WEAVING
In 2018, I went to London to see the large Anni Albers exhibition at Tate Modern.
The presentation at Tate Modern and Anni Albers’s work were far more expansive than I could ever have imagined in my wildest imagination.
Anni Albers was a master of her skills and craft, striking the perfect balance between hand and head, craft and art.
The exhibition also shed light on a level of discipline and meticulous thoroughness that many could benefit from.
Art weaver Anni Albers (1899–1994) was one of the very few female students accepted into the prestigious Bauhaus school in Germany. She embarked on her studies there in 1922.
She became a weaver because that was the only option available to her as a woman. Sigh! But I also feel grateful, because Anni Albers’s work at the loom was so ground-breaking, a beautiful marriage between craft skills and Bauhaus’s modern approach to art, design and colour.
Artisan, maker or artist?
– But is the contemporary weaver an artist who has made textile their medium, or is he or she an artisan, a maker, a designer or a product developer?
– What does the loom have to offer today, and what do we stand to lose if we fail to preserve and renew the craft tradition?
– Last but not least, are these even relevant questions?
If you ask me, they are very relevant indeed, but there are no clear-cut answers, just more questions and topics to debate.
Another occasion for my visit to London was the launch of the book Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom by Katie Treggiden. The book features a wide range of international weavers and their individual approaches, including Danish Karin Carlander, who is also portrayed in my 2018 book HÅNDVÆRK.
In her preface to the book, Katie writes, ‘The history of weaving is a tug-of-war between hand and head, between control and speed, between risk and certainty.’
The book launch, which, apropos of the Anni Abers exhibition, took place at Tate Modern, included a panel debate, or perhaps I should say a panel presentation of the book’s many different angles on craft art.
Karin Carlander was part of the panel. In a statement, she cautioned against being dazzled by the seemingly experimental at the cost of the constant challenge of exploring the basic techniques. This was not intended as an experienced woman’s reactionary insistence on established practices. On the contrary, she rejected the concept of ‘traditional crafts’ and argued that there are enough challenges and experimental possibilities for a lifetime in exploring the possibilities of the thread and the loom. This is an important endeavour, she pointed out, or we risk eroding the foundations of the profession and the craft.
Being a weaver requires in-depth knowledge of the craft and immersion in slow processes, as the hands find their own way in interaction with the loom, discreetly supervised by the mind, which observes and steps in the process runs off course.
And what about the woven pieces – are they hand-crafted products, craft objects or art?
In response to that question, Karin tells a story from real life: quite a few years ago, she was invited to take part in an exhibition.
Karin’s main activity is utilitarian textiles, which she designs and develops in her workshop and has industrially woven in Finland.
For the exhibition, she was asked to contribute a hand-woven tea towel from her own workshop. When asked to put a price tag on it, she presented the following calculation: working hours x the minimum hourly pay in Denmark + yarn + gallery fee = price per tea towel, approximately 4,000 kroner.
Hahaha, we all laughed, completely unrealistic! However, if Karin had framed the tea towel and called it a unique work of art, no one would have raised an eyebrow. Some might even have found it cheap.
In Weaving, Katie Treggiden discusses the perspectives of gender and race. Her blunt and thought-provoking conclusion is that art is something White men paint on canvasses which is put up on the wall. When others express themselves, and in other media, the result is craft or perhaps decorative art, which has a very different price structure. She adds that when it comes to monetary valuation, visual perception ranks at the very top, while tactile perception is at the bottom.
Many of the makers featured in the book face this issue, because their field is textile art. And that is a problem if the definition of art is that the object does not have any utilitarian function but belongs exclusively within the aesthetic/artistic domain.
I am very interested in the role of craft as a condition for creating functional products that benefits many people in their everyday life. Apart from Karin Carlander, another contributor who convincingly argues this perspective is London-based weaver Eleanor Pritchard, who, incidentally, has an obvious stylistic kinship with Anni Albers.
Eleanor works with product development in her London studio, while her textiles are machine-woven in weaving mills around England. The weaving mills are central to her work. On the panel, Eleanor points out that without weaving mills, she would have a real problem, and that their dedication and professionalism are just as important to the end result as her own contribution.
To a textile nerd such as myself, it was encouraging to be in the company of so many makers who are passionate about their craft as well as a gifted, insightful and dedicated writer. Maybe the tactile medium is not as highly priced as the visual medium, but in this setting, it is considered priceless.
Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom is available from the ship at Danmarks Designmuseum, among other places. The shop also carries my HÅNDVÆRK bookazine!
Jeg var i London i 2018 for at se den store Anni Albers udstilling på Tate Modern.
Ophængningen på Tate Modern og Anni Albers virke var langt mere omfattende, end jeg i min vildeste fantasi havde kunnet forestille mig.
Anni Albers mestrede til fuldkommenhed sin teknik og sit håndværk. Hun bemestrede balancen mellem hånd og ånd og mellem håndværk og kunst.
Desuden var udstillingen en præsentation af en grundighed og en disciplin, som mange kunne have glæde af at lægge sig efter!
Fakta
Væveren Anni Albers (1899-1994) var en af meget få kvindelige elever, som blev optaget på den prestigefulde Bauhausskole i Tyskland. Hun påbegyndte sit studie i 1922.
