Weaving as Protest

For about as long as there’s been art, artists have found inspiration in nature. Ancient humans around the world sought out caves and stones to create cave paintings and petroglyphs depicting the world around them. Art technology advanced, and artists found new and exciting ways to depict the natural world and use that art to comment on it as well. In their new exhibit, IMPACT: Climate Change, members of Tapestry Weavers West (TWW) and Tapestry Weavers in New England (TWiNE) showcase woven works focusing on the artists’ concerns related to climate change and how it affects the natural environment.

For this juried show, 81 tapestries were submitted, and 32 works by 28 weavers were ultimately selected by curators Kerri Hurtado of Artsource Consulting and TWW artists Deborah Corsini and Alex Friedman. Pieces range from realistic depictions of animals and humans as they’re impacted by climate change to more abstract images representing the artist’s anger and fear about its long-term effects on the world and our species.

According to juror Deborah Corsini, “The works on exhibit illustrate the problems that humanity is facing at this moment in time in the early part of the twenty-first century. Whether abstracted or representational, these pieces consider the major issues of climate change: melting polar ice, vanishing glaciers, rising seas, wildfires, super storms, chaos, extinction of species, and ultimately our legacy to the future.”

A bicoastal exhibit, the show started its run in Belmont Center, Massachusetts, before moving to San Francisco, California, where it will be on display at the Mills Building until March 13, 2020. A public reception will be held on January 30, 2020, for those interested in learning more about the pieces and talking to some of the artists. More information on the exhibit, including a catalog available for purchase, can be found at www.tapestryweaverswest.org and www.tapestrywine.blogspot.com.