I love viewing tapestries in person. I can get a close look at how they were constructed and if I’m lucky enough to be at an opening where the artist is present, I can ask them to show me the back along with peppering them with questions about their work. The small format unjuried tapestry show that the American Tapestry Alliance (ATA) holds every two years is one of my favorite shows because it is full of surprises. There are usually hundreds of tapestries and if I can see them in person, I can have a grand time seeing other people’s ideas and techniques not to mention imagery and color use.
This year’s show, Renditions, was supposed to open during Convergence in Knoxville, TN this week. Due to COVID-19, it was cancelled along with Convergence. The bonus of that for people like me who were not going to be able to go to Knoxville this year anyway, is that the show is online. That means that all the tapestries are available to view and on my computer, I can blow up the images to get a good look. There is always a catalog for this show and you should purchase one if you didn’t enter the show, but the images online are much easier to see.
Order your catalog from ATA HERE. If you entered the show, you’ll get a copy of the catalog. Pieces entered in the show had to hang on the wall and be less than 10 x 10 inches.
You can view all of the tapestries online now. There are pages for individual entries and then another page for group entries. I organized a group entry for anyone who has been my student over the last decade, in person or online. Many of these tapestries I haven’t seen until now and I’m so thrilled to see what wonderful things people who have been my students submitted.
Go HERE for individual entries.
Go HERE for group entries.
There are tapestries from all corners of the world about all imaginable things. It is well worth an evening of exploring. Please take a look! I’ve included a few examples below as bait to get you to go see the rest of the show. You won’t be sorry!
Nancy Nordquist says about her tapestry, Summer Night, North Sea II: “It is part of a series of small works based on a memory of seeing the lights of oil rigs on the North Sea one night a little over a year ago, somewhere between Scotland and Norway.”
Nancy Nordquist, Summer Night, North Sea II, 6 ½” h x 4 7/8” w, 8 epi, cotton warp; wool, silk, linen, metallic weft, 2020
Jenny Chicone, Time Travel, 9.25 x 9.25, wool weft, cotton warp
Carolyn Rose, The Real Thing, wool, cotton. Carolyn says: “The title refers to Heinz 57 ketchup, because I live in Pittsburgh. And when my daughter moved to Oregon for college she said she missed ‘real ketchup’.”
Patty Clavette, Birth of the Sun, 3 1/2” by 3 1/2”, wool, cotton
Rebecca Fabos, Slow Sam — A Regal Horned Lizard.
A big thank you to the artists above for allowing me to use their images here. There are hundreds more in the show.
Enjoy all the tapestries.