How do Contemporary Textile Artists bridge the gap between process and meaning?
A Dissertation by Hannah Stratford.
Abstract
Keywords: Textile, Craft, Art, Process, Meaning
The purpose of this journal is to explore how contemporary artists use textile methods and how they apply these to give meaning to their work. I have done so by researching four key artists; Freddie Robbins, Alice Kettle, Kayla Mattes and Channing Hansen, to give a scope of four different textile processes and how these behave. In these cases, I found that the artists employed materiality, metaphor and tactility in the digital world alongside their process of making as a way to give meaning. Through analysis of these ideas, and using thinkers such as Jean Fisher, Jacques Derrida, Bill Brown and Anni Albers to support my findings, I have concluded that in textile art, process and meaning are not mutually exclusive to one another. Rather, there is a continuum and work is placed on this depending on the way the maker, the material and the viewer interact with these ideas. Textile is and will always be a familiar subject; it acts as a vessel of protection, craft, activism and design. I argue that these connotations allow access from the process and traditional to the understanding its critical context, which in turn allows it to be more digestible in society. This idea of it existing in ‘low art’ because of this, is slowly starting to shift with the increase in artists exploring these processes, and also a rise in global recognition for these artists who are using them, in hope to blur the boundaries between process and meaning within the art world and beyond.
Glenn Adamson in MIT Press (2018, p.55) cites the work of Gottfried Semper (mid 19th century) that ‘Materials and processes should be seamlessly integrated with the final forms of work’ in his attitude towards form. This was written in the mid 19th century, however still runs current in the present day and in this essay, I hope to expand on how this is applied to contemporary textile arts. Textile is seen as a medium overlapping two areas, one being process and function i.e. craft and tradition, and more recently it has been increasingly used as a vessel for meaning, i.e. using it as a provocation for ideas in art spaces. Through the study of contemporary practising artists Alice Kettle, Freddie Robbins, Channing Hansen and Kayla Mattes, I will explore their practices and explain how they bridge the gap between the two. These artists use metaphor, materiality and the idea of the digital to ground their work firmly at the intersection of having a strong material understanding whilst still recognising the functional connotations that textile holds. I argue that textile art is a vast area of study worthy of recognition in contemporary spaces, but also has its feet firmly in its traditional ideology which allows for society to access with more ease than traditional art materials, which shall be discussed further as the essay develops.
‘Knitted Homes of Crime’ (2002) by Freddie Robins
Material Use
In this section, I will be discussing the idea of materiality, and in such how textile art identifies as a thing or an object and then how this causes textile art to be perceived. Materiality is the study of something’s material and the value that this holds. This has been an ongoing sector of study, for example, Sandino (2004) cites the work of Victorian Art critic John Ruskin (1859) that ‘rusted iron in art should be seen as virtuous as it shows that it is living, whereas polished and pure iron is dead.’ However in this case, I will be using a slightly more nuanced theory that is relevant to the ontology and history that is embedded within textile art.
Bill Brown’s Thing Theory (2001), is the critical idea that something is either a thing or an object, or it moves between both, and an object becomes a thing once it is no longer able to serve the purpose of its function. This can be applied to textile art due to its connotation with craft processes and production. In many cases, contemporary textile artists employ traditional craft methods such as weaving, embroidery and knit, as the material use for the thinking behind their work. Under Brown’s pretence, this therefore means that often these works of art have moved from an object, applying a textile process as a means of making, into things- something that exists on its own accord due to the removal of its functions. This blurred boundary between process and meaning has been described by Jacques Derrida as an undecidable - ‘something that seems to belong to one genre but overshoots its border and seems no less at home in another. Belongs to both, we might say, by not belonging to either.’ Quoted from MIT press Craft (p.47 2018) referencing Jacques Derrida’s ‘living on Borderlines’ (2004 pp.75-176).
An example of a textile artist who uses this in context is the works of Freddie Robbins. She knits non-functional objects that explore violence and pain, whilst recognising the use of textile material and its ties to feminism and craft, (Toohey, 2012) from the article Knitted Homes of Crime. in her collection ‘Knitted Homes of Crime’ she hand knits seven tea cosies in the form of houses, where each house is a replica of a female killer’s home or the home where they committed their crimes. Robbins explains ‘when someone commits a heinous crime, they are damned, and when a woman commits she is doubly damned, once for the crime and once for going against her sex’, (Toohey, 2012). Here, she makes objects that are designed for domestic use and then gives them value by not only turning them to ‘things’ under Browns context but by also using a stereotypically feminine process of making to bring light to the subject of her work. This is enriched by the fact that she is using women as the subject, and depicts these violent acts onto something protective and comforting, in a material process that would generally be assigned to women’s craft. In an article ‘What Art is and Where it Belongs’( Chan 2020) Paul Chan explains how ‘the things used in making art ground it in a material reality, without which art would simply be an unrealised wish. For what art expresses the most, beyond the intention of the maker, is the essence of an idea, or an existence’. This idea, alongside bill browns thing theory, shows that the implicit use of material and process in the making of works of art can liberate it from societal ties to create space for new meaning.
