Kristen Roos

Name: Kristen Roos

Pronouns: he/him

Studio location: Vancouver, Canada

Website / social links: kristenroos.ca , @kristenroos_textiles, @kris10roos

Loom type or tool preference: AVL Jacquard Loom, TC-1 Jacquard Loom

Years weaving: 5

Fiber inclination: cotton, linen

Current favorite weaving book: Falcot’s Weave Compendium

Contact information for commissions and collaborations: email address

 

 

1. How did you discover weaving and was what your greatest resource as a beginner?

My first experience discovering weaving, in terms of a process to create my own work, was in a Jacquard weaving workshop in Vancouver in 2018. This initial workshop was by far my greatest resource as a beginner. I was told about the workshops from a friend who had seen my printmaking work, and thought that the imagery and texture looked a lot like textiles. Of course, the workshop could not have happened without the people who organized it at the Textile Department (Ruth Schueing and Mary Lou Trinkwon). Ruth has continued to be a huge resource for me learning over the years, enabling me to have access to a Jacquard Loom. I eventually started a mentorship/apprenticeship with Ruth, which gave me the confidence to continue weaving. I think people are the best resource, in terms of carrying knowledge and helping others to continue in their footsteps.

2. How do you define your practice – do you consider yourself an artist / craftsperson / weaver / designer / general creative or a combination of those? Is this definition important to you?

I think I am my happiest creatively at the moment, working with a number of mediums and projects simultaneously, that all tie into one another nicely. I currently work with sound, animation, printmaking and textiles. I have found a really nice balance between the different mediums that I work with and have found an audience that really appreciates all of the work that I create within these different mediums, and the crossover that happens between them. In the past, I thought that I needed to focus on defining myself as one type of artist, which was usually specific to one medium or genre of art. Even though I have always worked in an interdisciplinary way and have a background in visual arts and music. From the late 1990’s into the 2010’s I primarily defined myself as a Sound Artist. I think that much of this was because I felt that I needed to focus on one medium that was taken seriously in terms of the perception of my arts practice, grant writing, and applying for gallery installations and performances. That’s not to say that I didn’t have a passion for creating with sound, and I continue to enjoy working with sound. But my portfolio and website focused on just one aspect of my work, which proved to be rewarding in terms of receiving grants, and an audience through exhibiting in Canada, Europe and the United States. But there was always other work that I created aside from this, which I did on my own. I think what’s important to me now, is not being defined as someone defined by one medium, and that I work with whatever medium makes sense for the project at hand. My website currently reflects this, and you can delve into all aspects of my work there.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

My first experience weaving was a pivotal moment in my life that was really exciting and inspiring. It was a moment where I was able to see a few things in my artistic practice converge. This convergence involved a return to a more visual, tactile process that uses my background in the Visual Arts and combined it with my knowledge of Media Arts. I was able to expand on my knowledge creating with photoshop and learn different features of the software and a new technique to create the weaving designs and weaving structures. My very first experience was in the Jacquard weaving workshop that I mentioned. I instantly connected with this approach to weaving and the design process, and ultimately seeing the work emerge through the physical act of weaving. For me, there is a very deep connection with designing digitally, and the weaving process. I think of looms as computers, and as extensions of a digital process that is also connected to 1000’s of years of textile production. There is a really lovely balance of technology happening with current hand operated Jacquard Looms, where people are using the technology to their advantage. This reminds me of how computers were used in a time before the internet; a time where you went to a computer to help with a particular task, and then left the computer to do other things in your life that were not connected to computers/the internet, etc. I like that I am combining this approach to technology with something that is also very tactile, and textile based.

4. What is your creative process, from the initial idea to the finished piece? Are there specific weave structures, looms, or fibers that are important to your process?

 My creative process has been evolving over the past few years, in terms of the design process and the ideas behind my work. I first started weaving on an AVL Jacquard loom owned by Ruth, and most of my work has been created with this loom. But since buying a used TC-1 in December of 2022, I have started to create work with this loom as well. I still have access to the AVL, so I’m currently creating work on both looms, depending on the design. I primarily work with mercerized cotton but have also worked with linen and a cotton linen blend. Because my work references the pixel, I find that the cotton that I use provides a very crisp, clear physical version of what I am designing on a screen. I have been developing a palette of colours that I use in my work, and the supplier that I order my yarn from provides a reliable, consistent palette.

I start a lot of my designs using vintage software, for example: using a simple black and white paint software from the 1990’s called UltraPaint, as well as vintage software that combines paint and animation in one called Fantavision. If I’m working with this vintage animation software, I use it as a way to allow the image to evolve, and then capture still frames of this evolution. All of the work is very flat 2-D, as opposed to 3-D animation. I then export the designs to a current version of Photoshop and start the process of integrating weave structures. I do design some of my own structures, which so far has primarily been variations of twills. I have also been scanning Falcot structures found in vintage and antique books on Jacquard weaving and converting these into usable weaving structures.

