Anni Albers

Last week we went down to London to catch the retrospective exhibition of the work of Anni Albers, a 20th century weaver and textile designer who was one of the pioneers of 20th century modernism.  The exhibition was at Tate Modern which is housed in the old Bankside power station.

The part of the building to the left is the original power station and the extension to the right is the Blavatnik building named after Sir Leonard Blavatnik who donated much of the funds for the development.

This is the Turbine Hall which often houses large installations and site specific works.

This side view fronts onto the Thames (more of which later).

Thanks to my husband for this shot from the escalators cutting through two floors to reach the floor of the turbine hall.

Our first impression of the Tate was its size, it's huge and cavernous!  A note for future reference, they allow you to take in small flight size cases but they must be stowed at the cloakroom, which is free and secure but invites donations, currently £4.

I hadn't expected to enjoy the exhibition as much as I did, especially as I only weave on a simple floor loom and not a multi-shafted one but I was fired up by it all.

The exhibition was in the Eyer Ofal Galleries in the Natalie Bell building.  The first weaving was Black White Yellow which was rewoven in 1965 by Gunta Stölzl who was Bauhaus Master of Craft in the weaving workshop from 1927 to 1931.

This is a detail of Black White Yellow, woven in cotton and silk.  It is 207.6 x 121.4cms  I had a lovely chat with 2 ladies as we tried to work out how this was achieved.  They were complete novices at weaving and my small knowledge didn't help at all.  

Anni's loom was on display and surprisingly (to me) compact.  She also wove on much larger and smaller looms.

Anni was introduced to weaving at the Bauhaus which she joined in 1922.  Her influences there included Paul Klee and Kandinsky and can be readily seen in her weaving and in her works on paper as preparation and exploration for design.  Oops!  Didn't photograph any examples.

The Bauhaus was forced to close by the Nazis in 1931 and Anni moved to a teaching position at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina USA.

My greatest fascination in the exhibition was the way the warps were manipulated with the weft threads and which were probably woven on a small handloom.  I have tried something similar on my own looms.  I particularly like the way she has used the technique for parts of rows and not all the way across the width.  It makes for an interesting texture.

This weave and the one below spoke to me a bit of Mondrian's work, notably his Boogie-Woogie works.  Above is Open Letter, 1958, cotton, 57.8 x 60cms.  It has lots of excitement for me in the texture and I loved the little shots of colour.

 Above is titled "Pasture' from1958 measuring 35.6 x 39.4 cms

This image above was wonderfully rich in colour (much stronger than my flashless photograph shows) and is titled Sunny from 1965 in cotton and linen,12.7 x 43.2 cms.

South of the Border, above, cotton and wool, 10.5 X 38.7cms, has a landscape feel to my eye and is much more colour rich in reality.

Set in a space of its own, with a large bench in front to allow for contemplation, was the 6 panelled Six Prayers which was made for the Jewish Museum New York to memorialise the 6 million Jews who died in the holocaust.  Each panel is 186 x 50 centimetres from cotton and linen threads and highlighted by silver accents.

The detail is sadly out of focus due to the lack of light and no flash.  I did like the use she had made wandering threads that are carried along and up the weave.

Alternative materials had figured in some of Anni's early works too, including her diploma piece from the Bauhaus, woven to be soundproofing and to cover the walls in an auditorium.

This fabric looked a bit like a thermal ironing board cover that I used to have and was woven with cotton, chenille and cellophane.  It was backed with chenille (velvet in the accompanying description).

The huge space in the gallery was separated by partitions made from wood and sheer fabric that gave interesting veiled views of the visitors and weavings to be explored and also supported some of the more varied weavings.

 

The piece above is by Lenore Tawney titled Leckythos and woven in 1962 from linen, brass and acrylic.  Size 127 x 68cms.  A statement by Albers from her book 'On Weaving' suggests that she was aware of this artist's work and the way she was taking weaving forward.   With the sheer fabric behind it it looks almost ethereal.

The Anni Albers exhibition ends on Sunday 27th January and I for one wish I had gone much earlier so that I could have had a second visit.  There is just so much to see, but I can recommend the exhibition catalogue which is extensive with its illustrations and text.  It's a book both to dip into and to enjoy in depth.   

Our visit was rounded off with some wonderful views of the opposite bank of the Thames and of The globe Theatre which sadly we didn't have time to visit.  

 The Millennium Bridge crossing towards St Paul's Cathedral.

 

The Globe Theatre (thatched)

City of London School

It was a very grey day as you can see but the birch trees still looked beautiful.

