Exhibitions In Montevideo

November 25th, 2024

With Mike and our friend Dalhel, I visited three of Montevideo’s museum galleries on the weekend. We checked out the exhibition of masks from Nicaragua at the Museo Arte Precolumbiano y Indigeno, MAPI which was lively and interesting as ever. I’m a bit partial to the concept of masks, the motivation to wear one, and how they effect the wearer. Sometime next year there’ll be a call for entries for “masks” in textiles by South American artists, and those selected will be displayed at MAPI, and yes, I hope to enter that. Some modern objects and paintings formed a dialogue with items of precolumbian artifacts collected by Augusto Torres and Elsa Andrada. In the permanent section were some wonderful very early precolumbian artefacts from this and other South American regions, and there’s always something there I haven’t seen before. Our next stop was something to eat and drink at one of our favourite places, the Mercado Agricola, which was new to Dalehl.

We then called in at the nearby exhibition of the National Visual Arts Prize at Espacio de Arte Contemporaneo which was really interesting. In a former cell in this historic city gaol was this installation, which strongly reminded me of all my lecture notes, assignments and files from years at university, all collected up and organised for the end-of-year-exams preparation we called ‘swot-vac’ (I was never this organised…)

Somehow I didn’t photograph the didactic panel for this work, and I apologise to the artist for not naming him/her here, however, I loved it, if that’s any consolation.

At this gallery the works were mostly digital and audio-visual experiences, including a pair of young people doing a coordinated, very slowmotion performance which had them moving from one end of the entry gallery to the other while we were there. There were no facial expressions, no sound, just the same slow, coordinated movement. As we left I said ‘gracias!’ and neither of them blinked or twitched, which was interesting. Other exhibits were even more odd, like the video of a flamingo wandering along a sealed highway heading towards a mountain range… if we’d stayed all afternoon we’d not have seen an outcome to that strange story. That sort of thing makes me feel really out of touch with, um, some area of contemporary thinking.

We moved on to the Museo Nacional Artes Visuales, MNAV where first display inside the entry was the one I particularly wanted to see. Margaret Whyte’s latest textile exhibition, “Time To Listen” has just opened there, and will show until February 2nd next year. Mike didn’t spend a lot of time over it, commenting it reminded him of Ivan’s (teenage) bedroom many years ago, and that resonated! On the other hand, Dalehl and I spent a lot of time discussing our responses, so we were anything but silent, but we were listening in a manner of speaking. We felt the black paint over strong coloured salvaged materials and the large stitches that Margaret’s constructions require, added a note of gloom, referring to something horrible and ugly. Careful examination showed us the middle assembly contained several headless torsos (or were they dressmaker’s dummies?) and quite a number of forms that suggested writhing or broken limbs bound together by cording and strips of garbage bags – surely bodies in tangled wreckage – were these drowned immigrants, or victims of foul play washed up on a shore?

From the moment of birth every human comes into contact with textiles we’re wrapped and then clothed in; and we remain in contact with fabric and textiles throughout our lives. A large quantity of discarded fabrics of all kinds were gathered for these pieces, and I felt this whole installation to be a commentary on the excesses and shifting imbalances of the modern world, the politics of commerce and power, in which even humans themselves can become bundles to be traded or discarded.

The placement of this part felt threating, overwhelming.

I’m also wondering yet again, what do artists do with large installations once an exhibition’s ended? Do these works contain fabrics recycled several times over from earlier installations by Margaret Whyte in her lengthy and prolific career? I think I may have to go back another time.

Fibreart Exhibition in Carrasco

November 23rd, 2024

Identifying and accessing natural materials and recycling discarded ones is definitely a strong trend in contemporary fibre art, which in all its forms is pretty popular Uruguay generally, and Montevideo in particular, and this is the time of year for more exhibitions reviewing student’s work. I love going to fibreart or textile art exhibitions, and this one, currently showing in my own barrio/suburb of Montevideo, is a small but very enjoyable one.

This collective exhibition is by artists who have been learning how to combine stitchery with basketry and soft sculpture techniques while using natural plant fibres and salvaged remnants of older and antique textiles under the guidance of prominent Uruguayan fibreartist Silvia Umpierrez. The works on show feature various plant fibres gathered within Uruguayan environments, including leaves and dried flowers attached to some of the small works in frames or shown on embroidery hoops. I don’t know if those plant parts were applied while still green and pliable, or whether they underwent some preservation processes before being used, but whatever the answer, the result is these works are all various shades of brown, with some subtle touches of principally earthy colours added by using stitch and some layered fabrics. The course of study obviously included layering fabrics, rust dying, burning edges of materials, and a variety of stitches to add texture. I selected these following photos to show the scope of students’ explorations of the techniques they learned.

