Scam Alert Part II
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog article about how a Dr Paul Donna had stolen the blurb from my book, Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique, and published a book of his own called Tepestry [sic] Weaving – The Pratical [sic] Guide to…
Scam Alert!
In the digital world, it is commonplace for images to be stolen and repurposed for someone else’s gain. Apparently on Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere, it is buyer beware, since unscrupulous people take an image and flog an inferior product that looks nothing like it. I…
9/11 and my exhibition
About twenty years ago, in September 2001, I was excited that my solo touring show, Unmarked Lives, was about to open at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts in Summit, NJ. I had spent decades researching my ancestors, who were Jewish-Lithuanian, Jewish-Ukrainian, Japanese and…
Miniature Tapestries
Featured image, Flying, miniature textile by Joanne Soroka, 20 x 20 x 9 cm, cut Japanese paper, exhibited at Miniartextil, Como A large tapestry is a major commitment for an artist to embark on, since it may be three months or even more in the…
The Year of Tapestry
Among the cognoscenti, Edinburgh is known as the epicentre of tapestry weaving. Starting with the founding of the Dovecot Studios in 1912 and the inception of the Tapestry Department at Edinburgh College of Art fifty years later, the city has been long been home to…
The Art is the Cloth
Tapestry weaving has gained a new prominence lately, with quite a few books published on the subject. They range from how-to ones to histories of the medium in general or about a given work, era or workshop. But until now, there haven’t been any that…
What’s so special about tapestry weaving?
One of the great strengths of tapestry weaving is the surfaces that can be created. Each medium has its positives, and with tapestry, yarns can be used in multiple ways to create texture in bas relief or even into the third dimension. Here are a…
Art in the time of coronavirus
With the current pandemic, we are in a life-and-death situation, all feeling isolated and scared. Most of us are doing our best to comply with medical advice and government regulations. We are practising social distancing by staying at home and minimising contact with others. Tapestry…
Juried exhibitions – why should artists subsidise them?
I have previously fulminated on the subject of open-call commissions, when artists were asked to provide designs to a brief, often in a short timescale and without payment. I composed a sample: ‘The tapestry for Borchester City Chambers should be on the theme of ‘caring…
Stolen Tapestries
In the late 1970s a number of us formed the Scottish Tapestry Artist Group (STAG) to help promote tapestry weaving mainly by having exhibitions. Our shows included the work of both established artists and more recent graduates. We were excited when our third main show…