Northrop Art Award recipient: Aiyana McClinton
Aiyana McClinton Artist Statement
Weaving is a direct communication of time, you start at one end and finish at the other in an incredibly linear way. In my own weavings I experiment with the idea of linear woven time by allowing the wool to travel not only horizontally, but also vertically. Following the notion of linear time the wool travels horizontally; right to left, left to right in a predictable line. In an effort to contradict this conventional linearity I also allow the wool to travel up and down the warp, almost as if it were being translated through dimensions or places in time.
These woven triplets tell a story of time and dependence. They feature a mixture of raw and refined wool, cotton yarn, and many other found materials like rope and warp ends, in a high contrast black, tan and white color palette. Wool droops and meanders through the weavings, enunciating the way the three interact with and affect each other. When on the loom, the pieces are completely flat; when allowed to drape, the pieces take on emotion and life. The horizontal lines become snakes slithering between the weavings, messages being sent back and forth. The draping of the weavings mocks the drooping cotton floats, giving a body to the woven emotions. The folds are translated across weavings, connecting them all as one sporadic movement. The two outer weavings humbly lean on the center piece, reliant and responsive. Emotional communication and cyclical time is found in the jumping and repeating wool pieces. The weavings are in tune with their connections.
These woven triplets tell a story of time and dependence. They feature a mixture of raw and refined wool, cotton yarn, and many other found materials like rope and warp ends, in a high contrast black, tan and white color palette. Wool droops and meanders through the weavings, enunciating the way the three interact with and affect each other. When on the loom, the pieces are completely flat; when allowed to drape, the pieces take on emotion and life. The horizontal lines become snakes slithering between the weavings, messages being sent back and forth. The draping of the weavings mocks the drooping cotton floats, giving a body to the woven emotions. The folds are translated across weavings, connecting them all as one sporadic movement. The two outer weavings humbly lean on the center piece, reliant and responsive. Emotional communication and cyclical time is found in the jumping and repeating wool pieces. The weavings are in tune with their connections.
