This summer, I had the pleasure of visiting the American Tapestry Alliance’s (ATA) Biennial Exhibit at the San Jose Museum of quilts and Textiles in sunny San Jose, CA. Thanks to Siri and GPS we did know our way to San Jose and the museum was very easy to find in the downtown area. We arrived early and scouted the area to find restaurants and other art venues in walking distance. The museum is quite nice and the staff person working the admissions desk was very friendly. The museum is not very large, so it’s not an all day event like Chicago Art Institute or MoMA in NYC. (I remember dedicating half a day to see the Art Institute and we were basically running towards the end of our time trying to see everything).There were three exhibits open this past weekend; the tapestry exhibit presented by ATA and two solo exhibits as well. The museum is a very nice space, well lit, and easy to maneuver through and I enjoyed my time there. The staff person did tell me that the museum has an extensive quilt/textile collection and a few of these were installed in the hallway leading to the galleries.
The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose CA
A view of the works in the gallery.
Uvedenrode by Gabriela Cristu Sgarbura
Fractures by Suzanne Paquette
This is my first blog post on this web site, and actually my first blog post ever. This post is not a critique of the works in the exhibit, just a way to share some of the images as well as basic information about the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and The American Tapestry Alliance. There are 37 tapestries in the exhibit and these were selected out of a pool of entries from 189 artists. I want to share a few photos with you here and hope you see what a powerful and expressive art form that is tapestry. There’s a bit of misuse of this word, tapestry, out in the world. And there are lots of ways to create art through textiles/fibers. So just to be clear, tapestry is an art form where the artist is weaving the images by hand on a loom. Any type of loom will basically work to create a tapestry, but the rules are that 1) the weft that is woven over the warp must cover the warp and that 2) the weft that is used is discontinuous. What that means is that you have a weft faced woven fabric and that none of the wefts went directly from one side to the other and then back again. Instead the wefts are woven in sections across the warp. Images, patterns, words, and designs are typically woven with the structure of plain weave (over, under, over under) but a variety of weave structures can be used at any time during the weaving. It’s all up to the individual artist and his/her approach to tapestry weaving. As you can see from the gallery views, tapestries can range in size, hang vertically or horizontally, can be framed or hang on the wall as they are.
AMERICAN TAPESTRY BIENNIAL 13
JUNE 11 – SEPTEMBER 12, 2021
TURNER AND GILLILAND GALLERIES, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
A view of the gallery using the pano setting on my iPhone.
American Tapestry Biennial 13 showcases the very best in international contemporary tapestry. The works selected for the exhibition by juror Nick DeFord, Program Director at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, highlight the variety of artistic expression practiced today in this hand woven medium. The pieces range from the subtle to the visually complex, and even break new ground in shape and surface texture. Tapestry's rich history and its unique ability to render images in the tactile medium of cloth offer contemporary artists a powerful vehicle for expressing both aesthetic and conceptual concerns. The two gallery spaces combine together to create a spacious exhibit with room to view the tapestries up close and personal or take a few steps back and see some very powerfully impressive works. Photos are allowed in the gallery as long as no flash is used. And you can get as close to the works, without touching, as you’d like. I really enjoyed the freedom to move through the space as I wanted that afternoon. We did have the galleries to ourselves for about 20 minutes and then more visitors started to arrive.
Breaking Apart by Janette Gross
A view of the gallery with my amazing Hadley hanging out by the bench!
Five Leaves for Miss Lillian, by Tommye McClure Scanlin
Founded in 1982, the American Tapestry Alliance is a non-profit educational organization that offers support and exposure for contemporary tapestry artists around the world. If you’d like to know more about ATA, please visit the web site at https://americantapestryalliance.org
And to know more about the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, please visit https://www.sjquiltmuseum.org. Currently the museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and time reservations are needed due to Covid-19 restrictions/protocols. You pay for admission once you arrive at the museum.
Kudos to ATA Biennial exhibit chair, Ama Wertz, for a wonderful job in organizing this exhibit. And many congrats and thanks to the artists that exhibited their works. There is a beautiful catalog of the exhibit that is available for sale through the ATA website.
Detail; from On The Full Moon of February 3, 2015
(The Flu In Yalapa, Mexico) by Patricia Q. Williams
Noise by Lialia Kuchma
Another view of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles gallery using the Plano setting on my iphone
Declarative by Michael F. Rhode
Another gallery view.
Building Night by Susan Iverson
A detail pic of Rye by Lis Korsgren
And it’s not a trip to California without a picture of a palm tree :).