It is of the freedom of the maker, and the place that it is displayed, which dictates whether textile becomes a domestic thing or an art object. The flexibility of the use of textile alongside the application of its history gives breadth and depth to its context. This state of ‘thingness’ allows the line between process and meaning to as blurred or clear as the maker chooses, which can be argued that traditional art materials such as paint cannot convey. However, this is also built upon by the way that it is seen by the viewer. In ‘Some Thoughts and Contaminations’ (Fisher, n.d) she explores how ‘visual arts function on a level of affect, not semiotics alone. A relation is established between the work and viewer that is in excess of visuality, such as a sense of scale and volume, touch and smell, lightness, stillness, all of which operate on the level of sense and not meaning. Art is speaking, not an already spoken.’ It is important to recognise that not every eye that is laid on a piece of textile art will understand its references I have discussed prior. However, there is an inherent and consistent value of fabric that exists within every person on the planet. We all own clothes to protect us, and with this is a vast breadth of association with the value of the material, dependent on a person’s origin and history. This is something that makes textile art so valuable in bridging the gap between process and meaning, as it is familiar and known such as the tea cosies above. This breaks down the barrier that can often be seen as gatekeeping the fine art world and allows access for society to partake in.
Textile as Metaphor
‘Odyssey’ (2003) by Alice Kettle
In this section, I will use the work of contemporary textile artist Alice Kettle and theorist Arthur Dando on Plato’s text ‘the Republic’ and the ‘Statesmen’ to discuss how weaving can be used as a metaphor and then compare how these ideas are implemented into textile art practices. Alice Kettle is a textile artist who uses the improvisatory nature of mechanical embroidery stitch on large scale to create narratives. She uses this medium as it allows her to ‘reinvent, rework and reconstruct pictorially. By working front to back and changing threads constantly, it means there is a relationship between my making and what is produced due to this unpredictable nature. As it is often human sized, I become part of the story I create.” (Kettle, 201sar) The particular piece that I want to focus on is Odyssey 2003, which can be seen above. The following discussion of this piece has been taken from Kettle’s recent lecture: ‘Telling Stories Through Stitches’ at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, February 2020. I will follow with a discussion on how the ideas of gender and balance are apparent in both Plato’s texts and Kettles art works as metaphors and then explain how this bridges the gap between process and meaning.
Kettle takes inspiration from the aforementioned Odyssey poem by ancient Greek Homer. Her Odyssey series is a long panel of machine embroidered work where several scenes play out at once, enriched with ideas of weaving that exist within the poem. A key element she focuses on is protagonist Penelope and her endeavours with weaving that link to loyalty and faith. Penelope, Odyssey’s wife, prolonged her freedom to await her husband’s return by weaving and then un-weaving her father-in-law’s shroud, in order to elongate the time that she could sustain until her husband’s return: ‘…by day she wove at the great web, but every night had torches set beside it and undid the work.’ (Roberts, 2003 quote from Kettle, referencing Plato’s Oddessy poem). Kettle goes onto say how textile is implicit in this story and then how weaving is also implicit in her own embroidered piece, and then onto describe how the story of faith interweaves with her own faith in making and process, due to the unpredictable nature of the way she makes her work. She uses weaving as a metaphor for her process of making, and also as metaphor in the content of her work. This double pronged sense of metaphor works as a device to give meaning and enrich her work.
Dando uses the process of weaving to analyse the metaphor of society, assigning gender to the warp and weft. ‘At the intersection of two threads, running at an angle to one another, yet connecting with one another to form a substantial and flexible whole.’( Hicks 2006, Danto pp. 22-39) Plato equated the weft with supple and feminine and the warp that is shot through it as masculine, ‘the strands run true and these strands are the gentle and the brave. Here these strands are woven into a unified character’. This metaphor of the object applies not only to sociosexual context, but also in materiality of object in contemporary art. (making is knowing, Lehmann p. 58 Craft Harrod. T). In Oddessy 2003, Kettle uses Penelope as a motif to resemble the faith in her process. Whereas in Danto’s text, he uses the metaphor of weaving in the story of Penelope to give context and explain social constructs within society. Whereas kettle uses gender in her metaphor differently and focuses more on the association attached to female gender performance.
