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weave

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition

October 30, 2020 by Intern

On the 16th of October I got the opportunity to visit the House of Bandits exhibition, which is based at Rembrandt House in London, just down the road from Savile Row. This exhibition is part of the Sarabande foundation created by the late Alexander McQueen to support the new and upcoming visionary talent of today. Offering both studio space and scholarships the foundation has helped many inspiring artists to date.

One of the artists in particular who I went to go see was Esna Su. She creates handcrafted pieces which explore ‘the subtle issues of identity and memory and how these are shaken in the context of political instability’. Within her work she uses the traditional Turkish techniques of weaving, twinning and crochet. As a fellow weaver myself I can understand the complexity and detail that goes into her woven pieces.

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

Below you can see the process that Esna Su goes through to create some of her final creations. When it comes to knitting, Su uses strips of vegetable leather and knits them together. She lets the designs take shape in their own way as once the leather is dry the organic shapes are exposed. In her own words ‘’through irregular and hollow shapes, she exposes the burden of displacement but also sketches an aspiration towards protection and preservation’’.

 

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

“It’s a big part of my life being at Sarabande and I’ll always remember my time with a big smile. I would never have been brave enough to do this without the support of Sarabande.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

Along with Esna Su’s work was another Turkish artist called Berke Yazicioglu who showcased his woven wall hanging which had a particular inspirational point of view. The following designs shown below are woven representations of Igor Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Listening to this piece he used the sound colour theory by different sounds, notes and instruments meaning different textile aspects. For example, the beat inspired the framework, the instruments represent a specific colour and the notes equal to a certain colour tone.

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

This exhibition is free. And for specific artists you can buy tickets. This is a great exhibition to help support fellow designs and is one to check out. 

 

Words and Images by Isabelle Humm

Filed Under: Embroidery, Embroidery, Fashion, London Tagged With: exhibition, fashion, hand embroidery, internship, London, london exhibitions, mcqueen, sarabande, textiles, visit, weave

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern

January 21, 2019 by Intern

 

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Six Prayers (1966-7)

 

Anni Albers (1899- 1994) was a leading innovator of 20th Century modernist abstraction. Her work combined the ancient craft of weaving with the ideas and styles of modern art. She was a lady of many trades: an artist; a designer; teacher and a writer. The exhibition explores different aspects of her life: how her work transitions and evolved as she experienced new things as well as the processes she used to develop her ideas about textiles.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Anni Albers’s eight-harness Sructo-Artcraft 750 loom (Date unknown, wood and metal)

Her career and passion for weaving started when she began her studies at the Bauhaus (Weimar, Germany). It was her that she met her husband Josef Albers. They emigrated to the US (after the rise of Nazism in Germany resulted in the closer of the Bauhaus) where they both became teachers at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Development in Rose II (1952- Linen)

 

This piece has a subtle colour palette with black used to creates accents within the weave. Lots of texture is created with small twists and knots throughout. These are achieved using a technique known as leno or gauze weave; the vertical warp threads twist over each other around the horizontal weft threads.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Top left to bottom right: Anni Albers and Alexander Reed: Necklace (c.1940- plastic rings on black grosgrain ribbon), Necklace (c.1940- Bobby pins on metal-plated chain), Necklace (c1940/88 reconstruction of the original made by Mary Emma Harris, Eye hooks and pearls on thread), Necklace (c.1940s- Aluminium washers and red grosgrain ribbon).

 

An interesting section of the exhibit was a glass box filled with wonderful jewellery creations by Anni and a colleague, Alexander Reed. The necklaces shown at the exhibition feature everyday objects such as bobby pins or metal washers. These pieces take items that are mundane and turn them into something unique and sophisticated. Anni Albers was definitely ahead of the times with her inventive ideas, clearly demonstrated here!

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Open Letter (1958, cotton)

 

Featuring a wide range a weaving techniques, Open Letter is a striking monochrome piece. Accents of red are dispersed throughout, breaking up the linework that is similar to zentangling that is seen throughout illustration work popular today. Each column of the piece is constructed from little bars, each with their own personality and style.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Dotted (1959, wool)

This piece was among many ‘pictorial weavings’, created as artwork to be hung as opposed to fabric for everyday use. Utilising an ancient technique, Anni was able to create bobbles on the weave surface. The gradient of colour and the scattered placement of the dots results in a highly textured, playful piece of work.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Anni Albers at Tate Modern London Hand Embroidery

Intersecting (1962, Cotton and rayon)

Using only four colours for the plain weave ground, a floating thread has been used to create a raised brocade effect. The unplanned nature of these threads was very pleasing to view; the organised base with the random thread creates a visual oxymoron. Work similar to this one stemmed from drawings of knots, tangled lines and mark making that Anni Albers created.

 

Overall, the exhibition was an excellent glimpse into the creative-mind and thought process of a lady who was an innovator, ahead of her time. This is not a display to be missed, if you get the chance to see it as it closes soon!

 

By Amy Pickard. All photos by Amy Pickard.

 

Exhibition Details:

Anni Albers Exhibition

11th Oct 2018- 27th Jan 2019

Tate Modern

53 Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Open:

Sundays to Thursdays: 10:00- 18:00

Fridays to Saturdays: 10:00- 22:00

Ticket Pricing:

Adults £18 / Concessions & Student £17

See the Tate Modern website for further discounted tickets and details.

 

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: anni albers, art, artist, baubaus, exhibition, London, tate modern, textile art, textiles, visit, weave, weaver

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