Solveig's Tapestries

[reposted from http://annmi.efx2blogs.com]

After a brief interlude of “I suck”, it gives me pleasure to have re-found inspiration and energy. They were much closer than I thought at first.

My uncle’s mother is an artist. Solveig has worked with silkscreen printing (aka. serigraphy or screenprinting) and tapestry-weaving. She gave me a guided tour of the works she keeps in her house, with a focus on the fantastically detailed tapestries. Unfortunately, I don’t think my photographs do them any justice.

The Well

Detail

I’ve never even been interested in tapestries until I saw these magnificent things. I always just thought they were big heavy rug-things for walls that collect dust and swallow echoes. But hers are spectacular - with a limited amount of colors, she’s managed to weave in multiple shades, textures, and motifs. In fact, as a wannabe nerd, it reminds me computer graphics back in the glorious 80’s and 90’s where they interlaced eight or so colors in an attempt to emulate all the wonderful colors of this world. The biggest difference is that the computer graphics generally looked pretty darn fugly, and hers have a definite elegance to them.

The Sun Goddess

Her woven tapestries are all mostly done in a theme of Norse mythology, which happens to be one of my passions.

Tor, God of Thunder

Detail from Tor

Unfortunately, I don’t know nearly as much as I should, but I was delighted to recognize Thor with his goats and Valhalla’s banquet complete with warriors, Odin, and one of his messenger ravens.

Valhalla

Detail from Valhalla. Note Odin’s one eye and messenger-raven

Her first woven tapestry was a piece called Paradise. Although this is probably one of the most worn-out themes in the world of art, this was a delightfully fresh execution of it. At first glance, Adam and Eve under the tree of knowledge. Upon a closer look, details such as the sneaky snake peeking out of the tree, an owl nestled high in its branches, the beautiful roots slithering into the earth.

Paradise

Detail from Paradise

I don’t understand how she is able to create such a large array of colors with stripes and checkers from a limited palette.

There were two tapestries done in a completely different method. They were more 3-dimensional and played with layers. The first, she called Sun Worshipers and the second was a tree.

Sun-Worshipers

The sun-worshipers consisted of yarn wrapped around (presumably) wooden dowels. The background was hand-woven and rather rough. And again, with a very small selection of colors, she was able to create a rather vivid piece. It reminded me of prehistoric cave paintings.

The tree was also made from mixed techniques. The trunk and backdrop was hand-woven, and each and every little leaf was crocheted and then sewn onto the backdrop. I can only imagine the amount of time that went into it, although since I have never actually woven, I’m not sure that weaving each and every leaf would have taken any shorter.

There was a third tapestry which reminded me more of her screenprinting because of the way she executed it. It consisted completely of abstract shapes which when combined formed the glittering waves of an ocean.

Ocean

I didn’t see much of her printmaking, but hopefully I can visit her again very soon for another tour. Unfortunately, she’s in her mid 80’s and has Alzheimer’s, so time is short.

The best part about her guided tour was herself. I’ve never really gotten to know her before – I’ve only ever seen her during big get-togethers, such as significant birthdays and funerals. But she really is such a damn sweet person that it was all I could do not to burst into tears after the tour, when she gave me a gift of three books and a little green bottle.

Two of the books were from her school when she studied in Stockholm. They were on textile printing and pattern design, and very informative and practical. They contained a short general history of the art of textiles, theoretical executions, examples, and exercises. There were even real pieces of cloth with prints on them included on some of the pages. I’m excited at the prospect of studying them closer.

The third book is a marvelous little thing that I first mistook for a kids’ book because of its clarity. Every page is full of illustrations on screenprinting materials and processes. The text is concise but very informative. And like every good handbook or manual, it had a troubleshooting section which listed symptoms and solutions (cures).

Her gift of a little green bottle came from her exotic collection of alcohol bottles. Among many others, there was a clear bottle wrapped around by a black panther, a glass bottle formed like a fish (a modern take on some very ancient ceramics I saw in a historical museum in Budapest), and a green glass bottle completely covered in bumps and lumps like snake-skin.

I left the house feeling that I had just met someone I could easily consider my heroine. I truly admire her. I would love to catalogue all her artwork and publish it in book-form before all the knowledge and artwork is splintered and lost. I find it a real shame that a person as lovely as her is slowly but surely being lost to such a frustrating disease.