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| Bamboo |
“Medieval
tapestries were often political or religious parables clothed in classical
allusions. I use this ancient art form with modern symbols and metaphors to
circumvent the rational mind and reach people on an intuitive, emotional level.
The familiarity and non-threatening nature of textiles allows me to seduce the
viewer into taking a closer look at preconceived assumptions.
I draw on my heritage, my own
photographs and old family photos, the mystical side of world religions, and my
personal experiences to develop an iconography to express my passionate
concern. I am concerned with humanity and its relationship to the environment,
both natural and man-made, and to itself. We have lost our sense of who we are
and how we fit into our world.”
Barbara
Heller
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| Left Window Passing Shadow Right Window |
Tapestries
and fiber based wall art in general is often stuck with the perception that
it's an archaic craft, dating from medieval times and only existing as either
museum pieces or reproductions thereof in the present day. Contemporary artists
like Vancouver based Barbara Heller, however, take the time honored craft and
transform it into a vital expression of modern concerns.
Tapestry
wasn't Heller's first choice in arts though. She started out as a printmaker,
until an allergy to the chemicals forced her to switch careers.Her introduction
to tapestry came in the form of an evening course in someone's basement. Later,
inspired by a traveling show of Polish tapestry, she set up her first loom and
taught herself by trial and error. She has been a full-time tapestry artist
since 1980.
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| Ozymandias |
To
act as a mediator requires an ability to accept as valid more than one point of
view and to show alternative paths to resolution that all parties can agree to.
In tapestry, politics partakes of an historical tradition that willingly shows
the mutilations of war, the betrayals of kings, and the apocalyptic nature of
fate in a way that is much like theater. Both Heller and Lurçat [French artist
who revived the tapestry tradition after WW2] take the stage as mediators
moving between real-world events and old-world history. To succeed in mediating
a consensus requires an understanding of both the world around them and the
strength of their medium. And neither of them could know in advance with any
certainty whether the communities they spoke to would agree to discussion and
be able to see the possibilities their mediations provide.
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| War Zones: Somalia The Apple of God’s Eye |
The
Artist is concerned with humanity and its relationship to the environment and
to itself. She is concerned with war and homelessness and poverty, which she
believes results from the loss of our sense of who we are and how we fit into
our world. These concerns are not always evident in her work, but they are
always there as subtext. Viewing Heller’s work promotes meditation, and
enhances our perceptions. The artist invites us to rethink ourselves not only
in art but also in social and environmental justice. We are all integrated circuits.
Her work is a process of restoration and an echo of the natural and man made
world’s unremitting cycle of decay and renewal.
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| Sunspots |
Barbara
Heller’s stunning tapestries carefully draw the line (in both senses of the
term) between myth and history, past and present, art and craft, the individual
and the community, the artist and her world, again and again underscoring the
intrinsic interdependence of each binary pair. What sense, their work
suggestively asks, can one have without the other? Where do the specific and the
universal, the local and the global intersect?… What do we hide from or seek in
both others and ourselves in the masquerade of everyday existence? What meaning
does an individual have outside the community?…
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| Still Life…With Bird Stones #19: Zion |
Equally
committed to fulfilling her fair share of responsibility to mend our world, Barbara Heller, too, chooses to
imbue an ancient art with new aesthetic, political and spiritual dimensions —a
radical move that further positions both artists as leaders among a growing
international movement whose aim it is to restore tapestry, mosaics, and other
art practices similarly demoted to the status of craft or decorative art to the
recognition they thoroughly enjoyed before the Enlightenment…
Heller’s
approach is rather inductive. Initially enticing the viewer by the tactile
beauty of the yarns and the image itself, allowing time for the message behind
the image to be absorbed, she slowly builds upon the constitutive elements of a
nascent image and concept, allowing for the paradigmatic emergence of the
larger whole to become manifest gradually throughout the piece and cumulatively
throughout all her work.
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| Shiva Dances Red Poppy |
In
some of her series, Barbara Heller uses historical images. There she distills
ideas from newscasts selecting images that comment on humankind’s historical
struggle to live in dignity. Using tapestry with mixed media she expresses
horrific implications resulting from international events. She weaves adults in
scenes where they seem alien to their environment; children lost in poverty
created by war; destroyed buildings become carcasses of hate; fragments of
birds’ wings and bones imply inexplicable loss of life, freedom and joy.
Initially the soft qualities of tapestry mask her terrifying visions. When the
full impact of her intent is seen, the effect is ominous. It is demonic — not
on her part, but what her art represents. Tapestry allows Heller to give
reality to the unspeakable while drawing the viewer to wallow in texture and color before soliciting contemplation and a sense of responsibility to form
the future…
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Surgeon - Cover Up Series - Afghani Woman
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The
life experiences and perspectives lead Heller to believe that allegiance to
country, ethnicity and religion can be fool’s false truths. Instead, her art
takes us into an international arena of politically sensitive artists where
historical art, media, images and ideas applied to current events become powerful
tools for social statements.
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| Seagulls: The Herald Passages |
Barbara
Heller is an artist who feels passionate about tapestry. Her art defines her
life. She has exhibited widely locally, nationally, and internationally for the
past thirty years and her tapestries have been featured in several books and
been the subject of numerous articles. To promote all the fiber arts, and
tapestry in particular, Barbara has organized symposia, written articles, given
lectures, edited publications, taught workshops and curated exhibitions. She
has represented Canada overseas and lectured on Canadian tapestry and her own
work. She sat on the Board of the American Tapestry Alliance for eight years.
She still volunteers with ATA as chair of their distance learning mentorship program
and personally mentors two people. She founded the British Columbia Society of
Tapestry Artists and is co-editor of the Canadian Tapestry Newsletter.
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|
Stonewall
#5 War Zones:
Rwanda
|
Currently she shares the Fiber Art Studio with three floor-loom weavers and a knitter. She is the
animated display in the corner window and she can be seen weaving tapestry
almost every day. The studio is on Granville Island in Vancouver and is open to
the public.
For more of Barbara's work
you can check her Website:
http://barbaraheller.ca
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The Shaman - Seagull Series - The Patriot
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| Barbara Heller |
