Susie Taylor

Name: Susie Taylor

Studio location: San Jose, CA

Website / social links: susietaylorart.com, @weaving.origami, artsy.net

Loom type or tool preference: I prefer multi shaft floor looms with treadles and I own a 16 shaft & 20 shaft Macomber

Years weaving: 33

Fiber inclination: linen, cotton and spun silk

Current favorite weaving book: Weimar Crafts of the Bauhaus which depicts some work by Gunta Stölzl, the Bauhaus master who is my current obsession

 

 

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

I grew up around tools and people that knew how to use them so that rubbed off on me. I was immediately drawn to weaving because the loom was a fascinating tool. As an art student at Kansas City Art Institute (Fiber '91) my greatest resource was my peers but there were only a few classmates that were seriously studying weaving. My curiosity for complex structure was my guide and still is.

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, weaver, and designer (and sometimes engineer). All of my creative output comes from the same place but I tend to solve visual and structural puzzles with weaving in mind.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

My first weaving project was unmemorable but in general, weaving was one of the first things to "awaken" me as a young adult. It provides a certain structure to my life that I still rely on.

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?

I sketch a lot on grid paper and then translate my ideas into digital designs and weave drafts before heading to the loom. My work is highly scripted improvisation in which I make the complex look simple. I have a good idea what the outcome will be before I weave; I usually never "wing it" however mistakes are often a great source of inspiration.   

I tend to be driven more by structure than texture but I am currently sampling a lot of new weaves that are compatible with specific constructions that I work within (origami and loom controlled double weave).  Currently I am inspired by both Anni Albers and Gunta Stölzl to create more surface interest by use of a more diverse bank of weaves.

 

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

My work explores geometric abstraction with formalistic and minimalistic tendencies. Using basic building blocks, I address pattern, symmetry, proportion and positive/negative space. Often, I modify my process and equipment to achieve complex ideas with simple and/or unusual outcomes.

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

The weaving process can be long but I don't tend to divide it into favorite and least favorite parts. I try to make each step enjoyable; whatever it takes to get me weaving on the loom.

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?

Most artists piece together many activities to make ends meet. I take commissions, teach workshops, freelance for industry and am slowly starting to sell my artwork through galleries. I like these diverse activities because they keep me learning and stepping in new directions.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

I am inspired by the infinite possibilities of geometric abstraction and jazz. I look at a lot of mid-century and contemporary art and continue to be inspired by the Bauhaus and DeStijl movements.

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

Significant influences have been M.C. Escher, Paul Klee, pre-Columbian weaving, Isamu Noguchi, Lenore Tawney, Neda Al-Hilali, Kay Sekimachi, Anni Albers, Gunta Stölzl, Virginia Davis, Richard Landis, Ethel Stein, Eric Gjerde and Jan Schoonhoven.

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

I have a growing interest in working digitally, printmaking, and in making low relief sculpture with paper and/or paper mache.

photo credits: James Dewrance