Abstract: This essay posits that the simple process of bringing two divergent threads  together to form a stable plain is a powerful endeavour.  

Informed by ancient craft, technique and metaphor the act of weaving  remains to this day a powerful tool to express complex ideas and to tangibly  illustrate beauty and abstraction. 

As a weave major, I am interested in exploring the transformative power of  weaving in my practice as an emerging designer and also the broader  discourse of artisanship and art. This essay investigates the transformative  power of weaving through three key themes:  

i) Time honoured metaphor; 

ii) Politicising materiality and process through reconceptualising  constructions of femininity, non- western cultures and modern  art, and 

iii) Future potential through an exploration of domain shifts. 

Particular reference is made to the pervasiveness of weaving as a metaphor  in ancient and modern vernaculars and how this has traversed time and  space to maintain its relevancy today.  

The complex relationship between women and textiles will briefly be  discussed in relation to woman’s traditional role as child-rearer and how this  has inextricably linked women with textiles. 

The political potential of weaving will be explored in the context of the Fiber  Arts movement emerging in the 1960s and spearheaded by Mildred  Constantine and Jack Lenor Larson. The pioneering work of Lenore Tawney  will be discussed in relation to her ‘open warp’ technique, which proved to  be controversial for defying categorisation both within the modern art context  and also within the weaving fraternity.  

The work of Anni Albers and Sheila Hicks is then examined within a political  framework, which sought to challenge the dominant modern art praxis  denying women and non-western people their place as artists within their  own right. Working outside this system and co-creating with native weaving  practitioners, Albers and Hicks were engaged in a political act.  

Particular reference is made to Albers’ latter works ‘Monte Alban’ and  ‘Ancient Writing’, where her linguistic sensibility was innovatively woven into  the pieces. This complex array of meaning and codes became a signature of  her work as an artist, weaver and designer. 

Hicks’ works are further examined in relation to her pioneering spirit living  amidst the sexual and cultural revolution of the 1960s. Her extensive travels  and observations of different societies and their cultural practices informed  her work with an ethnographic quality challenging the status quo.  

Richard Sennett’s illuminating concept of ‘domain shifts’ is introduced in  respect to new artists emerging with a particular weaving focus. While the  three profiled artists work with different mediums and from different  conceptual frameworks, each artist poignantly reinterprets the weave  structure while respecting its historical lineage.  

I conclude with my own reflections on the transformative power of weaving  and what it means to me as a weaver and an emerging designer. I believe in  the transformative power of weaving, through co-creation, innovation and an observance of those who have gone before to challenge, subvert and create  true works of beauty. 

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