Browngrotta Arts More Art

salt-glazed stoneware

cotton, linen, plastic and wool

braided/knotted exposed warp edges at one end, hemmed edges on the other

yarn-dyed woven silk, gold and silver leaf

Zofia Butrymowicz (1904-1987, Warsaw, Poland) was one in a select group of Polish textile artists who were first introduced in Chicago, USA in the 1970s by legendary dealers Anne and Jacques Baruch. Butrymowicz's body of work continues to influence the fiber art world to this day. "New experiments in art have always been of interest to me" Butrymowicz once observed, "whether I agree with them or not, and therefore I never pass by and I am never indignant at any expression in art. I strongly believe that in the wide range of experiments there will also be some elements of the development of culture." During the post-war period, when the countries of Eastern Europe were locked down behind the Iron Curtain, weavers there found materials in short supply. As a result, many of these artists turned to unconventional materials such as metal, paper and reeds. Zofia Butrymowicz, of Poland, recognized for innovative works in 60s and 70s, used heavy, irregular wools, barely spun at all. In 1969, she visited Canadian weaver, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette and her husband, painter and ceramicist, Claude Vermette, outside Montreal where the couple lived and worked. Zofia and Mariette had both been participants in International Tapestry Biennials in Lausane, Switzerland in the 60s and in Wall Hangings at the MoMA in New York in 1969. Butrymowicz stayed with the Vermettes for several months, using Mariette’s looms to create tapestries that were displayed with Claude’s ceramics at a local gallery. Butrymowicz used wool from Mariette’s source. Mariette was particular about the color and intensity of her wool — she worked with technicians to perfect the spinning and dyeing so that the wool had a silky luster and dyed “more beautifully” than mechanically spun wool. The wool was a marked departure from the material Butrymowicz had access to in Poland. She “painted” her weavings with colors and shadings of yarns, including only a shimmering suggestion of a shape, often a circle, as she had done in the past, but the glisten and sumptuousness of the yarn in these works set them apart from her previous weavings. Selected exhibitions: Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois; National Museum, Poznan, Poland; National Museum, Warsaw, Poland; Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art, Poland; Exempla, Munich, Germany; Museum of Modern Art, Pasadena, California; Pierre Pauli...

Journey Trees III, linens and swing threads, 8" x 8" x 1", 2021. This figurative woven textile piece is by UK-based textile artist, Sara Brennan (b. 1963...

Journey Trees IV, linens and swing threads, 7.5" x 8" x 1", 2021. This figurative woven textile piece is by UK-based textile artist, Sara Brennan (b. 196...

Refleksy (Reflexes), flax (linen) and wool, 50" x 48" x 2", 1973. This warm, vivid Mid-Century tapestry, Refleksy (1973) is by Polish textile artist, ...

Broken White Band with Pink, Linen, wool, and cotton, 32" x 32" (2008). This two-tone contemporary abstract woven tapestry and textile wall sculpture is by UK-based textile artist, Sara Brennan...

State of Mind, Contemporary Woven Tapestry, Abstract Textile Wall Sculpture, Viscosed silk, cotton cloth, jersey dots, 102” x 95”, 2016 by textile artist, Ane Henriksen...

Without Name, Mid-Century Abstract Woven Tapestry, Textile Wall Sculpture, Hand dyed wool, 52" x 38" (1973) by Czech textile artist, Jan Jladik...

Circle, Mid-Century Abstract Woven Tapestry, Textile Wall Sculpture, Hand dyed wool, 87" x 63" (1976) by Czech textile artist, Jan Jladik, (192...

Wings, Mid-Century Abstract Woven Tapestry, Blue Textile Wall Sculpture, Hand dyed wool hand dyed wool, 73" x 58", (1973) by Czech textile artist, Jan Hladik...

Exotica Series, Abstract Woven Tapestry, Textile Sculpture. Cotton, goat hair and sisal, 114" x 60" x 6", 1975. Ritzi Jacobi (1941 - 2022) and Peter Jacob...

Sandstorm (1985) Wool, Post-Modern Abstract Landscape Woven Tapestry, Textile Sculpture. Zofia Butrymowicz (1904-1987) was born in Warsaw, Poland. St...

Rocks (1985), Wool, Post-Modern Abstract Landscape Woven Tapestry, Textile Sculpture. Zofia Butrymowicz (1904-1987) was born in Warsaw, Poland. Artis...

Adela Akers (b. 1933, Santiago de Compostela, Spain) is a Spanish-born textile and fiber artist. She is Professor Emeritus (1972 to 1995) at the Tyler Scho...