When threads are used to carve out space, it can be transformative. Soft, yet structural, defined lines with fluid movement, graceful, colorful, free form. These are four artists who maximize(d) the power of the humble, beautiful thread in innovative gestures. Fred Sandback (1943-2003), Elsi Giauque (1900-1989), Anne Wilson, & Tanya Aguiniga.
Elsi Giauque: I've not been able to find out too much information about this most intriguing artist. but when I saw her work in person and later in books, I was blown away but her innovative use of threads as sculpture, architecture, object. Wish there was more work out there!
Fred Sandback was born in 1943 in Bronxville, New York. After receiving a B. A in philosophy at Yale University, he studied sculpture at Yale School of Art and Architecture. In 1981 the Dia Art Foundation initiated and maintained a museum of Sandback's work, the Fred Sandback Museum in Winchendon, Massachusetts, which was open until 1996.
Anne Wilson is a Chicago-based visual artist who creates sculpture, drawings, performances and video animations that explore themes of time, loss, private and social rituals. Her artwork embraces conceptual strategies and handwork using everyday materials -- table linen, bed sheets, human hair, lace, thread, glass, and wire.
One of my favorite artists working today and an inspiration for when I first opened my e-commerce shop in 2010, Tanya Aguiñiga (b.1978) is a Los Angeles based furniture designer/maker raised inTijuana, Mexico. Tanya’s work is informed by border experiences: the interconnectedness of societies, the beauty in struggle and the celebration of culture. She uses furniture as a way to translate emotions into a three dimensional objects and tell stories trough color and touch. Her work encourages users to reconsider the objects they use on a daily basis by creating work that explores an objects’ unseen aspect, such as half chairs that rely on the wall to function and whose image is only complete as its shadow is cast upon the wall. Tanya Aguiniga
