Author Archives: Silvia

SELF-HELP ART

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DELIVERY AS IMPORTANT AS CREATION:

“…We’re made of the same material, even though the form varies. We fear and desire the same, although each of us arranges it in a different order, same as we mold our sieve alter ego…”

As a contemporary textile creator, Ariane Garnier represents time and culture within the social structures that support and inspire her. Born in Costa Rica and educated as a visual artist, she resorts to a variety of techniques to deliver her message of self-help, growth, and transformation.

Since her first presentation 14 years ago, her discourse has evolved and has led her to develop the concept of joint self-help art, with human homogeneity as center stage. In her talented hands, the term social projection involves making art as well as studying each of the knots that trouble our modern self.

Ariane Garnier: Dress. Sieve, sewing and embellishments.

“We are made of the same material, but we only perceive that resemblance through the sieves of illusion. That’s the reason why we usually consider ourselves as individuals having a unique self, but that perception is made of an assortment of sieves we have set—one against the other—along history until we reach blindness.” 

The above tautological attitude is depicted by Ariane in her metallic threads—“seams and ties exposing our condition clearly.”

Ariane Garnier & Rafael Sáenz: Everyone With All. First prize piece at 4th WTA Biennial of Textile Art&Design, Costa Rica, 2006: "Man+Woman= Creation"

Among achievements is her First Prize at the 4th WTA Biennial in 2206.

Ariane Garnier & Perfect Feather, one of participants at Fuerteventura, Spain project.

She then built her first textile colloquium: Absence/Presence  through a performance/installation in mesh at the 7th Art Encounter in Genalguacil, Spain and, of course, her Women’s Forest project in Costa Rica was most interesting, where low-income peasants as well as higher-income city women designed and wore their own dresses.

Ariane Garnier: Art-Team Building project, Gran Canaria, Spain, 2007.

Ariane’s artistic expression weaves sieves made of several layers of metallic fabric. As “owner of her own Triumphs and Failures,” her social projection is, however, participative art that allows access and growth as a way to transform us.

Ariane Garnier: Women's Forest project participants, Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Together with partner-curator Marcela Valdeavellano, Ariane owns and directs La Zona Entrenarte (The Trainart Zone in English), a gallery/workshop space where they conduct frequent participative exhibitions and self-help artistic events.

I find it interesting that Ariane’s materials are cold and harsh, yet her human makeup is warm and meaningful. “In the end, we’re all the same; and if we’re creative, and if we’re aware, we’ll be able to build together instead of destroying separately…”

Ariane’s contact: http://www.arianegarnier.com     http://www.entrenarte.info     http://www.vimeo.com/user2718107/videos 

Ariane Garnier: Air Draft. Sieves and cords, shaped and sewn. 6th WTA Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, Mexico, 2011.


—Silvia Piza-Tandlich

Beatriz Oggero: Artist and Teacher

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DIALOGUE WITH MATERIALS AND TIME

Beatriz Oggero is an accomplished textile artist and teacher. Born in Uruguay and now living in Cochabamba, Bolivia, she’s a child of two very strong textile cultures. 
She claims to have a hard time answering the routine question, “what do you do for a living?” Yet, what she does was presented at a recent retrospective show featuring an installation of miniatures in an impressive array of textile techniques, plus a transparent tapestry knitted with two needles, made of 400 copper wire rectangles and color gauze.

In principle, we could say she uses tools such as time, rhythm, contrast, structure, and transparency. Not everything she does is an expression of gender, but neither can we forget she’s a woman: feminine elements appear to underline her work, especially in her conceptual reasoning. 
Obsessed with time, she views the material aspect of work in terms of the time it contains: time to spin, time to dye, time to weave, stretch, wash, iron, sew…time,time,time…it’s also the time of a woman involved in these textile activities, which makes her identify with ancestral and primal textile endeavors from way back in Andean history.

Beatriz Oggero: "Contrast rhythm transparency". Torn cotton mesh dyed with tanning agent, hand sewn. 2004

Beatriz has been “at it” since 1980, when she studied with maestro Ernesto Aroztegui, the Tapestry Father of Uruguay. She had studied Art and Art History and had begun to work as a teacher, when her country was overtaken by the military regime known as The Process (El Proceso), and educated people were thrown out of their professions. Being forced to stay home she pursued sewing as a hobby. She made her children’s clothing, and later on decided to learn to weave, too.

