Kudos to the Museum of Modern Art for its recent herculean effort at reconfiguring its galleries to include the works of more women, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians and other overlooked artists to better reflect the multicultural society in which we live. Kudos as well for changing the way they present the art. Instead of sticking to a single discipline as a way of organizing and showing their vast Modernist collection, they have chosen to mix media. Going forward, painting, sculpture, architecture, design, etc. will be curated together. A big highlight in their reimagined space is a textile exhibit on the third floor in The Philip Johnson Galleries entitled “Taking a Thread for a Walk”. Here is what the MoMA team has to...
These days, nearly everything we buy is mass produced and machine-made. It’s difficult to imagine the days when garments were sewn by hand and cloth was block printed. But in some small workshops and villages in Jaipur, India and elsewhere, there is a commitment to keeping the centuries old tradition of block printing alive. Block printing is known to have been used in India since at least the 12th century, although this method is thought to be around 2,000 years old. First the artwork/design is drawn onto a translucent butter paper which acts like a guide for the block maker to carve from. The papers then transferred to a perfectly smooth block of wood. The block can be sourced from many types of trees but...
(see "We Love Color") When we started concepting this we were drawn into natural materials as well as the simple graphic elements of modern minimalists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Blinky Palermo while we really do love color, we thought that letting the materials lay the foundation and add color through bits and bobs or letting you bring your own spin to things by adding the color (like this little bloom) by yourself. Or in other artisan practices we were able to inject touches of color by maximizing the unique quality of each artisanal practice. Each wooden block is made by hand in Jaipur, India - and block printed in the ink of your choice. When items are printed by...
