Damask 2001

Abstract

Whilst looms have been mechanized since the 19th century, there has generally been a strong focus on commercial processes and outcomes. However, now with digital technology driving Jacquard looms, they have become more readily available to individual artists. Digitally generated designs and digitally controlled looms have allowed for more complex designs to be created and woven.

The Damask series by Liz Williamson was developed in response to issues of the visible and invisible within darning. Whilst the process of darning is physically visible, acknowledgement of these repairs by museums, archives, texts and artists themselves has remained invisible. This research responds to the issue of invisibility by photographing and scanning repaired objects that subsequently form the basis for the construction of digital patterns. Significantly, the repairs become a woven part of the new object being created, highlighted through embellishment or colour alteration. Computers have replaced the original punch card systems that controlled the jacquard looms used for this project and this research directly integrates digital programming into the process and the outcomes.

The significance of the Damask series is demonstrated by its inclusion in From Lausanne to Beijing: 2002 International Tapestry Art Biennale, Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University, China; A matter of time: 16th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial, Tamworth Regional Gallery; World Eco-Fibre and Textile Art Exhibition, Galerie Petronas, Malaysia; and solo touring exhibition Liz Williamson: Living Treasures, Object, Sydney.