Techno Fiber

Monday was jury day at the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery.  The theme for the new show was Techno Fiber.  This lent itself to a variety of interpretations, everything from weaving done on computer-controlled looms to a silk scarf with an image of a computer chip.  I'm going to give an overview of the show today and will return later this week with a longer discussion of one of the techniques.

The jurors selected three pieces for honors.  Masha Kosmos used an actual microchip as design inspiration for a soft silk scarf; hardware becomes soft wear!

Masha Kosmos, silk scarf

Ruth Blau used graphics programs for her design. She imported it into weaving software and hand wove it on a computer-assisted loom. Her hand-dyed warp yarns contribute to the beauty of her scarf.

Ruth Blau, woven scarf

Joanne Bast started with a photo, manipulated it several ways with PhotoShop and printed it onto fabric. She took the fabric to her sewing machine and hand guided the stitching with carefully chosen thread colors to create a fantastic wall piece.

Joanne Bast, Marshall's Point Light

Several other Gallery members entered scarves woven on computer-assisted looms.  Here is a display of several:

Various artists, Techno scarves

There's a wide range of patterning and complexity shown in these scarves.  If you want to read more about computer-assisted weaving, Larry Novak wrote a series of posts on the subject last year.  The first of these is available here and links to the later posts.