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Small Tank Batteries, 2014. Handwoven, wool, cotton & metallic, 18" x 19" |
Since moving to southwest Indiana in 2006, I been mesmerized
by the flatness of the landscape in this region. Beginning with a series of tapestries
depicting simple farm structures – grain bins and barns, I made a woven
language of great simplicity, concentrating on color and composition, and light,
highlighted by the textures of the weave.
During this time I have become increasingly aware of the
American food situation and how that is illustrated so accurately by these landscapes. I am surrounded by fields which grow corn for
livestock and for ethanol, not for humans; my food arrives on trucks from great
distances. Moving from elegiac work
about the beauty of the landscape here, I see it now as a perfect manifestation
of the modern ethos of Form follows Function.
We are trained by culture to regard the sleek simplicity of
modernism to be beautiful, elegant, and so I have experienced quite an Aha
moment in realizing my work has celebrated the very thing I have fought against
in in our hyper-rational food culture.
What made sense at the beginning, now has become the height of
absurdity.
As I continue to drive through this landscape I have begun
to notice all of the architecture of energy generation and how that interacts
with the simplicity of the farming structures.
From wind turbines, which radiate their simple elegance of hope for a
new energy, to power-line towers, to the aging battery tanks for storing crude
oil and the small oil pumps dotting the landscape, these structures modify that
original simplicity with their own functional lines. I am seeking with this most recent work to
come to terms with what this landscape means for us in this region, using the
loom’s simple, rational methods to try to make sense of a strange new
composition.
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Spring Field, 2014, 26” x 27”, wool with cotton & metallic |
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Uneasy Sunset, 2014, wool, metallic, 27" x 29" |
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Midsummer;
2014, wool with cotton and metallic, 26”
x 35” |
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Pumping A. 2015, 26” x 35”, wool,
metallic, cotton, nylon |
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Battery Tanks, Wadesville. 2014, 24” x 28” wool, cotton,
nylon, metallic |
All work is handwoven by Laura Foster Nicholson, and copyright Laura Foster Nicholson 2014-15. Please do not re-use without permission.
Absolutely beautifully done. The messages are clear and I have begun to think differently about the "flat" areas that I used to find so devoid of interest when compared to hills, mountains, and water. Wonderful artistry in your work and your words.
ReplyDeleteVery nice work. My grandfather absolutely loved the flatlands of Nebraska. Enough that it inspired the only poem he wrote. Carol pointed me to you blog in Facebook.
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