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STATEMENT OF WORK
The interface between my interior self and the outside world is the uniting concept behind my recent work
I began making yarn paintings in 1969 while still in High School. I thought I had invented the technique.
In college at The Cooper Union I first kept yarn painting to myself. My professors preferred my drawings to my paintings. My painting professor, Jack Whitten, asked what we did during vacation. I volunteered that I'd spent the vacation working on a project, but it wasn't exactly painting. After visiting my studio Jack told me to stick to yarn and he would consider them paintings.
Seeing a yarn painting at a Greenwich Village flea market I discovered that yarn painting was a traditional art form among the Wixarika (Huichol) people of Mexico.
In 1992 I received a Fulbright Fellowship to travel to Mexico to meet fellow yarn painters and talk shop.
Since my Fulbright I have maintained my relationship with fellow yarn painters both by returning to Mexico regularly and by hosting Wixarika artists in my home.
I have also received Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts (twice) and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.
Yarn Painting / Technical Information
I attach colored yarn to ClayBoard™ using Elmer's Wood Glue™. Yarns vary in material and thickness.
My materials include cotton, linen, silk, and rayon. The diameter ranges from sewing thread to eighth inch cord.
Forms are rendered by the direction the yarn is glued as well as color changes. Yarn lit horizontally is bright while vertically lit yarn is dark.
The material and sheen of the yarn determines the intensity of this effect.
I am able to mix colors by alternating yarn. I can also mix a number of images using this technique.
The finished picture is sealed with Fabric Guard™. The final step is the frame, which I mill and build in my wood shop.