The Free Flowing Work of Peggy Brown

Illustration: Peggy Brown. December Ice.

Peggy Brown approaches textile art from the perspective of a watercolour artist. She produces fine art painting on both paper and fabric and is able to drift between the two mediums without the usual barriers that are often thrown up between textile and fine art painting.

As far as textiles are concerned, Brown applies watercolour paint on to white fabric and then builds up layers of intensity of colour and texture as the mood takes her. These painted fabric pieces are then used within a built up collage composition. She also regularly uses paper within the composition as well as fabric, paper giving a different textural quality to that of the fabric.

 Illustration: Peggy Brown. Another Form.

Interestingly Brown uses the organic and free flowing quality of the watercolour paint to emphasise that very fact, that water is both free and fluid in its seemingly random journey across both fabric and paper. However, she also manages to give this free flowing quality an element of containment. All the pieces shown in this article have at least one area of the composition, sometimes the majority and sometimes a small fraction that features an angular bordered off area. In the piece entitled Echoes for example, it is difficult to judge whether that free flowing element of the watercolour medium, is flowing into the ordered geometric area in order to obliterate it, or in fact retreating in order to make room for a very different element.

Illustration: Peggy Brown. Echoes.

The free form coming up hard against the contained is an interesting and clever concept. To use both the image of the free and seemingly independent organic flow of a natural element like water and the obvious constraints brought about by the use of a human right angle throws up some interesting questions and observations about the world we inhabit. It is this uneasy juxtaposition that now seems to dominate how we see the planet, but is also part of the complexity of our relationship with nature. It is inevitably up to the individual as to how this unlikely relationship between the organic and the artificial construct is interpreted.

Illustration: Peggy Brown. Collaboration II.

By balancing the allure between both the independence that is summed up in the element of free flowing water and the security that can be obtained from self containment, Brown has produced work that reflects who we are, who we want to be, and perhaps who we will never be.

Peggy Browns work, both fine art paintings and textiles, have been seen across the US in various exhibitions. Her work can also be seen in a number of public and corporate institutions including universities, banks, museums and art centres. She also has a comprehensive website with a much wider selection of her work on show. The website can be found here.

All images were used with the kind permission of the artist.

Illustration: Peggy Brown. Winter Water.

Reference links:

Peggy Brown Website

Arabian Ornament from Cairo as seen by Owen Jones

Illustration: Arabian Ornament, from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Islam was able to create a near unique style that was to both complement and tie the diverse cultures that came under its umbrella, within one decorative style. Admittedly, there were regional variations, but on the whole the decorative work of the Islamic world shared more similarities than it did differences.

Jones introduced Islamic decoration as the eighth chapter of his 1856 The Grammar of Ornament, following on from Byzantium and before Turkish. It was the first chapter to feature Islamic decoration and was therefore more concerned with a slightly earlier period of the style, hence the title of Arabian Ornament.

Illustration: Arabian Ornament, from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Jones was aware that the roots of the Islamic style lay in various previous long standing cultures, particularly Persian and to a lesser extent Byzantium, but there is no doubt that a separate identity was quickly found by the new religious culture which distanced it from any direct and long term influence.

Interestingly Jones noted that Christianity failed to promote a real decorative style that it could call its own until at least the twelfth or thirteenth century with the rise of Gothic. Before this period, Christianity had had to largely rely on the all-pervading Classical style of the Roman Empire, decoration that had been formed with a different set of cultural parameters in mind.

Illustration: Arabian Ornament, from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

As the title suggests, most of the examples of Jones Arabian ornament chapter were derived from examples in and around Cairo, many from the thirteenth century. This ties in with his interest in the Alhambra in Spain which was built at around about the same time. Jones drew certain analogies and comparisons between the two geographical areas of Islam. He did not see the decorative style of Cairo as being as accomplished as that of Moorish Spain, but he did admit that the decorative style of Cairo suffered from certain tainted elements of influence from a number of different cultures in the area. He saw a certain amount of reconstituting of Roman interior planning as interpreted through Christian Byzantium, whereas he tended to see Moorish Spain as more insular and therefore less tainted by outside forces.

 Illustration: Arabian Ornament, from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

This interpretation of the merits of one style over another could well be the perceived truth as seen through the personal tastes of Jones, as the examples he placed in the book are truly elegant and balanced, though understated and tightly controlled. They may not have been as flamboyant as some of the examples of Islamic decoration shown in later chapters of his book, but Jones by including this earlier style of Islamic decoration, shows us that the culture showed a level of maturity at a much earlier stage of its development than could be said for some other cultures.

