Renata Daina

Name: Renata Daina

Pronouns: she/her

Studio location: Los Angeles, USA

Website / social links: renatadaina.com, @renatadainastudio

Loom type or tool preference: large frame loom I built myself

Years weaving: since I can remember / several years consistently

Fiber inclination: Linen, cotton

Current favorite weaving book: Vitamin T / Threads & Textiles in Contemporary Art

Contact information for commissions and collaborations: email address

 

 

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

Weaving was always around me growing up. I learned to weave from my grandmother as her mother and grandmother had taught her.  I can remember a four-harness floor loom and adjustable wooden frame loom full of traditional Lithuanian weavings around since early childhood. As I began to focus my studies on art and textiles I learned that weaving methods had relevance beyond recreating historical fabrics. It was exciting to learn weaving could in fact be used to explore ideas within a wider artistic context.

When I started to weave I found that a combination of woven samples I could touch and see in intricate detail were a helpful resource to learn how each thread moved around the others. Additionally, old school weaving books with hand sketched step-by-step examples proved valuable. My greatest resource was my grandmother who had a lifetime of first hand weaving knowledge. 

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 consider myself an artist and weaver. Weaving is currently a large part of my artistic practice. As an artist I make things that are not directly woven. When I teach weaving my focus is on the technical aspects of the craft more so than artistic meaning. 

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

My first experience weaving was exciting and intimidating. I got to pass the shuttle through the bright linen warp threads. I didn’t quite understand how the pattern emerged, but was fascinated with how pressing different combinations of treadles resulted in patterns and shapes forming. The precise grid of the weaving draft appeared to be a map of sorts.

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 process is definitely materials-based, and I explore these ideas playing with form and structure. A lot of reading and research informs my work, too. I record observations in nature; make photos of textures; take notes from poetry, mythology, scientific texts; sketch and write my ideas. For example, the intricate lines found on scribbly gum bark are often a starting point for weft patterns.

I enjoy building things, and often make my own frame looms. After warping the loom I make a rough sketch with loosely woven thread. I prefer to work on an upright frame loom because I can see the entire piece at once. I weave in different areas simultaneously to build up texture and color. I also weave and wrap fibers off-loom that I incorporate back into a weaving.

I do my best to seek out natural fibers that are sustainably grown and spun. I most prefer linen and cotton. I also collect deadstock textiles that I cut up and wrap with other fibers. 

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

The research I do is the starting point for my work exploring the intimate connection between the natural world and the human body. Tapestry and sculpture are two of the ways I work through our physical and spiritual entanglement in an increasingly fragile ecosystem.

I have been really into a series of desert paintings made by Agnes Pelton. They are spiritual interpretations of the landscapes around her. The vocabulary of biomorphic shapes she created are simultaneously abstract and grounded.

 

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

I really enjoy beginning to weave once I’ve made an initial sketch over the warp thread. Everything is in place and I can focus on weaving and building texture. My least favorite part is tying off a weaving before cutting it off the loom as it feels repetitive, however, necessary. 

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 make work to exhibit, and sell work online and through commissions. It is important to me to sell work so that I can maintain my studio practice. I make my work with the intention that it exists out in the world beyond me.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in trees, the intricate mycological systems beneath forests, human bodies experiencing nature, eroding landscapes, green noise, mythology, memories.  

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

The book Barbara Chase-Riboud: Sculptor has really interested me lately. Her sculptural work incorporates fiber and textiles on a grand scale, and her interpretation of materials is brilliant. Her poetry and drawings are shown alongside sculpture.

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

Perhaps learn to play the harp.