Maris Van Vlack

Name: Maris Van Vlack

Pronouns: she/her

Studio location: Boston, MA

Website / social links: marisvanvlack.com , @marisvanvlack

Loom type or tool preference: 16 shaft MacComber jack loom, 24 shaft AVL compudobby

Years weaving: 8

Fiber inclination: Rug wool, cotton

Contact information for commissions and collaborations: email address

 

 

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

At the age of 13 I began working on an Ashford rigid heddle loom and ever since then I have been weaving nonstop. This loom had only two shafts so I was very limited in the structures I could use. However, this limitation pushed me to experiment with blending yarns and using hand-manipulated techniques and was an important time in my development as a weaver. As a teenager I remember studying the works of famous painters and breaking down the colorways that they used, then experimenting with how to represent these palettes as a woven surface using different yarn combinations. When I was 16 someone gave me a 4-harness jack loom that they found in a junkyard and I taught myself to set it up by watching a Youtube video. This loom finally gave me the opportunity to experiment with different threading and tie-up structures. Currently I weave on 16-harness jack looms, AVL dobbies and jacquards.

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 am primarily an interdisciplinary artist, relying on the structure of weaving as a foundation for my work but viewing each piece like it is a painting. The way that I weave and the way that I draw are very similar; to me a thread is simply a drawn line that moves through three-dimensional space. I mix other techniques into my woven work, and I have developed my own process of combining and collaging together hand-weaving, jacquard, industrial and hand-knitting, embroidery, and painting directly onto woven surfaces. Weaving is an overarching structure that holds my work together, but my practice is not limited to weaving techniques.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

I attribute my interest in weaving to having grown up in Massachusetts, where I have many early memories of going to museums and historical sites relating to the textile industry. I don’t recall a precise moment where I first attempted weaving, but I felt that I was always aware of woven fabric surrounding me in everyday life.

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?

 Most of my recent works are quite large, consisting of several panels of fabric sewn together. The most challenging part of planning these pieces is visualizing the composition and making sure that the panels will line up correctly to form an image after they are woven. My process usually begins with painting a to-scale version of the piece with acrylic on paper, which allows me to step back and see the image as a whole before beginning to weave. When I am at the loom I work with tapestry, using my painting as a reference. I have developed my own method of hand knitting into the fabric while it is being woven to create a transparent knitted layer that is integrated into the woven surface. When weaving I will often leave open spaces, which I will fill with jacquard-woven fabric later on.  When I take the fabric off of the loom, I begin piecing it together, starting to look at the different elements as a whole image. If I don’t like how some areas work with the rest of the piece, I will cover them with paint. I like having the freedom to change things after the weaving part is finished.

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

My work is inspired by histories that are held within the landscape, referencing geology and architecture relating to spaces from my family’s journey away from pre-World War II Europe to their current lives in the Americas. I explore how human-made structures eventually return to the earth through time and decay, using images of topography and architectural ruins from archived family photographs. My practice allows me to slowly build up a plane of fabric with a sedimentary process where each thread represents a moment in time; weaving is a way to mirror how a record of history gets trapped and preserved within the land. Layering my woven surfaces with drawn, painted, and stitched marks hides what is underneath but also reveals new forms, similarly to how a space evolves and changes over time while still holding elements within it that allow one to see into the past. I see my work as a window through which one can see many iterations of time and memory, depicting spaces that exist between the past and the present.

 

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

The best moment of making any work is taking the woven fabric off of the loom, hanging it on the wall and seeing it as a whole for the first time. The weaving process is very nerve-wracking for me because I can only see a small section of the piece at once before it winds around the beam, and I have to keep a mental image of what the beginning of the fabric looked like as I continue to build onto the piece. Finally getting to see the whole fabric at once is exciting but also intimidating.

My least favorite moment is the early stages of making a work when there are endless directions in which the project could go. It can be overwhelming because I have no idea what the end result is going to look like, but once I have begun the physical making process and have a material object to respond to I become more confident in the work.

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?

In June I graduated from my Textiles BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and now I am currently making work in my home studio. I am planning for some group gallery shows and have plans to attend international artist residencies to explore the world and continue expanding my practice. I also work as a textile designer at a Jacquard rug weaving mill.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

Old maps, architectural floor plans, lava flow patterns, prehistoric fossils, stone buildings, boats, old cartoons, caves, cliffs, clocks, and fantasy architecture illustrations.

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

One of my favorite weavers is Magdalena Abakanowicz because of the way that she utilized weaving as a sculptural medium. Earlier this year I got the opportunity to visit the retrospective exhibition of her Abakans at the Tate Modern and it was an unforgettable experience. The pieces have a figural quality that just doesn’t translate through photos. I am also inspired by the work of Anselm Kiefer, because of the scale and tactile quality of his paintings. I would love to be able to see his work in person.

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

If I couldn’t weave, I would definitely still be working as an artist, probably painting and making sculptural work. If I was not an artist, I think I would want to study geology, because the way that the earth is in a constant state of change intrigues me.

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

Emerging Artist Show: St. Botolph Club, Boston, MA