Illustration: Arabian Ornament, from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

One of the most important strengths of the Islamic decorative style over others has to be their lack of reliance on realism. Whereas some may see this as a handicap to an all encompassing decorative style, it does in fact liberate designers and decorators who are free to explore all forms of geometric and other abstractions, without the need to reproduce everyday images that tie the decoration into a framework of rules and regulations that surround the world of reality, rather than that of the imagination. Although certain elements of Islamic decoration do incorporate some aspects of realism, at least in the realm of flora and fauna, it is perhaps in the realm of true geometrical abstraction that it has really made its mark. The style has become associated with the pan-Islamic world and is a unique decorative part of that culture which also helps to expand the vocabulary of the decorative styles of other cultures, which was one of the main points underpinning Jones The Grammar of Ornament.

Further reading links:
Islamic Decoration and Ornament as seen by Owen Jones
The Grammar of Ornament: All 100 Color Plates from the Folio Edition of the Great Victorian Sourcebook of Historic Design (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
The Grammar of Ornament
Grammar of Ornament: A Monumental Work of Art
Islamic Designs for Artists and Craftspeople (Dover Pictorial Archive)
Islamic Designs for Cornice, Balcony and Mashrabiyah Decoration, from "Art and Industry" Giclee Poster Print by Jean Francois Albanis De Beaumont, 24x32
The Language of Pattern: An Enquiry Inspired by Islamic Decoration (Icon Editions)
Splendors of Islam: Architecture, Decoration and Design
Islamic Design (Dover Pictura)
Islamic Ornament
Ornament and Decoration in Islamic Architecture
Some Early Islamic Buildings and Their Decoration
Islamic architecture and its decoration, A.D. 800-1500;: A photographic survey
Islamic Designs in Color (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Islamic Designs (International Design Library)
The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans of the 8th to 10th Centuries AD (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, VOL I)
The Art of the Islamic Tile
Islamic Patterns: An Analytical and Cosmological Approach

Crimean Tatar Embroidery

The history of embroidery in the Crimea goes back to the days of the Crimean Khanate, where much of the professional embroidery output was destined for the Khan's court. Skilful embroiderers were highly prized and were well looked after by the state. They supplied any number of complex and labour intensive pieces that would be displayed at court and would help to impress outsiders as to the wealth and sophistication of the Khanate.

Embroidery was not only limited to the Khans court as most girls of the Khanate were expected to learn the skill from an early age. Women would supply embroidery for domestic and costume use and each family would build up supplies of embroidery pieces that were kept separately in order to be used for dowry purposes.

Weddings themselves were feasts of embroidery with both the bride and groom wearing prodigious amounts of hand produced embroidery, as well as the home of the bride being festooned with embroidered items including wall hangings that gave the air of festivity to any domestic interior.

It is probably not an exaggeration to say that nearly every aspect of the daily life of the people of the Crimea was affected by the use of embroidery. It would have been both a part of every day life, but would also mark the special occasions and festivals in their lives.

When the Russians took control of the Crimea, the professional embroiderer's guilds, which had always been tied to the success of the old Khans court, were disbanded when the court was abolished. However, embroidery did continue to be produced, but on an amateur level by women in the home.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russians started building up extensive collections of traditional arts & crafts from across the Russian Empire, and Crimean embroidery became an important element in any serious collection. Many middle class and aristocratic households had at least some element of Crimean embroidery in their homes.

After the revolution, many of the collections fell into state hands and were used as tools to promote the Soviet Union. A collection of embroidery was even shown at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, of which these three illustrations of Crimean embroidery are part.

Under the early Soviet government, embroidery in the Crimea started to develop as an educational subject. However, there were always problems with lack of funding and sufficient trained staff, and colleges and courses would appear and disappear with alarming frequency. Despite this, Crimean embroidery helped by a number of dedicated individuals, maintained a relatively high profile for the craft and examples were to be seen in most of the Soviet exhibitions held during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Second World War spelt disaster for the Crimea when in 1944 Stalin expelled all Crimean Tatars, most only had fifteen minutes to collect their belongings. Naturally, many took embroidery heirlooms with them. A large proportion of the population ended up living in Central Asia. Only recently have they begun to return home and the skills maintained by a few of the older generation of women are now being passed down to younger generations in order to rebuild some of the prestigious cultural heritage that was part of the Crimea.