Alongside Plato’s sociosexual metaphor, he also applies weaving as an analogy for perfect state rule. He claims that ‘The aim of state making is justice, which means in effect, weaving together the various social virtues without allowing one to dominate which is what makes weaving the perfect analogy for statesmanship.’( Hicks, 2006). He talks about the fabric that is created ( a perfectly ran state) is created from the balance and mutual concord of society and a strong and successful leader. He uses weaving to describe this due to the structural relationship in the warp and weft, that for unison they both rely on one another. Kettle applies this idea of balance to her materiality in the way that she views the process of her machine. In her lecture, she explains how she sees the mechanics the needle as a tool for her own integrity. ‘based on the lock stitch principal, top and bottom thread then balanced at the centre point so there is a relationship between the tensions. I subvert this by playing with this balance with the use of thicker thread to change its value. These often have to be based in the bobbin so I am drawing back to front.’ (Saïd Business School, 2020), Here shows how the function of textile arts allows for a direct flow into the realm of meaning. A functional machine is not restricted by its use ties to craft, rather its parts are used to liberate its use for meaning between maker, material and machine.
Mieke Bal in metaphoring (2006 p.159), explains metaphor as being when you carry from one place over to the other, and when this is done correctly it carries over charged meaning and removes itself from the redundant noun. In both cases, albeit it in a different context, Plato and Kettle use Penelope as a metaphor to shine a light on the pathway to deeper critical understanding. Kettle, in the case of understanding her process, and Plato in the case of the ‘ideal state’ use this notion of weaving as a symbol of faith and balance. Even though the subject matter causes these two separate entities to intertwine, it is clear and interesting to see how metaphor can be performed under different contexts. Even though Plato’s text is not contemporary nor a piece of textile art, I feel it is important to recognise the sheer value and regard that he must have had for textile process in Ancient Greece to assign it as the perfect metaphor for an ideal state.
Tactile Sensibility in the Digital Age
In this section, I will be discussing how Anni Albers extensive research into the process of weaving has created a space where craft and art merge and analyse an example of how contemporary textile artists use these ideas within their practice. Albers was a mid century artist and designer who first gained traction because of her input into the weaving workshops at The Bauhaus. After leaving Bauhaus and moving to America, she wrote On weaving (1965), an expansive account on all she has learnt over her time studying. The particular section of the book that I want to address is Tactile Sensibility (Albers,1974 pp.62-66) , where she discusses the materiality of textile, its ‘mattiere’ and the challenges this faced at the time. It is important to note that even though this was a mid century book with a modernist discussion, many of her concerns still run true to the current day and these will be the ones that I focus when later analysing contemporary artists.
In tactile sensibility (Albers,1974) Albers discusses how, as means of production develop in society and things are more readily available, this progression has equal weight in the regression of societies ability to feel and make for themselves. ‘Our contact with materials is rarely more than a contact with the finished product. We remove a cellophane wrapping and there it is, the bacon, or the razor blade.’( Albers 1974 p.62) She then goes on to discuss how we use touch to assure reality, and that there are expressions missing in our language on how our tactile sense responds to the surface quality of matter and its consistency (Albers 1973 p.63). She uses weaving as an example of how something swings between art and science, due to its outer and inner characteristics. In turn, I will be exploring how two artists use this idea of mattiere and the overlap of art and science in a contemporary sense to make works.
Textile art one in which reclaims its familiarity of touch and embodies this in its meaning. As Julia Bryan Wilson states in her article in Craft MIT press (Harrod, 2018 p. 48) ‘craft is contemporary because it importantly maintains it tactile and bodily component in the face of digital technology’. It is interesting to see how contemporary artists apply this to their practice, for example the weaving works of American artist Kayla Mattes (see image below). Mattes is a visual artist who creates tapestries influenced by the normalisation of computers, smart phones and the internet in our daily lives (Maake Magazine, 2019). In her works, you can see how her interest of self-expression on social platforms and the early chaos of the organisation of the internet, which is shown pictorially through her works. She is addressing issues that have become part of our existence through the use of the tactile, something that is contradictory of the nature of the internet and its virtual world. Here, she applies Albers concerns of losing touch through the virtual by liberating the medium that is meant to be felt. She explains how The weaving process is also structural and so relates to the fabric of technology, in an interview (Maake Magazine, 2019), she quotes ‘Punch card Jacquard looms from the 1800’s influenced the development of early computers, so there’s this inherent correlation between weave structures and computing.’ In the 70s and a pre internet world, Albers expressed her concerns on the fall of the value of touch, but here it is shown how contemporary artists use this idea to elaborate on the meaning behind their work.