Dovecot Studio Edinburgh

As promised, here's a review of the inspiring Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh.  The studios are housed in an iconic Edinburgh building which used to house the Infirmary Street Baths.  The studios house an exhibition gallery, shop, cafe and a huge workshop area that is open to public viewing at certain times so that you can watch the artists at work.

There was only one person working while I was there but there was a wonderful atmosphere walking around the gallery and looking down onto the workspace.  The large groups of cones were so inspiring and I would have loved to have scooped up the waste to use in my own weaving.  I wonder if they would have missed a cone or two?  Sadly I would have had to abseil down to snaffle one.

This tapestry above is being made for a commission to The Perse School which I think is in Cambridge.     I think the method being used is tufting where the wool is fixed into the rug by use of a pneumatic gun.  The tufts are then trimmed to length (cut pile).

At the empty looms it was possible to see the cartoons and preparations made for the tapestries.

These bunches are used to test out the colours and blends in an approximation to how they will look in a piece of work.

This exhibition piece seems particularly relevant these days.  Regrettably my phone didn't capture the maker's name.

Down the staircase was a large weaving made as a site-specific project.

I was really tired by the time I got to the studios but the visit was stimulating and well worth the effort.  If you're in Edinburgh and in any way interested in weaving or tapestry it is well worth going.  The building has its own beauty and while it hasn't been a tapestry studio for many years it has a great sense of history and is a beautiful building in its own right.  Until 1 July there is an exhibition in the gallery focussing on the apprentices of the studio.  It was interesting to see how some techniques had evolved over the decades.

The photos are all from my phone so apologies if they are not clear.

Back soon with more Edinburgh sights and a visit to the Rosslyn Chapel.

That was the Year That Was

Two posts in a week?  That's a good way to end the year.  Probably won't be able to keep it up but we'll see.

So, since I missed so many chances to post over the course of the year I thought I would make a bit of a photo review here so we can all catch up. 

January, we started the year off in Mousehole in Cornwall. 

February - We enjoyed our local stately home, Belton House and I repurposed a friend's hexagon quilt top.

March was a busy month.  A trip to the NEC for the Sewing For Pleasure Show and a visit to St Agnes in Cornwall.

Time for a little sewing too.

April saw quilt making and a trip to Killarney.

May was a time for sea-themed embroidery, walks in Belton parkland and an online class.

June, halfway through, and a trip to Scarborough, a quilt show at Spalding, a trip to York to the quilt museum for one of its last exhibitions,

 Working on my quilt inspired by my online course,

 And best of all a trip to Cumbria for Woolfest.

June saw mum reach 90 too.

That was a busy month!

July, family time and friends time on a trip to Yorkshire to house and dog sit.  Time for days out with friends.

A purchase that you've seen already.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Bolton Abbey.  Nearly forgot, we went to Birmingham for a theatre trip and a look at the architecture and canal.

 Are you still keeping up?  5 months to go.

August, it was stitching with friends at a local garden and the inevitable Festival of Quilts.

August saw us returning to Ireland to visit the Giant's Causeway, where I've always wanted to go,

September saw us back in a special place.

September also saw us saying goodbye to my lovely mum who had been living with dementia and being so stoic about it.

The friends who I ran away to Yorkshire with also got me into more trouble to help me with my grief for mum,

We were on our way out of the Big Textile Show at Leicester, my first vist.  The fence was between us and the shortest route to the car and we were tired.  Happily none of us fell off it!
 
October found us back at Belton House waiting for the final flyover of the last flying Vulcan.  If you peer very hard at the photo you will see a little speck that is the Vulcan.  It did fly right over our heads but my camera makes it look like a gnat.  

October also saw me doing a workshop with Mandy Pattullo at Stoke Rochford.  Photos of Mandy's work.

November took us to Belton again for some leaf kicking,

And some creativity with leaves,

We had another trip wth our local coach company down to West Sussex where we were able to see my lovely stepdaughter and her husband. 

While we were there we had news of a new great neice being born in Australia,

Meet Charlotte Lucy, the newest member of our clan soon to be followed by our first grandchild next April (Ssssh!  Don't say it too loud, we're not old enough! But we are delighted VBG)  Ii wish mum could have lived long enough to greet these new arrivals.

November also took me to Harrogate for the Knitting and Stitching Show where I was able to see the chess set that won at Festival of Quilts up close.

Our parish church had its first ever Christmas tree festival and an ice rink,

And finally, December! You must be exhausted if you've got this far.  You'll be pleased to know that I've already told you about December and my weaving so you can now go and collapse into a glass of your favourite tipple.

May I wish you a very Happy and Healthy 2016 and leave you with a blessing that I borrowed from the internet.