I’m interested in incorporating structures that may have more of an association with handweaving and have a series of work that focused on combinations of summer and winter and taquete (Cube Village). My work tends to combine a lot of these weaving structures, and I like the contrast of combining Taquete with twills and the Falcot structures that I’ve scanned. I enjoy creating designs that are a bit of a puzzle to figure out how to weave. This includes figuring out how to create a dithering and raster bar effect (Raster Bar 1 and Raster Bar 2), and more recently figuring out how to create the effect of transparency between the shapes that I have in my designs (Ultra-Czak 1 and Ultra-Czak 2), and pieces that emulate RGB CRT monitors and the Moire-like effects (RGB 1). Because of this, I think all of the weaving structures that I use have a conceptual importance to them, while also having a purely esthetic purpose in terms of texture and colour.

 5. Does your work have a conceptual purpose or greater meaning? If so, do you center your making around these concepts?

My textiles speak about obsolescence, and the relationship between computers and weaving. Jacquard Looms being the first computers in a sense, that were programmed and automated using punch cards. Since my work is designed using vintage software for early personal computers, and uses traditional weaving patterns, and Jacquard weaving patterns from the 1800’s, this has become part of the larger conceptual background of my work. These designs make connections between some of the blocky pixelated imagery created with early paint programs for personal computers and the imagery found in both traditional and contemporary weaving practices. I like to see the connections between work that is hundreds or thousands of years old, and work that is part of a more recent history of screen-based art and imagery that resembles these ancient textiles. I also think that the Jacquard loom is part of the history of computer art, and should be incorporated into a timeline that looks at pre-mainframe computer art and post-main frame computer art. For me, Jacquard patterns can be viewed as some of the earliest images stored as data; a kind of pre-mainframe computer art that was saved as data on punched cards. My work also makes connections between these punched card weaving patterns, and paint palette patterns found in the vintage paint software that I use.

 

6. What is your favorite part of the weaving process and why? What’s your least favorite?

I think my favorite part of the process is the moment in which I am weaving and start to see the work emerge in a way that I am happy with. It’s really satisfying to be able to design something, and then see it appearing in front of your face in a way that you hoped it would look. I’ve been creating timelapse videos of some of this process, and these little videos really capture this kind of moment in fast forward. I also like the feeling at the end of a long process, like winding the warp, or tying on a new warp. It’s a sense of accomplishment at the end of a long, hard process that is also really satisfying, especially if everything has gone well. One of the processes that has been interesting to learn has been using an actual punch card Jacquard loom. I’ve been taught how to create punch card designs for this loom during my mentorship with Ruth Schueing. It’s a very time-consuming process, and the weaving itself goes very slowly on the antique machine at the Surrey Museum’s textile centre, but just having the physical connection with this machine, and the history that it contains was really rewarding. Of course, my least favorite part of the process are the tedious moments that are involved with the warp that seem to go on forever, like tying hundreds of knots. I think podcasts have really been a life saver in these moments. Since I create music, I also listen to pieces that I am working on while I am weaving. So, there are moments that I can be listening to mixes and making decisions on my sound work while in the process of weaving or warping.

7. Do you sell your work or make a living from weaving? If so, what does that look like and how has that affected your studio practice?

I have sold my work since first starting weaving and have been pro-active about this from the start. I’ve been lucky enough to have interest in my work, even as a new weaver. I have recently created an online store and have been selling my work there over the past few months. I think this has affected my studio practice in a positive way, and has recently gotten me to organize myself in terms of figuring out a size that makes sense to ship, framing the work, and sourcing the right size shipping materials, etc. When I was younger, I used to mail a lot of small work related to my music and sound art practice. I devised a nice process to the packaging, which included ink stamps, embossers, envelopes, and handmade CD packaging; all of the lovely physical things associated with mailing work. So, it has actually been nice to return to this physical world of mailing work to customers, and I put a lot of care and detail into small extras that are included in the packaging and mailing of my work. I would however, like to exhibit this work in a larger show, or a group show of artists working similarly. So far, I’ve primarily been creating the work, and then selling it directly to people interested in the work either in person or online.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

