The Long Lost Chronicles of Angers

Finally, a year later, I am writing about my trip to Angers. I was intimidated by the vastness of the subject, so I procrastinated…now I can check it off my To Do list and put away some of the books that are cluttering up my coffee table!

When my husband told me he had a meeting in Paris, in late August 2011, of course I was delighted to tag along. I wanted to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Cluny Museum (which I wrote about here), and I had been meaning to visit Angers for a long time.

Angers is a charming city, in the Loire Valley, and the chateau is home to the famous Apocalypse Tapestry, the largest medieval tapestry, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Tapestry World. (I just made that up, but maybe someone should come up with a list!)

I was proud of myself for successfully taking the 2 metros to Gare Montparnasse in time for my TGV train to Angers. I find it stressful finding my way in a strange city, so I was relieved when my French tapestry friend, Marie-thumette Brichard, offered to meet me at the station in Angers.

She and her husband, Jean-Michel, met me at the station, drove me all around Angers, bought me a museum pass and a delicious lunch. At the end of the day, they waited at the station to make sure I got on the correct train. It was so nice to be taken care of, and not have to worry about getting lost or missing my train! Thanks!

Our first stop was the Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie Contemporaine. This museum is in a spectacular 12th Century Gothic hospital, complete with cloisters, storerooms and cellars. I assume that most tapestry folk know about Jean Lurçat who is credited with the 20th century revival of tapestry. The story goes that tapestry fell into a decline in the late Renaissance, when tapestry weavers were forced to weave exact replicas of painted designs provided by famous artists like Raphael. Lurçat believed that the art of tapestry could be revived by learning from medieval tapestries like the Apocalypse.

Lurçat was a thorn in my side for many years, as people quoted his strict rules, saying that tapestry weavers should never “copy” painting. Some people were upset with me for weaving tapestries that translate my paintings. Like any artist, I reserve the right to create my art based on what inspires me, not on a set of 50 year old rules. I almost forgave Lurçat after I saw Le Chant du Monde (the Song of the World), a series of 10 tapestries inspired by the Apocalypse tapestry, and woven in Aubusson from 1957-1967.

Each of these tapestries is about 4.4 meters high. The width varies from 2.26 to 13.6 meters. They all have a black background, with images in bright colors. The titles are The Great Threat, The Man of Hiroshima, The Mass Grave, The End of Everything, Man in Glory at Peace, Water and Fire, Champagne, The Conquest of Space, Poetry, and Ornamentos Sagrados.

(Left: postcards of Le Chant Du Monde)

The first 4 tapestries are dark and disturbing, dealing with the effects of nuclear war. The next 5 tapestries represent rebirth, humanity in harmony with nature, and human accomplishments. The last tapestry is somewhat of a mystery, as Lurçat died just before it was finished, and never got to write up notes about it.

(Below right: Water and Fire, detail)

In The Conquest of Space, it’s interesting to see that Lurçat had the weavers use color blending in some of the wefts, a technique he had initially rejected as being too similar to painting.

At first I did not like these tapestries, something about the style repels me…the images are broken into small shapes that are very sharp, pointed and dangerous looking; but the more I looked at them, the more fascinating they became.  It’s a monumental project, and was financed completely by the artist. Standing in that enormous gallery with the tapestries all around me was awe-inspiring.

In another gallery at the same museum was an exhibit called “Asie – Europe: Arte Textile Contemporain,” featuring 30 works by 21 artists from Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Hungary and Italy. I particularly enjoyed works by Marie-Noelle Fontan, Koko Shimomura, and Ishi Kakuko. Photos were not allowed, sorry…..

After lunch in an outdoor café, we visited the Chateau d’Angers, a beautiful 9^th century castle overlooking the Maine river. It has a long and interesting history, but I was there mostly for the tapestry.

(below: less than half of the tapestry)

The Apocalypse Tapestry was commissioned by the Duke of Anjou, and woven in Paris between 1377 and 1380. The book that I bought in the giftshop, (The Apocalypse Tapestry of Angers, by Liliane Delwasse) says it was woven in the workshop of Robert Poisson. The Book of Tapestry, by Pierre Verlet, gives the credit to Nicolas Bataille, but Delwasse says he was involved as a producer (I think it was similar to being a producer for a Hollywood movie!).

(below: The Beast of the Sea)

The narrative is based on the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine; it was a popular story at the time, a classic struggle between good and evil, and overflowing with angels, beasts and demons.  Below is my favorite scene,  “The Frogs,” in which we see Satan and the Beasts vomiting frogs. During the French Revolution, the Apocalypse Tapestry (like many others) was cut up and used for practical purposes, such as insulation, floor mats and the like. Luckily these fragments were retrieved and restored in 1848. The original tapestry was woven in 6 pieces, each 78 x 20 ft, and including 90 different scenes. The current tapestry includes only 71 of the scenes, and is in many smaller pieces, still a total of 104 meters.

They are very faded on the front, but the backs are still bright. The lighting in the custom designed gallery is dim, adequate for viewing but not for photography, so I apologize for the poor image quality.

Both the Chante Du Monde, and the Apocalypse Tapestry are enormous subjects, and I can only give you a little taste. If you follow some of the links you can find more information. The best source I have found is the book sold at the chateau. Good luck finding it….I recommend a  pilgrimage to Angers!!!

Here is a superb video of the Apocalypse Tapestry.

Thanks, it’s an honor!

To be accepted as an Elected Artist member of the Art League of Rhode Island.

