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:
CS Triptych is a handwoven tapestry. Tapestry is a form of weaving, the interlacement of two sets of threads in an under over, under over fashion. I use cotton seine twine for the vertical threads (warp). I use a variety of materials for the horizontal threads (weft), including wool, cotton, silk and metallics.
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 I enjoy the monumental work for its historical reference and embracing warmth.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. The tapestries of Medieval Europe and those of the Andes have influenced my work.
I often use smaller works to explore new directions, which is the case with CS Triptych. CS triptych is part of a series that grew out of color explorations. These explorations were initially carried out as small watercolors (2.5” x 2”). The imagery is, for the most part abstract. This allows the colors to speak without reference to some recognizable, or perhaps, imagined source, although, of course, a viewer might make her or his own associations. Some of the watercolors have become Marquette for tapestries.