Beatriz Oggero: "Mi zorzal" (My thrush), cigar box, raw hide, feathers, maize kernels, wire, seeds. 2005

In 1982 she was one of the founders of CETU (Center for Uruguayan Tapestry), which later became the Center for Textile Art of Uruguay since many artists evolved from solely Gobelin to mixed-media textiles. She later became President of this institution from 1986 to 1990 and organized two mini-textile international encounters, and in 1991 was invited to lead and develop the textile section at the Center for Industrial Design of Uruguay. 

Beatriz Oggero: "Contra Ruta", 50 X 800 cm, 800 rectangular modules, silicon-glazed copper thread in various gauges, metal sticks. 2008

Today, in Bolivia, Beatriz weaves with copper wire and various types of threads. She enjoys both mini-textile and large format tapestry techniques, and despite the variety of techniques employed, her style is recognized and respected throughout Latin America for its transparency and pliable look. Beatriz is known to manipulate wire as if it were cotton!

Contact: http://www.beatrizoggero.blogspot.com

Beatriz Oggero: "Contra Ruta", 50 X 800 cm, 800 rectangular modules, silicon-glazed copper thread in various gauges, metal sticks. 2009 . 5th WTA Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, Argentina.

Beatriz Oggero: Work detail.

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, translation

Argentine Center for Textile Art (CAAT) – Centro Argentino de Arte Textil

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Textile Tourism: Argentine Center for Textile Art (CAAT)

Buenos Aires, Argentina: A city that goes to sleep at 6:00am and awakens by 3:00pm, at which time you can visit the Argentine Center for Textile Art (CAAT).

CAAT: Tramemos journal.

CAAT is a non-profit association that has been promoting textile creation for the past 34 years, encouraging its members to take advantage of monthly exhibition opportunities as well as conferences and workshops. It publishes the ever newsy and popular Tramemos journal*, and its vast textile library is considered one of the best in the world.

*“Let’s Weave” is a weak translation since the Spanish verb tramar means, “to plot” and “to warp” at the same time.

CONTACT:
Address Viamonte 1728 2º E (CP1055). Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Phone (+54 11) 4371-7581
Website http://www.caat.org.ar
Hours Monday through Friday, 3:00 to 6:00pm
 

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich

ECO-WEAVING

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Textile Tourism: ECO-WEAVING

It is easy to be attracted to the materials in the work of Uruguayan artist Silvia Umpiérrez, as if she had nothing to do in the making of her creative pieces.

Silvia Umpiérrez: basket. Weaving with "pinocha" (pine needles), and other materials.

On the other hand, this unique work also shows a revaluation of the natural element normally thrown away or burnt, appearing to us in the life of something else. That can only be achieved through a thinking and creating process: Silvia’s own rhyme and reason is present at all times.

Silvia Umpiérrez: basket showing a Central American weaving technique. Pine needles.

She enjoys the sensorial beauty of dry nature—its colors and scents—which she normally works on a very simple, native loom used in the Uruguayan countryside to weave blankets and flounces, whose warp allows the incorporation of various materials.

…“I weave with my hands, placing each fiber, one by one. Same as life itself, I weft with transparencies and textures, respecting the natural colors of each material…”

Silvia Umpiérrez: basket in Coulding technique.

Silvia feels comfortable within this form of showing dry elements, including them in artistic work as well as utilitarian objects. She makes her tapestries by working with palm tree inflorescences, which give her a certain transparency. 

Silvia Umpiérrez: tapestry detail. Formio fiber (natural raffia-like leave, approx. 150cm. in length).

Tapestry by Silvia Umpiérrez. Some of the materials employed in her tapestry are banana peels, gum wraps, philodendron, and in some cases, her own dyed yarns and leathers.

In 2009, the Montevideo Museum of Contemporary Arts invited artists to create art with industrial fabrics. This was the first time that Silvia ventured away from organic found materials, using instead her grandmother’s ironing board to make a more traditional composition.

This year, however, Silvia’s wonderful mobile piece is being exhibited in the Art Object Salon at the WTA’s 6th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art in Mexico. Made with materials such as eucalyptus and woven philodendron and watsonia leaves, it measures 50 X 35 X 20cm. 

Silvia Umpiérrez. Work presented at 6th WTA Biennial in Mexico.


Decorative lamp by Silvia Umpiérrez.

Decorative lamp by Silvia Umpiérrez.

Left: Two of Silvia’s candle holders.

Photos at the bottom show raw materials before being woven into beautiful tapestries. Banana leaves and a great variety of twigs and sprays become part of the weft. The last picture is a detail of the finished tapestry.


Silvia Umpiérrez: tapestry (the "after" photo)

To see more of Silvia’s work, please go to her blog (in Spanish) at www.silviaumpierrez.blogspot.com

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, translation


Jewelry with innovative materials and design

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Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero is a Costa Rican-born, Italy-educated architect and textile artist with a versatile mind, whose ability for design earned him the BID2010 AWARD for Costa Rica at the 2nd IberoAmerican Design Biennial 2010 in Madrid, Spain in Category, “Fashion, Textiles and Accessories.”