This piece shows some vegetable material, several fabrics, burned edges, 5 or 6 embroidery stitches and added beads.
Burned and frayed edges, rust dyeing, plant parts including interesting plant fibre lower right; running stitch as outline and scattered fly stitch, some material might be papier mache or handmade paper.
A variety of fabrics including sheers with burned edges, mono printing, simple stitching.
Various fabrics including sheers with burned edges, monoprinting, rust dyeing, several basic stitches.
Various fabrics including sheers with frayed or burned edges, complexity added with simple stitches.

There were several delightful soft sculpture animal forms under the title “Exstinctios”, the task being to use plant fibres to create some of the world’s extinct animals. Whether my interpretation of some of them was correct or not, they are delightful, and I’m pretty sure in this photo I’m seeing a diprotodon and possibly a kind of dinosaur.

A reindeer perhaps?

The current trend to recycle and mend began at least 25 years or more ago and one of my favourite artists anywhere is El Anatsui. There are many people today creating their art by recycling salvaged materials, and proudly enjoy all the virtue signalling associated with it. The question of whether salvaging a material and using it necessarily adds extra artistic value beyond it being a well made ‘craft project’ is one I’ve long pondered, and wrote of on this blog in 2010.  Such endeavours as these artist’s creative pieces, and my own creative works are frequently dismissively labelled as craft, that is, something less than ‘art’, a world wide difficulty which is slowly changing through the endeavours of prominent artists like El Anatsui. When I look at how I work, and the materials I like to work with, I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt that I’m not doing enough to ‘save the planet’. I mostly use new fabrics, and worse still, they are quite often man made fibres, plus I definitely favour polyester threads and synthetic batting/guata in my own fibreart. On the other hand, as I routinely mend shoes, garments and other things where possible, I re-use packaging materials and conserve water and electricity, I can cope with this level of ‘guilt’ in my art making!

This exhibition is showing a Dodeca Gallery, San Nicolas 1306, on Mondays to Fridays from 4pm to 10pm. Artists will be in attendance on Wednesday 27th November at 6pm. If you arrive during those times, and the gallery is not open, wander in and around the film and television school – a kindly student looked up from checking her phone and found someone for us. It is a known issue that they find it difficult to have someone there all the time, but if it were my exhibition I’d make sure someone was present at the hours listed on the school’s website 🙂

Fibreart Souvenirs – 3

November 12th, 2024

Through my textile souvenirs, I’m revisiting Peru today. One of the most wonderful textile souvenirs I’ve ever collected is this lovely arpillera from the markets in Aguas Callientes, the town nearest Machu Picchu. I’ve written about it previously so will focus on other things today.

It’s wonderful wall hanging, but I try to focus on practical textile/fibre art I can use when we get home. This table runner from Cusco, Peru is an example. While without doubt it was produced for the upper end of the tourist market, such things also offer insights into the best of local craftsmanship. In common with most cultures, weaving and embroidery go together, and Peru artisan markets and shops are a bewildering delight.

This is a table runner of hand woven wool, embroidered with Andean cultural images in earthy coloured wools.

Those colours fit our decor perfectly, and I’ve used this table runner more or less continuously since our Peruvian trip in 2008. Raised in Australia to always hand wash anything made of wool, I had reservations about putting it into the delicates cycle of the washing machine – but eventually took the plunge several years ago, held my breath, and it came out beautifully. I take great care of it, and it needs washing only every 3-4 months. I hang it over the clothes airing rack before putting it back on the table, as there’s no way I’d let it find its way into the drier. If I didn’t take care to circumvent her, my wonderful cleaning lady would have it have it thoroughly washed and felted in no time flat 🙂

The full width of the runner is used – there is no hem along the sides

Writing about this souvenir had me searching for information about the chain stitch so widely used in the Ayacuchano area around Cusco, and I found this video explaining and demonstrating the plain simple chain stitch punta cadena and its variations punta crespo which are used to form fillings and textures, and all of them are used with stem, straight and satin stitch. There’s an academic paper to delve into, too, if your spanish is up to it, on how the Spanish colonisation broought European influences to indigenous textile making over time.

Front and back of the same section of the runner. I’m sorry I didn’t ask more questions, because I’m not sure whether the embroidery was done by hand or machine, but chain stitch can be pretty fast and rhythmic, so I feel it was hand stitched.

