If you look again on textile traditions, the gorgeous, tactile medium has lengthy encompassed weaving, dyeing, and embroidery as methods of telling tales or marking moments in historical past. For Marie Holst, she is impressed by the motifs and methods of classical textiles, significantly the florals which might be depicted on tablecloths and rugs.
“As a tapestry weaver,” she says, “I am deeply enthusiastic about how the medium has at all times functioned as a type of storytelling, virtually cartoon-like. I am enthusiastic about how working with digital jacquard weaving can revitalise the medium and be used to inform the tales of at this time. What are the grand narratives of our time? Which of them must be advised?”
It is these very questions which drive her work and likewise give a platform to those that have lengthy been ignored. “Traditionally, it has been the tales of society’s elites that had been communicated, however I am enthusiastic about making an attempt to provide voice to one thing or somebody we do not normally hearken to.”
Marie lives and works in Copenhagen and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of High-quality Arts earlier than establishing her personal tapestry weaving follow. A big portion of her course of entails sketching and drawing, earlier than digitalising her creations and ending up on the pc. From there, it is a “collage-like” methodology that entails shifting parts round, enjoying with sizes and compositions.
Misplaced & Discovered. Images by Benjamin Lund
Cry Me a River 02. Images by Jacob Friis-Holm Nielsen
As soon as she’s landed on the visuals, she’s going to then translate them right into a weave. “It is a very systematic and mathematical means of designing the completely different weave buildings that create the assorted colors and textures within the work.” It is a mixture of pc work and loom testing, with loads of back-and-forth. “That is how it’s when working with actual supplies. There are at all times unpredictabilities you may’t absolutely anticipate, so I check completely different yarns, color blends, weave buildings and so forth.”
The ultimate half is the precise weaving, which she says is the quickest step within the course of. “All of the work lies within the preparation. A woven construction is, in its essence, easy; at all times ‘simply’ two units of threads, warp and weft, and the way they interlace with one another. This creates a limitation and a strict framework, however after you have accepted this very strict body, there are limitless mixtures and variations.”
Scene 05, The Backyard. Credit score: Robert Damisch
Loom Management I. Images: Per Andersen
Loom Management II. Images: Per Andersen
Marie’s tapestries are extremely detailed, whether or not it is a sepia-toned show of flowers or fragments of chairs, tiny individuals, and butterflies adorning a scene. Typically the items are unfold over a number of shows – the place the stitches act as pictograms revealing a special step of the story alongside the best way, much like hieroglyphics. In Cry Me a River, a piece included within the Danish Biennale for Arts and Crafts, she’s created a six-metre-long tapestry divided into six chronological scenes in regards to the sea. It begins with a prologue and is adopted by 5 particular person tales.
“I have been drawn to the ocean as a motif,” she explains. “It is broadly used all through classical artwork historical past, however as talked about earlier, I am enthusiastic about working with historical past as seen from our time. What does the ocean as a motif appear to be at this time?” The piece makes use of a mixture of matte and glossy yarns to create a floor that adjustments perspective with mild, much like how the solar or moonlight hits the waves.
Misplaced & Discovered. Images by Benjamin Lund
In one other, Misplaced and Discovered, she interpreted the damask tablecloth and imagined somebody discovering one saved away for many years, solely to seek out it coated in overgrown vegetation and wildlife. Like Cry Me a River, it was additionally made with reflective yarn, and each are riddled with tales.
As a viewer, it will likely be laborious to not discover a comfortable seat, wrap up snuggly and heat, and tuck your self in – as a result of whenever you have a look at these tapestries, you are in for story.