Information, observation and research led him to discover raw materials in unimaginable places: His Saturn collection is made with rescued orthodontic rubber, which he turns into very appealing jewelry.

Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero- Saturn edition

Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero: Necklace. Edition 150 of the Unitá d'Italia.

Saturn gives contemporary jewelry a new dimension: It honors the art of recycling/upcycling by turning discarded material into a design object.  Research on the product allowed Gian Carlo a deeper understanding of the characteristics of the rubber material that he uses.

Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero: Bracelet. Saturno Galileo edition.

He discovered that the product has a particular Antimicrobial Technology With Silver, which prevents the growth of microbes. At the same time, it does not contain latex, it is resistant to wear and tear, and it comes in a wide range of colors.

Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero: brooch. Saturno Stadium collection.

These
characteristics, in addition to the use of stainless steel, silver, crystal and glass, produce innovative hypoallergenic jewels.

Sandoval-Mazzero- Textilis Contemporaneous edition

Work presented by Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero at the main competition of the REDTEXTILIA Encounter (IberoAmerican Textile Network), September, 2010 at the Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center.

More information:    http://gotikadesign.blogspot.com 

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, translation

WTA Biennial: Photos of winning works

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The following are photographs of winning works,

Laura Ferrando (Argentina) "Cause Effect Action" - video

which is something—I suspect—we all love to see.

Ana Karen Allende Noriega (Mexico), "I will fight for your dreams"

Enjoy!

Anita Larkin (Australia) "Roger I hear you loud and clear”

If you’d like to have the work description for a particular artist’s piece, feel free to request at   sdarep@galeriaoctagono.com

Berta Jakubovic Teglio (Argentina) “Divinos Tiempos”

Most of the exhibits will be open to the public for about one more month.

Emilia Sandoval González (Mexico) “Tomado" ((Drunk))

Emily Jan (United States) “Dürer´s Rihnoceros ("A dream of elsewhere)”

Brigitte Amarger (France), "Weightlessness"

Anita Larkin-"Roger I hear you loud and clear”

Gerda Standaert (Belgium) “Woman from Afghanistan – I need air”

The Biennial is taking place in three different Mexican cities.

More than 300 artists participate in this event every two years.

Helvetia Kela Cremasque (Italy) “Anomos, el soplo vital”

Lilian Madfes (Uruguay) “Rojo y Carbón”

Joyce Rosner (USA): "Kite Study"

NEW IMPRESSIONS FROM BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN

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The following is another description of Irene Carlos’s trip to Afghanistan. This is not a textile trip so far, but it is fascinating, indeed!

Dear Silvia, I don’t have internet (it took almost two days to find this small internet place.) When I get back to Guatemala I will try to send photos to upload on the blog.

From Kabul they placed me on a waiting list to travel to Bamiyan, the central region of Afghanistan.

In order to get to the Kabul airport one must go through several check and search points where traffic lines up at the entrance, so the taxi driver left me about 500 meters from the first search point.

As a woman, I had to enter the small rooms destined for checking luggage, handbags, breasts, hips, between legs and feet…two or three of these check points before looking for the gate for national flights. I made it in!

I board the helicopter, at last!, but after a few minutes the flight is suspended for security reasons. All of us unknown people, look at each other with expressions of WHAT? But for many this happens all the time, with the difference that they get picked up by their international office vehicles, whereas I get to pay a taxi again! Luckily they decide to wait many minutes together, and we finally fly. I can’t believe it!

Earth, sand, minerals, ocre, rose, grey, and suddenly a small oasis in green, with a creek coming down the snowy mountains. I wonder how they communicate with each other? Where are the roads? How do women give birth? Ahead, the IndoKush…so beautiful: the snowy peaks and then the greenest valley of all—Bamiyan! An Afghan man points at the empty space leftover from the 138 meter high Buddha statue. We’re there!

I’m in a small hostel with five white rooms and a terrace overlooking the potato and wheat fields, and beyond, the pink and brown mountain where the oldest Buddhist monastery used to be, with its 700 caves that once held their Lamas. It’s so spectacular and pristine after being in the cities of Herat and Kabul, that my heart gets overtaken with joy. There’s no electricity and everyone uses generators, candles, or solar panels.

A couple of Azara brothers have been so good to me and I really feel welcome. One of them took me to visit the remains of Buddhist temples. Something incredible. Now all the Bamiyan community is Azara, chiite.

