Bio:
Mary Lane is an artist and art historian. She began weaving tapestry in 1976 and in 1982 became a founding member of the Scheuer Tapestry Studio in New York City. Her tapestries have been exhibited internationally and have been collected by both private and corporate art collections. Her teaching experience includes Parsons School of Design, the University of Maine and The Evergreen State College. Lane’s writing on contemporary textiles has been published widely. She is retired from her position as Executive Director of the American Tapestry Alliance.
Artist Statement:
Tapestry is a form of weaving, the interlacement of two sets of threads in an under over, under over fashion. My work in tapestry is both large and small scale. I enjoy the monumental work for its historical reference and embracing warmth. Miniature work attracts me with its intimacy and the relative speed with which a piece can be finished.
Rising/Falling is based on an image created by layering two different watercolors and letting them interact. The image was created in Photoshop. One of the watercolors is the larger blue, yellow and orange shapes. The other watercolor is the ascending, or perhaps, descending, forms that suggest some kind of alphabet. It appears as though a message is being transmitted, but it is not legible. The letters seem incomplete; the letters are dissolving in to the background; the letters are impossible to comprehend. Why is it so hard to communicate?
The design for Drift includes patterns I created by cropping details from historic textiles and reconfiguring them. Some components I chose for their color, others for their shape. As I composed the design, the blue background with the gold motif became water. Water sometimes seems so abundant, as when one visits the ocean. Other times it is scarce, creating tension between the various stakeholders. In scarcity, difficult decisions impact the lives of the entire planet. The middle section is a break, a pause in the progression of the water. The abstract patterns offer the opportunity for absorption and reflection.