The annual meeting was at the historic Aldrich House, in Providence, on June 21st. The five new members were invited to each bring a piece of their art to be put on a lovely wrought iron  easel. I brought Chaos (don’t I always?)

The new members were introduced during the meeting. It was exciting to meet the other artists, and it turned out not to be at all intimidating, as everyone was very friendly.

ALRI was founded in 2000 by a group of about 40 artists, and provides exhibitions for member artists in all media!

As a tapestry artist I appreciate this open-mindedness, as some arts groups are not so inclusive. Rhode Islanders are far more informed about the textile arts than people in other regions, and my theory is that this is the result of growing up with Slater Mill, the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. Every child in RI visits there at least once on a school field trip. In addition to this, the Rhode Island School of Design, with their excellent Textiles department is very prominent here.

The mission statement reads:

The Art League of Rhode Island (ALRI) was formed based on a shared vision to encourage and foster artistic recognition and growth among Rhode Island Artists. ALRI was incorporated with a goal to contribute, encourage and promote integrity and excellence in the arts in Rhode Island. The Art League of Rhode Island numbers among its founding members some of Rhode Island's most prominent artists working in a wide range of media from painting to furniture making.

The 2012 Annual Exhibition will be opening on August 31.

More information about that later.

In the meantime I need some new tapestries to exhibit!

Time to leave the computer and get back to my looms!

Tapestry Diary: Fun with Geometry

May is blue, at least this year it is. Blue, with green and black and white. I am using this year’s diary to explore ways to add color to my black and white tapestries, although I forgot all about that this month!

Just to mix things up a bit, I broke some of my parallelograms into 4 pieces. Then I had a revelation: you can break a parallelogram into 2 triangles! What fun. After one week of triangles, I was sad that I couldn’t see the parallelograms any more, so I thought I would try to keep the 2 triangles in each day similar in color, and then have a more noticeable difference between each day. The last week, because I was always weaving light, then dark, I ended up with a surprising chevron pattern. I love this kind of surprise.

I weave a parallelogram every day. That pattern started years ago as a variation on lazy lines, just using different colors. It avoids slits. Every month I change the color scheme, and also the direction. On the bottom line of the May photo you can see the last 2 days of April on the right side, then the number 5 for the first day of May on the left. There is always a triangle at the intersection.

Until I wove the last day of May, I had no idea what I would do in June, but now I have a plan. Check back in a month, and I’ll post a photo of the first 6 months.

For links to the 2010 Tapestry Diary click here.

Here are some links to the 2012 Tapestry Diary

January       February      March      April

Technorati Tags: Tapestry Weaving,Tapestry Diary

What is Tapestry Anyway?

Up to now, I assumed that most of my readers were fellow tapestry weavers. Perhaps not, since I give out my cards to lots of random people. So in case you were wondering….

Tapestry is a weaving technique that creates an image or pattern by using discontinuous weft.

Discontinuous what?

The WARP is the yarn that is attached to the loom and kept under tension; in this case, it’s the white cotton that runs vertically. The WEFT is the yarn that weaves under and over the warp threads to create the fabric.In the photo above you can see that there are 3 different colors of weft, and each color weaves back and forth just in the area where it is needed to create the design; that is what “discontinuous weft” means.  (In most fabric weaving, one piece of weft travels continuously from selvedge to selvedge.)

In most tapestries, the weft is packed down tightly, covering the warp completely, so the design is made just by the weft.

That’s different from most clothing fabrics, where you can see both the warp and the weft. These are 2 different scarves that I wove a few years ago.

I like to use different colors in the warp and the weft, to create beautiful color blends.

Pretty simple, right? Actually it takes a lot of practice to be able to weave even a simple tapestry like the one above.

What about tapestry designs that are a lot more complex?

The photo on the right is The Unicorn in Captivity, a recently woven recreation, at Stirling Castle in Scotland. 

The original was woven around 1500, and hangs in the Cloisters, in New York City. 

For more about the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries, and the project at Stirling Castle, see my previous blogpost  here.

For more information about tapestry weaving check out the American Tapestry Alliance website.

April Tapestry Diary

April was supposed to be yellow, but I couldn’t resist adding some light green too.

I was away for a week in early April, taking care of my 6 month old grandson, Silas. So when I came home, it was obvious what I had to do to fill up those days! I love designing and weaving text.

While I was away I visited the Textile Museum in Washington DC, and saw a wonderful tapestry by Archie Brennan (see the previous post), which inspired me to try different patterns in April. I am still thinking about ways to include small bits of color in my black and white tapestries, so this is good research.

I did tiny thin stripes, and one pick spots, and pick and pick spots for fatter dots, and color blends with dots, and dots created by alternating 3 colors of weft.

The dark shape on the top row, and the one just like it, one row down from the top, on the right, is dark gray wool mixed on the bobbin with a black and white cotton for the background.

Then there are small and bigger dots of light green, at irregular intervals, also mixed with the black and white cotton, and some dots that are pure green. I like the subtle, variegated effect. You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

What to do with May? I guess I’ll find out tomorrow…..I was too busy to weave it today, and now it’s almost midnight and I’m too tired.

Did I mention I have color-graphemic synesthesia? That means I associate certain colors with letters and numbers. It was much clearer to me when I was 5 or 6 years old, but there are still certain letters and numbers that are very clearly one color.

May could be green, because the letter M is green, but then I already did green for March; probably for the same reason. I was thinking about how I will weave the number 5 on the first day of May, then realized that May could be blue, because the number 5 is definitely blue (just like the letter S; must be something about that shape).

Anyway, blue and green will do nicely, and I can practice weaving the sea….I’ve been thinking about that lately.