There are a number of organizations within the Crimea and the larger Ukraine, that are dedicated in helping the Crimean Tatars to piece together as much of their culture as is possible under the circumstances, and all credit should go to these organizations and the people that fuel them.

This is only a brief dip into the history of Crimean embroidery, there is so much more. I will be coming back to the subject in more depth at a future date. In the meantime, you may like to visit a fascinating site promoting all aspects of Crimean embroidery in great detail. The site is only in Russian, but it is well worth a visit, and the inconvenience of a Google translator is a small price to pay. The site, with an English Google translation, can be found here.

Further reading links:
Women Initiatives in Crimea website
CRIMEAN TATARS (HOOVER INST PRESS PUBLICATION)
Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars' Deportation and Return (Anthropology, History, and Critical Imagination)
Between Russians, Ottomans and Turks: Crimea and Crimean Tatars (Analecta Isisiana)
The Crimean Tatars: The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of a Nation (Brill's Inner Asian Library)
National Movements and National Identity Among the Crimean Tatars (1905-1916) (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, V. 7)
Legend of Crimean Tatar Music
CRIMEAN TATARS
Crimean Tatar Cuisine
Islam in Ukraine: Crimean Khanate, Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria, History of the Russo-Turkish Wars, Aziz Nesin, Adnan Menderes
Crimean Society: Ethnic Groups in Crimea, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians in Crimea, Crimean Karaites, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People

Catherine Kleeman - A Multi-Layered Balancing Act

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Identity Crisis, 2009.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Identity Crisis (detail), 2009.

Catherine Kleeman is a textile artist that uses the idea of layers as a central theme to her work. It would be more exact to say perhaps that Kleemen builds up whole systems of multi-layers and even layers within layers, producing work that has a wealth of detail and exactness to it that corresponds to hours of labour.

The work is both colourful and vibrant, but what makes it especially so is the fact that she is able to dye her own fabrics to her own specifications. However, the relatively simple process of dying fabric for her own needs is not enough for this multi-layered artist. Kleeman also hand paints, stamps, silk screens and batiks the fabrics as well as using various mark making techniques which make her fabrics well and truly her own.

 Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Family Reunion, 2008.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Family Reunion (detail), 2008.

It is the mark making that perhaps gives us a hint that there is more to Kleemans work than just textile art, though that would be adequate for most. The mark making has turned her textile art into a form of fine art painting. From a distance, the textile pieces look truly to be in the realm of abstract fine art painting. It is only on closer inspection that the numerous individual fabrics and threads become visible. Mark making is one of the basic tools of an artist and Kleeman uses it well to express herself within her chosen medium.

Layering is never an easy option in any creative medium, as juxtapositions of differing colour tones and textures are notoriously difficult to blend and mould as one. In the pieces shown in this article, all produced within the last two years, Kleeman has used two separate levels of layering, the much more subtle tones of the background composition and the much more strident abstract shapes of the foreground layers. These two systems of layers are then, in their turn, blended together so that the composition does not allow one ground to dominate another, but also without the background and foreground becoming indistinguishable. This is not an easy task to perform.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Hidden Agendas, 2008.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Hidden Agendas (detail), 2008.

Every aspect of Kleemans work is finely balanced. Her system of multi-layering has to take into account the many elements that go into each piece. From the overall importance of the composition, to being acutely aware of both colour tone and texture and the vital role they play in bringing together the piece. However, on top of this she also has to be aware of the medium that she is working in, and has to be sympathetic towards the differing qualities that textile art can bring to a piece. Having said that she also has to tie together elements within that textile medium such as quilting and collage, and to balance their contribution.

I believe that she fully succeeds in her finely tuned balancing act and that her work expresses a rare fine art painting quality to the medium of textile art while still maintaining the essence of textiles, which is a very difficult and complicated process to achieve.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Window Paint, 2008.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Window Paint (detail), 2008.

Catherine Kleeman has her own comprehensive website where many more examples of her work can be seen. The website can be found here. She also has a blog called Fiberstudio where you can keep updated as to the latest work produced and her working methods, the site can be found here. 

Kleeman has been exhibiting regularly across the USA since the mid-1990s. She has a number of future exhibitions booked for the rest of this year and into 2010. To go along and see her work, check for dates and venues all of which can be found on her website.

All images were used with the kind permission of the artist.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Blue Moon, 2008.

Illustration: Catherine Kleeman. Blue Moon (detail), 2008.