The next two things are in the bright colours which by far dominated everything on sale. Glorious riots of colourful textiles abounded in street markets and all the shops selling local artisan made goods.

The full width of woven red wool formed into a bag with a sturdier wool textile base (just showing) and woven wool straps just showing on each side. Chain stitched imagery is of of daily life in a fishing village. A landscape-inspired border on each selvedge is a similar style to the table runner.
We hung this woollen weaving at this head of the stairs, rather that just pull it out occasionally for a table for which it’s a bit short. Their beaks suggest humming birds; I love their feet; and the border suggests mountains.

I know, I’ve claimed to focus on practical things I can use at home – but I now confess I have never used this red bag for anything 🙂

Blue’s Not A Colour I Often Work With…

November 5th, 2024

At least ten years ago or more I attended a Studio Art Quilt Associates conference, at which there was a merchants’ mall where I just couldn’t resist buying two rolls of artisan woven fabric, one cotton, one silk, and each about 30cm wide and ~4m long. Perhaps I wasn’t very well, or perhaps I got caught up in the ooooh-aaaah group frenzy of a bunch of fibre artists being seduced by fabrics and threads laid out in front of us…. but blue’s an unusual colour for me to consider working with. And I bought some wonderful threads, too, that I have never used for stitching or anything – I think they’re actually weaving threads as they’re in some quantity on large cones….

Detail Untitled (#4 in ‘Spirogyra’ series)

Most of my works are neutrals and earthy colours. However, SAQA currently has a call for entries in an exhibition to be titled “Colour in Context, Blue” and since I’ve had this blue fabric sitting in my stash for ages, it seemed reasonable to whip up an entry. It’s a small work, and if not selected would fit within the parameters for entry into the Australia Wide 10 biennial for 2026.

So as entries close at the end of the month I’m scooting along with it and about ready to commit to a photography date for it and another recently finished work, #2 in the Spirogyra series – here shown in the early stages.

Even as I write these words I am mentally going through some possibilities of something wildly experimental and really quick…. so enough writing – I’m off for a walk to mull over a couple of ideas, and then up to my work room to do a sample or two with them.

How Does a New Material Handle?

October 28th, 2024

My regular readers know I love a bit of glitter! Last weekend I went to a big store here in Montevideo that stocks all kinds of things for the craftsperson and upholsterer including leather, batting, threads, zippers, crochet and macrame supplies. Strangely enough they don’t stock the needles and embroidery thread I was hoping for… but there’s another merceria nearby that will be open when I’m in that zone later in the week. Even without those things though, Centro Tapicero is a veritable Alladin’s Cave for people like me. Just when I thought I was ready to go to the cashier, I spotted this fabric – and just had to buy the minimum 0.5m x 1.5m cut to try it out for, um, something.

Pewter colour, the surface of this polyester is metallic and to me, irresistable.

It’s a metallic finish on a very fine black jersey knit base – the surface looks a little like sharkskin satin perhaps – anyway quite irresistable. Once I got home of course I did some sample making to see how it handles. It’s a lot easier to handle than leather, and as I’m in the middle of another project just at the moment, I have time to think about how I’m going to use it.

I cut some of my beloved squares and wavy bits and, using a pewter coloured thread ‘tacked’ down some shapes into position. Pin and needle holes do show.

Here’s what did and found with this material

  • Far left – using a long stitch using pewter coloured thread, it was easy enough to machine sew down BUT wrinkling and stretching occurred when I sped up.
  • Wavy bit – hand tacked into place and stitched over with a sewing machine red thread and a perle #8 in the pewter colour…. hmmm – I don’t care for the stitching showing underneath, but potentially useful to know.
  • Like fine leather, it can be more easily pinned and hand sewn, but marks show if it is unpicked.
  • The squares -were stitched with, from L-R: perle #8, neon red machine embroidery thread, black perle #12, metalic silver, but the effect of this thread was blah – not significant enough to bother with.
  • the wavy bit from lower left corner diagonally up is glued down – there’s no apparent damage from the glue on the surface of this material, so full marks of approval for that – sometimes the glue causes wrinking and distortion on similar fabrics.
  • Ironing: at even a medium heat the iron caught on the surface of the hotplate; but turned over and ironed from the back at top heat all survived just fine; and ironing with top heat and using a teflon sheet there seemed to damage either. This augurs well!

The question now is – should I return this week and buy some more?

Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

All images and text are © Alison Schwabe
Reproduction of any kind is expressly prohibited without written consent.

Translate »