Debbie Barrett-Jones
Woven Landscape II
37’’ x 35’’
Hand-dyed, handwoven
Inspired by the Midwest landscape, Woven Landscape II, specifically the farmland on my family’s MN land., was made with 8/2 white tencel yarn with a mix of greens and blues for the weft. I decided to wind two bobbins that I would use to weave as my weft yarn, one was with me white yarn in the warp, a white tencel, and the other was a collaboration of 8 different yarns per weft shot. These colored yarns were the are connected by other pieces in the exhibition as I made sure to use the same greens and blues Landscape Yarn installation and Fading Memory, I and Lineages II. This piece was one of the last pieces I made, remembering and honoring what the last few years have meant to me while focusing on my thesis. The composition and the yarns I used, including yarn from the past, hand-dyed during the first semester of undergrad at KCAI when I first learned how to weave and hand-dye my own yarn. Using this yarn is a symbol of connecting my past to the present. As the colored yarn is wound on the bobbin, the yarns shift and move around, that continues as the yarns pass through the open shed and are packed by the reed. This movement paired with the different gradations of color and texture of the different yarn materials that are used creates an almost static effect visually that can represent a memory of someone or something that can be hard to remember clearly.
I left overage of yarn on the sides or salvages creating a series of loops, which is another symbol of connections that are normally more hidden in my work but in this piece intentionally visible. The tightly woven structure is bordered by loose, uneven loops of the weft threads that are normally tightened by each shot of the weft to make clean sides for “salvages”. This is a reflection of life, order next to the disorder.