Reference links:

Catherine Kleeman website

Fiberstudio blog

Ancient Egyptian Decoration as seen by Owen Jones

Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

All of these images are taken from The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones, which was published in 1856. Therefore we are seeing Ancient Egyptian design, ornamentation and decoration through the eyes of a mid-nineteenth century Englishman and so we should perhaps be cautious as to what conclusions Jones draws as to the place that Egypt holds in the history of decoration.

However, much of what he writes does still hold true as far as the facts concerning decoration are concerned. Jones was in awe at the staggering antiquity and longevity of the style. After all Egypt as a culture and as an entity, was ancient when Rome was still in its youth. Above all he was in awe of the civilization's dogged continuity despite all outside pressures, to maintain an integrity and individuality of purpose that makes the culture of Ancient Egypt so singular to us today.

Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Much of Ancient Egyptian decoration and ornamentation was derived from the flora and fauna that was often peculiar to the Nile. Much of their design and pattern work was also relatively insular and was very often identified only with Egypt and the Nile and on the whole, was not part of a larger regional culture.

Jones made the acute observation that the flora and fauna that the Egyptians portrayed in their decorative work, although representational, was not such that it reached the point whereby a lotus for example, could be plucked. There was, he noted, no attempt through shading or any other artistic style, to produce the effect of three-dimensions. The representational aspect of the decorative work was always held in a subservient position, so that it was a tool to aid decoration not the other way around.

Ultimately, it was pattern and colour that became the specific items that made the Ancient Egyptian style what it was. Whether it was to be used within the context of internal or external architecture, furniture and other domestic items, or indeed personal adornment, pattern and colour were paramount.

Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Jones also observed that there was little change within the overall style of decoration within Ancient Egypt, although he did note that the older the culture got and the weaker it became, the less defined and correct the style. This could well have been due to the influence of outside elements that took advantage of Egypt in its later stages when it had lost much of its power and status and was at the mercy of Greek and Roman merchants and traders who tended to set the agenda as far as tastes and styles were concerned. However, in its earlier and more robust persona Jones saw the unchanging nature of Egyptian culture, and through that its national decorative style, not as one of weakness as in that of a static and unbending culture, but more that of one that was immune to the shallow requirements of a culture led by fashion and short term gratification. This was often noted in the mid-nineteenth centuryas being one of the major criticisms of the Roman Empire, which was taken as a reflection of his own Victorian culture, but could equally be seen as a reflection of our own twenty first century obsession with short-term novelty fuelled by fashion.

Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Many of Jones decorative examples of Ancient Egyptian work were copied from burial tombs and this is where we get many of our preconceptions of Egypt being a culture that was obsessed with the dead. However, these images do not portray a funereal style of gloom and despondency, but in fact one of a culture that revelled in beauty, colour, texture, light, music and dance. It was because life in Egypt was so vibrant and vital, that many wished to carry that life forward into the next world. By producing the vibrant colours and pattern work that was so much a part of the burial decoration theme, along with powerful snapshots of life lived along the Nile, it seemed as if the culture was trying to animate this zest for life in order to encourage it into lasting beyond the grave. So in fact Egypt could be seen as a culture that wanted to prolong the good and full life that they believed they were unique in possessing, by their occupancy of Egypt and the Nile and that rather than a culture that embraced death and all its formal rhetoric and ritual, they wanted to keep what they had for eternity.

 Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Ornament from Owen Jones The Grammar of Ornament, 1856.

Jones did a great service in helping to open the Victorian mind to the perception of Egypt as one of great contrasts of colour and pattern, one that emphasised the vitality of life and living, through the range of plates that he illustrated in The Grammar of Ornament. Rather than seeing Ancient Egypt as a land and culture that was coloured by the different shades of sand and stone, he helped propel Egypt into the modern Victorian world, where the Egyptian style was to see a revival, not always accurately admittedly, but again part of the living world rather than that of the dead.

Further reading links:

The Grammar of Ornament: All 100 Color Plates from the Folio Edition of the Great Victorian Sourcebook of Historic Design (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
The Grammar of Ornament
Grammar of Ornament: A Monumental Work of Art
Egyptian Wall Painting
Decoration In Egyptian Tombs (Studies in Egyptian Archeology)
Memoranda, Illustrative of the Tombs and Sepulchral Decorations of Egyptians
Egyptian Wall Paintings
Egyptian Revival Jewelry and Design
Egyptian Designs (International Design Library)
Ancient Egyptian Designs (British Museum Pattern Books)
Egyptian decorative art: A course of lectures delivered at the Royal institution
Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian costumes and decorations
Ancient Egyptian Designs for Artists and Craftspeople (Dover Pictorial Archives)