Channing Hansen, another contemporary textile artist, applies these same concerns through his work but in a different manner. Instead of the digital being the subject of his practice, he uses it in the production of the pieces that he creates. Interested in science and technology, he uses complex software and algorithms to decide on the colour combinations of his hand weaved/knitted works (find image below). However, he maintains the tactile by handwashing, blending, spinning and dyeing the wool himself( Stephen Friedman Gallery n.d). This is hugely labour intensive but then relies on algorithms to decide on the colours and combinations for him. This poses the question of the value of decision making in fine art, as although the processes listed above can be applied to the function of making and craft, it is done so by choice to balance out the digitals voice in his work. It is both a human and computer process that works in unison, which is something that Albers had not considered at the time when she stated that with the progression of technology comes the regression of the tactile. This idea of working alongside or on parallel to technology is something Hansen exhibits well in his works and is something that Albers did not account for in her discussion on the tactile.
These two artists have taken Albers concerns and applied them to their own practice, posing questions about the ever growing digital age. However, it is also important to note that even though these are seen as contemporary pieces, Anni Albers physical work has recently gained traction within art spaces. In October 2018, the Tate put on a solo exhibition of her collection of weavings. And so not only has she had great influence on fabric artists globally, her art is still now being recognised as having an immeasurable contribution to the spaces of design, craft, fine art and everything in-between ( Fer, 2018) She is recognised as a maker who incorporates all of these elements, so to have a fine art institution put on a solo display may show that this idea of textile being a lesser medium may slowly be starting to shift. In the past, craft has generally been associated with low art, however with the rise of contemporary artists using these craft methods to create work, it is now being elevated from this idea of low, and contending with traditional methods on a more equal field. It is also important to note that not only is textile familiar as stated by Bryan Wilson (Harrod, 2018 p. 48) but technology is more familiar than ever to an extent where we are dependent. These artists above have used this as a tool to tap into the familiar, both in a material sense and also in our use of technology, which makes it digestible and accessible to viewers.
‘Histogram’ (2014) by Kayla Mattes
‘Polytope Soap’ (2013) by Channing Hansen
Throughout history, textile has been used as a vessel. Vessels to protect in the form of clothing, as activism, as hobby, as design, but now as perceptions change due to the interest and support of textile art, it is breaking these boundaries and being celebrated in its own right. Textile will always have roots that keep it grounded in a sense of production and craft. But from my findings in this essay, because of these roots that stay firmly put in these things that are familiar, it allows access to and bridges the art space with the craft. Before, textile was used as a functional object, whereas now it is being used and recognised as a successful way to create meaning. ‘The idea is no longer to make nothings into somethings, but to transform and give meaning to all things.’ (Lucy R Lippard, ‘Something into nothings’ 1978, referenced in Harrod 2018, p.35) I have addressed my research question in the hope of understanding the cause of this ‘gap’ and how artists are addressing this, and in my findings I question whether it was a gap at all and rather a spectrum. A piece of work is placed on this spectrum because of two things: the way that the maker intends and then the way that the work is perceived by a viewer. I have found that due to the familiarity that material holds, it creates access for the viewer to interpret and feel with more ease, however with this familiarity comes the association with function. But ultimately, the intention of art is for it to be interpreted based on individual experience, and as Fisher (n.d) says so profoundly ‘ the meaning of art work is not strictly determinable and is potentially as nuanced as the number of viewers who bring it their own interpretations and histories’. However, through the ideas I have explored such as metaphor, materiality and the digital, textile art is rising above its previous constraints of low art and function, and is now been recognised for the value of its process, and the vast scale of meaning that comes with this, proving that meaning and process do not exist to be mutually exclusive.
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Illustrations:
Hansen. C (2013) Polytope Soap, [hand spun and died cheviot, Corriedale, Merino and Romney wools, Teeswater Locks, yak down, commercial thread, cotton, holographic polymers, polyamide, silk noils, viscose, and cedar.] Hammer museum [online]. Available from: https://hammer.ucla.edu/made-in-la-2014/channing-hansen [ accessed 8th November 2020]
Kettle, A (2003) Odyssey, mechanical embroider stitch on canvas with dye, installed at Southampton City Art Gallery [online] available from: https://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/recent-acquisitions/cas-acquires-large-textile-work-alice-kettle-southampton-city-art-gallery/. [accessed 1st November 2020]
Mattes, K (2014) Histogram, [handwoven wool, cotton, acrylic] Artists personal collection ‘User Interface’ [online] available from: https://kaylamattes.com/user-interface/ [ accessed 2nd November 2020]
Robins, F. (2002) Knitted Homes of Crime, quilted lining fabric knitted by Jean Arkell, installed at firstsite at the Minories Art Gallery, Colchester, [online] Available from: freddierobins.com/blog/knitted-homes-of-crime [accessed 26th November 2020].
