sentence, at least without being derogatory. It is often thought that textile art is a branch of craft, and while techniques used by textile artists do often derive from a craft foundation, whether that be through quilting, embroidery, printing, weaving, tapestry, knit, lace, felt and others, it does not negate the conceptual thought that often goes into a textile art piece.

Happily for many, we have come a long way from the idea that textile art should be considered a lesser subject than fine art. In fact, it is just one of the many tools that an artist can use as a form of self-expression. It is also a discipline that is loaded with complex and diverse forms of making and shows an extraordinary capacity for self-perpetuating individualism and the unique qualities that can only be found within the textile genre.

Textile art is growing strongly, and in many of the traditional craft skills that are often assumed near-dead, individuals have breathed new life into tried and tested formulas, often completely breaking the rules of tradition, producing new and innovative ideas that are then pushed on by others. Interestingly and happily, there is no real centre to contemporary textile art. It can be found from Alaska to New Zealand, and can reflect the flavour of local heritage and culture or can project outwards a truly international aspect.

In many ways, as the title of this article suggests, this is a celebration not only of textile art itself, but how far it has come and how healthy seems its journey ahead. There are many artists, who have now become established names in their own right, and there are new generations of artists, some of whom approached textile art from the wide textile craft base, but interestingly there are also those that are approaching textiles from a fine art background.

One thing that I have always noticed about the textile art world is how enthusiastic, supportive and accommodating it is to a whole range of diverse approaches. All seem accepted, the professional, the amateur, the traditionalist and the contemporary and this is surely how it should be. There should always be room for creative free-expression. One of the great strengths of textile art is the fact that so many techniques are involved and can be so on one individual art piece. The skills base itself is extraordinary with textile artists being proficient often in a whole range of traditional as well as highly contemporary techniques and ideas. As long as textile artists can project themselves into the modern world, in many respects they keep the traditional skills of quilting, embroidery, printing, weaving, tapestry, knit, lace, felt and so many others, alive and self-refreshing. In this way the hand-produced textile disciplines can be passed on to new generations, who will hopefully re-evaluate and then project a new identity to those traditions.

Textile art is a fascinating world full of possibilities. It often involves a cross-disciplinary assumption that is not always favoured by all members of the creative world. However, textile artists themselves often produce work that is layered with both meaning and identity. That the layering can also be an accumulation of a diverse technical ability, can often be seen as a liberation rather than a betrayal of craft or art roots. Either way it appears obvious that textile art is both an important part of the contemporary creative world, as well as expanding and maturing into a discipline that counts.

The mosaic illustration that goes with this article shows the work of all 38 artists that were featured on The Textile Blog. They can all be found on the Textile Artists page by pressing the tab just below the main header of the blog, or you can follow this link.

Further reading links:

The Art of the Handwritten by Jeanne Raffer Beck

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 1.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 1 (detail).

Ever since the creation of human writing there has been a fascination with the written word. At times it seems almost magical that abstract shapes can give us an understanding and knowledge not only of the world around us, but also of the individuals that inhabit it. When you take this analogy across time it becomes both astounding and poignant, with generations passing down glimpses of their personality, dreams and fears to those who follow after them.

American textile and mixed media artist Jeanne Raffer Beck has made the written word one of the central cores of her creative work. As a long term professional writer she has an innate understanding of subtle inflection and intonation, the boundaries of words and the complexity of language. Although the written word cannot give us nearly as much information as the spoken word, with its particular and individual inflections and tone, there is a difference that can be measured within the parameters of the written word itself.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 2.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 2 (detail).

Beck has come to the fascinating conclusion that the hand-written word, as opposed to that of the printed, can in fact give us, through personal calligraphy, an intimation of feeling, emotion and character of the individual. It is the hand-written nature of old diaries, letters and journals that the artist uses in her work that give us the beginning of an understanding of the personal nature of calligraphy itself. This becomes somewhat poignant in our own time as the skill of personal hand-writing retreats to ever more infrequent usage, producing the result of an increasing separation, or at least distancing from the intimacy and connectedness to those in our own era, and perhaps even more importantly, to those who follow us.

Beck has used the idea of hand-writing and personal calligraphy as a inspirational starting point and stepped further along the creative road by studying the results as a form of personal mark making. By breaking down and deconstructing the original lettering, and intuitively over imposing more marks and symbols of her own, she is able to take personal hand writing to a different level, in some ways reinventing the original to reflect a new and personal experience of her own.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 3.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 3 (detail).

This is a fascinating and fundamental examination of the use of written language that is utterly compelling. It begs questions as to what the reading and writing of language means to us on a personal, creative and community level. It also raises questions as to our own era and the death of hand-writing as an expression of our own identity and personal parameters.

That a writer has been able to open up another avenue of personal exploration and creativity within the field of art is inspirational. The cross-creative process whereby the experience accumulated in one discipline is used to expand the parameters of another is one that should be equally encouraged and applauded.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 4.

Illustration: Jeanne Raffer Beck. Pages 4 (detail).

Jeanne Raffer Beck has exhibited her work across the USA as well as the UK. Her work has also been published widely and she has even been featured in TV. She has her own comprehensive website as well as a regular and fascinating blog. Both of these can be found below in the Reference links section.

Images were made available with the kind permission of the artist.

Reference links:
Jeanne Raffer Beck website
Jeanne Raffer Beck blog