Silvia Heyden Weaving Notes and Nature

Today was a beautiful cool, spring Carolina Day.  My dear daughter (DD) suggested we meet for lunch at the Nasher Museum in Durham and see the Silvia Heyden exhibit.  Little did DD know that Silvia Heyden is a weaving hero to me.  I have seen and blogged about a prior exhibit here.  Read all the books she wrote and watched the documentary A Weaverly Path many times.

Today's exhibit was small but exquisite.  The museum and cafe are wonderful and time with DD, it doesn't get any better!

Hurricane 1962

It is hard to imagine this tapestry as an early work of Silvia's.  It is so innovative.  Silvia coined the phrase "weaverly path."  She was not interested in weaving a traditional representative tapestry.  She focused on movement and fluidity.  She was a talented violinist and musicality and rhythms informed her weaving.  

Omega 1972

Although born in Switzerland and educated at the Bauhaus, Silvia's tapestries reflect her life in Durham, her love of the Eno and her belief that weaving was music made visible.  I appreciated the way this exhibit reflected these influences.

Tybee 1967

Tybee pictured above and in detail below illustrates Silvia's ability to move beyond the rigid horizontal and vertical grid of the loom.  Wedge weave is a Navaho weaving technique that appeared after 1870 and mostly disappeared after 1890.  The Navaho weavers wove diagonally, escaping the grid as Silvia's does in her work.  Unfortunately, traders did not appreciate the scalloped edges and irregularities produced by wedge weave.  Silvia referred to her techniques as "feathers, half-rounds and triangles" but the similarities are noteworthy.  The resulting irregular selvedges and undulations in the weaving reflect the movement Silvia was hoping to capture.

Tybee detail

Tybee detail

Tybee detail

From the detail pictures of Tybee, you can see how Silvia changes the direction of the weaving and uses various yarns to depict movement and texture.  She was capturing the changing colors and formations of the sand on Tybee Island.  Silvia's daughter, Francoise provided original thread from Silvia for conservation of Tybee for this exhibit, the thread tying the past and present together.

Through my membership in Tapestry Weavers South and the Triangle Weaving Guild I have met friends and students of Silvia Heyden.  They have shared their experiences and described her as not only a talented but generous teacher.  I regret never having the opportunity to meet her.  I am thankful for her work and the generosity of her son and daughter in sharing it with us.

Bravo Nasher Museum of Art.  I am going to go back and see this exhibit again at least one more time.  Despite my tremulous efforts, I am inspired to weave tapestry again and deeply dive into Silvia's work and writings.  Thanks DD!