Textile Sculpture - Part 1

These artists are adept at exploiting the malleable, aural, kinetic. dimensional, sensual and/or tactile qualities of textiles and manipulate them into fascinating sculptural art forms

Judith Scott (1943-2005) – “Judith Scott was a powerful visual artist, who was isolated from outside influences through the combined impact of deafness and Down Syndrome. Very independent and self-directed, she was endlessly creative and never repeated a form or color scheme. Crafting armatures of bamboo slats or other discarded materials, she wrapped these forms with lengths of knotted cloth or yarn.”
http://www.hidden-worlds.com/judithscott/index.htm

Jenny Milne – “The materials I use are varied although I have worked predominately with animal fibre in the past 4 years. This suits the tactile qualities of the characters, creating fascination, drawing the viewer into a false sense of security to engage with serious or difficult subjects that are behind each piece. Integrating these needle felted sculptures with artifacts and/or, the raw environment, resonates extraordinarily well with the integrity of the work.”
http://www.jennymilne.co.uk/

Shinique Smith – uses bundles of clothing, fabric, and other disposable materials to create sculptures
http://www.theproposition.com/last/shiniquesmith.html
http://www.smfa.edu/Gateways/Alumni/Shinique_Smith/Index.asp

Junco Sato Pollack – “Junco Sato Pollack is a maker of light-reflective fabric sculpture that floats in the space…The work's format is hanging scroll, referencing serendipitous articulation characteristic of Eastern ink-and-brush painting and meditative calm. The work's intrinsic kinetic quality is sensuous, rigid, yet yielding, and expressive of both Eastern and Western aesthetics.” During the 80’s, Junco’s work “…involved three-dimensional silk fabric sculpture in which she manufactured, wove, and dyed silk into three-dimensional forms. Currently she works with metallic and micro-polyester with heat transfer and lamination technology through which dyes are sublimated by heat into the molecular structure of the fabric, simultaneously coloring and texturing the surface.”
http://www.juncosatopollack.com/

Deepa Panchamia – Textile Pleated Structures – “Her interests lie in scale, perspective and space and she uses textiles as a medium to explore these concepts. Central to her work is to communicate the polar opposites of transparency and solidity; complexity and simplicity; exterior and interior; presence and absence.”
http://www.deepapanchamia.com/

Michael Cottrell – Rigid Fabric Sculpture – “Being a very process oriented artist…I am constantly exploring new methods of constructing my pieces that successfully elucidate their underlying concepts. While remaining true to fundamental concepts of formal three-dimensional design, I seek to enrich the visual impact of my pieces by creating dynamic relationships that demand an interactive viewing. I have recently hit upon a method of making fabric hold a rigid form. This allows me to capture the inherent organic and ephemeral qualities of the drapery in a static state. This imposed solidity is contradictory to the expectation of fabric as a fluid material which creates an interesting interaction with the viewer.”
http://www.cottrellsculpture.com/Galleries/sculpture1/sculpture1.htm

Annet Couwenberg – “My work is based on the concept of clothing as metaphor that examines the precarious balance between the constraints of social norm and our private desires. …The work I make becomes a receptacle for introspection to distinguishing between what we are and what we have learned to be and desire.”
http://www.annetcouwenberg.com/

Frances Geesin – “I began my journey with painting and moved into textiles, which led to the manipulation of nonwovens by heat treatment and electroplating, a very different kind of ‘painting’. Therefore I have immersed myself in many diverse thermoplastic and conductive industrial textiles and fibres, some of which yield to heat and respond to the electroless and electroplating processes…My drawing tools are heat guns, soldering irons, hot knives, domestic iron, heat press, conductive paints and an electroplating system…Although fabrics do not change at their core, their re-forming is revelatory.”
http://www.francesgeesin.com/

Sally Williams – Textilescapes – “I use a marriage of handmade sculptural textiles and various ‘New technologies’, such as 3D virtual software, scanning electron microscopes, laser cutting and etching and digital photography to create my work. Science and ‘New Technology’ constantly inform my work on both a technical and creative level.”
http://www.textilescapes.co.uk/portfolio2.html

Zsofi Samu – Woven Textile Sculpture – “My major source of inspiration is the Tasmanian wilderness…I use an ancient technique called double weaving to realise most of my works. Native Americans used this technique to make sacks and double sided rugs. This way of weaving allows me to create cylindrical shapes which is the basis of my three-dimensional pieces.”
http://www.zsofisamu.com/