At væven blev hendes værktøj, handler om, at det var den eneste mulighed, som stod åben for hende som kvindelig student. Suk og tak – tak, fordi Anni Albers med væven og tråden blev banebrydende og på fornemste vis kombinerede håndværksmæssige færdigheder med den moderne Bauhaus kunst, design og farveforståelse.
Håndværker, kunsthåndværker eller kunstner?
Er den moderne væver kunstner, der har tekstilet som materiale, eller er han eller hun håndværker, kunsthåndværker, designer eller produktudvikler?
Hvad kan væven bruges i vores samtid, og hvad taber vi, hvis ikke håndværkstraditionen opretholdes og fornyes?
Sidst men ikke mindst, er det overhovedet vigtige spørgsmål?
Hvis du spørger mig, så er svaret ja, men der findes ikke entydige svar, bare flere spørgsmål og emner til diskussion.
En anden anledning til mit besøg i London var lancering af bogen ”Weaving, contemporary makers on the loom” af Katie Treggiden. I bogen medvirker en lang række internationale vævere, som fra hver sit udgangspunkt arbejder med væven. Heriblandt danske Karin Carlander som også er portrætteret i min bog HÅNDVÆRK.
Katie siger i forordet til bogen: ”The history of weaving is a tug-of-war between hand and head, between control and speed, between risk and certainty”
På lanceringseventet, som meget apropos Anni Aberts udstillingen fandt sted på Tate Modern, foregik en paneldiskussion eller måske rettere en panelpræsentation af bogens mange forskellige indfaldsvinkler til håndværket og kunsten.
I panelet sad bl.a. Karin Carlander. Hun benyttede i øvrigt sin taletid til at pege på vigtigheden af ikke at lade sig blænde af det tilsyneladende eksperimenterende på bekostning af den konstant udfordring, som ligger i at udforske grundteknikkerne. Dette ikke ment som en erfaren kvindes bagstræberiske insisteren på ”at sådan har vi altid gjort”. Tværtimod opponerer hun mod begrebet traditional crafts og siger, at der er udfordringer og eksperimentelle muligheder nok til et helt liv i at undersøge trådens og vævens muligheder, og det er vigtigt pointerer hun, hvis ikke det faglige niveau skal nedbrydes.
At være væver kræver solidt kendskab til håndværket og betinger en tilfredshed med de langsommelige processer, hvor hænderne i lange passager lever deres eget liv sammen med væven kun diskret overvåget af hovedet, som ser til og råber vagt i gevær, hvis processen løber af sporet.
Om de vævede produkter er håndværksprodukter, kunsthåndværk eller kunst?
Det spørgsmål besvarer Karin med en historie fra det virkelig liv: For snart flere år siden var hun inviteret til at deltage på en udstilling.
Karin laver til hverdag brugstekstiler som hun produktudvikler på sit værksted og får maskinvævet i Finland.
Til udstillingen var hun bedt om at bidrage med et håndvævet viskestykke fra eget værksted, og da hun skulle prissætte, besluttede hun at kalkulere således: Medgåede antal arbejdstimer x mindstelønnen i DK, garnforbrug, og fee til gallerier = Pris pr viskestykke, ca 4000 Dkk.
Ha, Ha, Ha griner vi alle, helt urealistisk! Men havde Karin sat viskestykket bag glas og ramme og kaldt det et unika kunstværk, ville ingen have rynket et bryn, måske ville nogle endda påpege at det var billigt!
I Weaving, diskuterer forfatteren Katie Treggiden genus og race perspektivet og hævder lidt firkantet og meget tankevækkende, at kunst er det, som hvide mænd maler på lærred og som hænges på væggen. Når andre udfolder sig og i andre materialer, bliver produktet til håndværk eller måske kunsthåndværk, og håndværk prissættes helt anderledes end kunst. Hun tilføjer, at hvis man har en skala for værdifastsættelse, så scorer det, man ser med øjnene højest, hvorimod det taktile scorer lavest!
En del af de medvirkende i bogen må kæmpe den kamp løbende, idet de laver kunstværker i tekstil. Altså hvis definitionen på kunst er, at objektet ikke har en brugsfunktion men udelukkende en æstetisk/kunstnerisk ditto.
Jeg er meget optaget af håndværket som forudsætning for at skabe funktionelle produkter, som mange mennesker kan have glæde af i deres hverdag. Ud over Karin Carlander er der en anden bidragsyder, som jeg vil fremhæve for dette perspektiv, en væver, den Londonbaserede Eleanor Pricthard, som i øvrigt har et åbenlyst stilmæssigt slægtskab med Anni Albers.
Eleanor produktudvikler på sit studio i London og væver maskinelt på væverier rundt omkring i England. Væverierne er centrale for hendes virke. Eleanor gør fra panelet opmærksom på, at uden væverier var hun ilde stedt, og at deres engagement og faglighed er præcist lige så vigtigt for slutproduktet som hendes eget bidrag.
For en tekstilnørd som mig var det opløftende at være i selskab med så mange, som brænder så passioneret for hver deres metode og i selskab med en forfatter, som med vid og overblik har sat sig for at formidle. Det er muligt at det taktile ikke er prissat som det visuelle, men herfra prises det uendeligt højt.
Bogen ”Weaving, contemporary makers on the loom” kan b.la købes I butikken på Danmarks Designmuseum, det kan bogen HÅNDVÆRK og bookazinet i øvrigt også!
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