As far as my visual work is concerned, a major place I look for inspiration is in the work of other artists past and present. This could be anything from design to subject matter, to colour choices. I don’t think any artist can exist in a vacuum, and really feel that all artists find a lot of inspiration in each other’s work. Without each other, no work of art could exist. Aside from inspiration from artists, my other main source of inspiration comes from research, learning something new, or figuring out how I might execute a design. Weaving is relatively new to me, so I am constantly being challenged in productive, stimulating ways. Especially in terms of executing the work that I want to create. This also involves colour, texture and palette choices, which is a huge part of what I do. It’s often a bit of a puzzle to get to the final choices in a piece. I do have to be careful with this kind of inspiration, as since it is fueled by a need for new knowledge, I don’t want to have my inspiration evaporate if I’m not constantly involved in something brand new. I think this is something that is a larger issue today, that is wrapped up in a kind of constant need for stimulation, which I also grapple with. Inspiration also comes from some of the limitations of the vintage software that I use to design my work, as these limitations can be really helpful in today’s world of unlimited choices.

9. What other creatives do you admire – weavers, artists, entrepreneurs – and why?

As far as visual artists, I’m influenced by artists working in a number of mediums. Recently I’ve been looking at the solo work of Nathalie Du Pasquier, and her work amongst the Memphis Group that includes other artists like Ettore Sottsass. I especially like Du Pasquier’s drawings, and her work with patterns and architectural structures. She’s an artist who continues to create really wonderful work today, primarily painting, but has a long history that involves designing furniture, and textiles for clothing. I’ve also recently discovered the Chicago Imagists work, and The Hairy Who from the late 1960’s. From this movement I particularly admire the work of Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum. There is a freshness to these artists work, which in retrospect looks ahead of its time. I’m also inspired by a lot of Bridget Riley’s printmaking, painting and writing, especially in terms of her choice of palette, formal design decisions, and Op Art effects. A lot of my influences come from hard edged abstract/pop abstraction, and geometric painters. A recent discovery in this vein, has been the paintings of Nicholas Krushenick and Julian Stanczak. Today, there is a bit of a resurgence in hard edged abstraction, and there is a local Vancouver painter whose work I really love named Scott Sueme. I own an early piece by Brianna Bass who is creating really wonderful hard-edged abstract/geometric paintings with a really amazing spectrum of colours.  

As far as textiles, there are so many people online that I follow and admire. A lot of them are here in the interviews that you do, and I own pieces by two of the artists you have profiled -  Sandy Lamb and Sarah Wertzberger. As far as historical fiber/textile work, I love Diane Itter’s work, and Elsi Giauque’s work. I’ve been a long-time admirer of the Weiner Werkstatte’s textile work for a few years, since seeing some of this work in person in Vienna. I’ve recently bought a big book of the textile work of the Weiner Werkstatte, which surprisingly was done in such a short period of time between 1910-1932. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen a few exhibitions of artists from Nunavut who create the most wonderful textile work and saw a retrospective of Marion Tuu’luq’s work twenty years ago that was deeply inspiring! More recently there was a textiles exhibition of artists who work similarly at the Textile Museum of Canada, Called Double Vision, with the work of Jessie Oonark and her two daughters Janet Kigusiuq and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk, that was incredible. I really admire the way they work with colour and use flat imagery in a minimal way.

Some of my recent imagery has also come from researching early computer art, and artists like the New Tendencies group, Stan Vanderbeek, Lillian Schwartz, Laurie Speigel, A. Michael Noll, Manfred Mohr, and Edward E. Zajac. Some of Berol Korot’s textiles also touch on this history, and has recently been placed in a larger context of computer art at the LACMA’s recent show Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age. In this sense, my work is also influenced by early video computer systems for the home, that emerged in the late 1970’s into the 1980’s (like the Atari VCS video game console), and the flat, two-dimensional imagery that these systems enabled on T.V. screens. A lot of the artist’s work from this era has been compiled into recent publications by Bitmap books that are really fantastic.

10. If you could no longer weave, what would you do instead?

I would continue to compose music, work with sound art and installation, animation, and printmaking.

Do you have any upcoming exhibits, talks, or events the community should know about?

I have two albums that have been released on vinyl this summer on the record label We are Busy Bodies. I will be going on a small tour in Europe at the end of September. So far, I will be playing in Hamburg at the Reeperbahn Festival. There are quite a few articles and reviews of the albums that can be read or linked to here, as well as a link to listen to the albums, or can also be listened on Spotify. I have some animated work on display at the LA Public Library’s Central Video Wall. I have also recently started framing my work, and have a webstore, and can be contacted if there is a piece that is sold out, as I do variations of the work that is available here. I am currently interested in showing any of the recently framed work if there is interest from galleries, group shows, etc.

ultra-paint 2

cube village

RGB 1

satin dither

ultrapaint

ultra-czak 1

rasterbar cube 2

rasterbar cube 1