Artist:
Laurie Carlson Steger
Bio:
Laurie Carlson Steger explores the nuances of atmospheric phenomenon in metaphorical companionship with spiritual investigations between heavenly and earthly presence. Using texture, pattern and reflective materials, she tries to relay the experience of combined senses. She began weaving in the 1960’s and studied at The Worcester Center for Crafts in the 1970’s and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, earning a BFA and MFA in Artisanry/Fibers. She is a Master Weaver who explored weaving with fiber optic materials and consulted in the field of smart textile applications. She earned the Handweavers Guild of America Certificate of Excellence in weaving. Steger is the current Associate Dean of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. Her work has been included in Fiberart International, FAN:Excellence in Fibers, and London Hat Week, among others. She taught Textile Science at Boston area colleges, and has led workshops/lectures at many weaving guilds and other textile organizations.
Artist Statement:
Imagining a fairy castle or dragon monster in cloud formations is a child’s game of marvel. Yet hiding in billows of pompadour vapor, lurks a storm.
“Fat Man” and “Little Boy” (the nicknames given the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945) exploded, days apart, like a genie bursting out of the bottle. A cloud of massive size and powerful beauty concealed the consequences far below. Soon after, World War II would end. The atomic age transformed the way the world protects against escalation of wars. Nearly eighty years later, we still feel reverberations of these extreme measures of defense. Records of the devastating effects and the prolonged recovery of the Japanese people are stored in the cloud. Reconciliation brings a warning for the future and the wish that we may all have peace to ponder at clouds like a child.
This work was transformative for my weaving practice with various parameters of skills required to attain an image that is all at once beautiful to behold and horrifying to realize the powerful origin.
Techniques Used: Photoshop, computer digital drafting, Jacquard weaving on Thread Controller 2 loom, inlay surface stitches during the weaving, stitching of surface, quilt construction with linen backing, hand stitched ties, Aluminum support
Materials: cotton, linen, cotton batting, aluminum support
Measurements: 56" x 56" x 2"