Bamiyan is the only peaceful place in Afghanistan at the moment. Previously its kingdoms fought for centuries, forcing migration to mountains, Iran, or Pakistan from Shas and taliban during the last two centuries. Women don’t wear burkas although some sunni Pashtun women do.

Irene Carlos, Guatemalan painter and mixed media textile artist.

I, with all the layers of shawls and pashminas (fine cashmere wool covers), give myself away by my way of walking, my shoes or my eyeglasses—they’re not dark, but they’re made by some Italian designer having nothing to do here… A friend invited me to dinner with his wife. We ate basmati rice, roasted meat, fried potatoes and spinach, with watermelon for dessert… On the way home I realize that many bazaars become homes at night, and one can see people’s shadows as they spread the rugs on the floor to sleep…

I return to my room and tell myself how far away I am!

A strong hug to you from Irene Carlos.

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich

The power of association: Chile Crea Textil

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CCT: Developing and spreading Chilean textile art

Reconstruct-us opening. Foreground: sdalatinREP, and CCT President Andrea Fischer. Background: U.S. artist Carol Westfall, and German artists Christine Altona and Helene Altona.

For many years in Chile some artistic expressions weren’t considered disciplines of high aesthetic value; textile art being one of them. Eventually, however, academic training and international contact—among many other factors, helped change around this situation. Nowadays the work of artists within this discipline is favored by greater receptiveness and appreciation of their proposals thanks to access to a wide range of creation possibilities, which is due to diversity and richness of technique and materials developed for centuries by first-settler artisans, mestizo country traditions, and urban creation.

Visitors browsing through the Reconstruct-us exhibit in Costa Rica.

In 2007, hoping to grow within their work and optimize the growing interest to cultivate this discipline, a group of Chilean textile artists formed a non-profit organization they named Chile Crea Textil (Chile Creates Textile). Since then they have worked to affiliate representatives of various textile creation and design modalities, establish a link to the academic world, share knowledge and information, and coordinate the participation of Chilean textile artists in biennial competitions, fairs, and international encounters.

Manuela Tromben: Works made with horse hair, silver, vegetable fibers, and yarn.

Carolina Morales. Necklaces. Linen/rayon mix, with closures made of ceramic, and silver.

Little by little, the work started by Chile Crea Textil has proved to be fruitful. One of the last presentations of Chilean textile art arranged by the Organization was at the “Encounter of the IberoAmerican Textile Network: Textile Creation, Sustainable Tradition, and Responsible Innovation,” which took place in September, 2010 in San José, Costa Rica. For that exhibit, the selection of Chilean textile works and contemporary jewelry by eleven artists and twelve contemporary textile jewelry designers, was amply recognized by its originality and high artistic level.

At the time of applying to the Costa Rican Encounter, Chile Crea Textil proposed a theme to be followed by Chilean artists wishing to participate: The earthquake that shook the country in 2010, and the concept of reconstruction, thus naming the exhibit Reconstruir-se (re-construct ourselves). Urged to ponder about the theme in question, the artists resorted to great creativity to develop their own distinctive work, which was marked by the identity of living in a land where movements from within the earth are commonplace, yet having been afflicted by one of the most intense earthquakes ever registered.

Contact CCT: http://www.chilecreatextil.cl/

Montserrat Lira: Necklaces woven with thermoplastic material.

Angélica Delgado & Eduardo Sepúlveda, Necklace. Fabric coiling, thread, metal.

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From the same exposition is one of the wall pieces:

Constancia Urrutia: "Gestures"

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, translation

CHILEAN JEWELRY EXHIBITORS

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Montserrat Lira is one of the jewelry artists participating in the Reconstruct-us textile jewelry show in Costa Rica last September (see article above).

Montserrat Lira: Cocoon pin

She studied in Venezuela, Chile and the U.S. before dedicating her professional creativity solely to contemporary jewelry and teaching.
Montserrat uses materials such as felt, cocoons, woven nets, thermoplastic fibers, and polymers. Her main interest is the discovery and combination of techniques and materials in order to develop surfaces and textile objects featuring contemporary design with a strong visual and color impact.

Montserrat Lira: Nuno felt shawl

In the area of education, Montserrat has taught dyeing techniques, stamping and felting for over 10 years in various design and fashion schools, and in her own studio.

Montserrat Lira: Necklace

Montserrat Lira: Necklaces

Montserrat Lira: Necklace featuring felt balls

Selected into the CREA National Chile Competition in 2009 and 2010, Montserrat also participated in the Reconstruct-us show featured above. Her contact information is      www.montserratlira.cl
 

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, translation