Art Weave: A Tapestry of Life and the Arts

An exuberant, bursting orange sun against a blue sky hovering over a row of tiny hills and fields.

Benguet blooming with the vibrant colors of the sunflower.

A lush landscape beckoning towards the orange sun sending out sunshine rays as it sets on the horizon.

The earth, our home, a field of bright geometric patterns seen from above.

When weavers and visual artists collaborate and work together in the Cordilleras, woven and mixed media tapestries of art are created to delight the eye and touch your heart.

The tapestries, awoke in me vivid and happy memories of trips to the North, to Baguio, the Summer Capital of the Philippines, lush, colorful, and cool, where we would always visit weaving centers to come home with Benguet blankets, cushion covers, and hand-woven cloth that my mother would make into wearables– a poncho, a skirt, a vest,– or hung as curtains and yes, even as a wall hanging, like the tapestries that hung in the exhibit.

Entitled “Art Weave: A Tapestry of Life and the Arts”, the exhibit was held at ARTablado in the Robinsons Galleria Mall and was on view from September 16, 2023, to October 11, 2023. The exhibit was curated by fabric artist and educator, Twinkle Ferraren, and held in collaboration with ARTablado who provided the space where these handwoven pieces of art could be seen and enjoyed by the public.

Inspired by what she saw in Baguio during the pandemic, Baguio, being a UNESCO Creative City for Folk Arts & Crafts, she conceived the Art Weave Project, bringing together the Baguio painters and weavers to learn from each other and work hand in hand. With the weaver interpreting the painting through a woven piece, the mounted pieces showcased new designs that looked like paintings but were handwoven and made entirely of thread and yarns, some interlaced with crocheted pieces and beads, or with paint, making them mixed media works of art.

Handweaving can be seen as just a craft but it is also a storytelling, a way culture and stories are passed down generations. Each motif, a symbol carries both the cultural and personal stories of those who weave them.

The Art Weave Project respects this important tradition and helps to expand the visual language of the weavers. They were encouraged to explore new designs and patterns and try new compositions and approaches to express more vividly the Cordilleran culture. (Art Weave: A Tapestry of Life and the Arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoZgcfSjyoA)

The hand-woven scenes that were on display during the exhibit tell stories about a culture and a way of life in a fresh new way… Art and Weaves working together takes a traditional craft to a higher level, and elevates it to other spaces, making it a medium of expression and opening the future for hand-weaving artistry.

It opens the future for inabel (Filipino term for woven cotton fabric), one that encourages individual artistry while staying true to their identity and history. Woven on narrow looms, inabel were made into household items like table cloths and table runners, bed sheets and blankets. But now, patterns and motifs are reshaped and re-envisioned.

Among the tapestry handiworks of the Baguio weavers, a few tapestry works by Narda Capuyan were on display to remember and pay tribute to a key figure in the history of textile and tapestry weaving in the region. Narda Capuyan’s (1943-2016) works were born out of her keen eye for the modern and on exhibit was: “Collagestry” a tapestry collaboration between Allan Cosio and Narda Capuyan’s weavers, and “Dap-ay” a piece created with artist Jimmy Montero. Both were made circa 1980s-1990s.

As Twinkle Ferraren shared, “The ART WEAVE project was created to support and sustain the livelihood of our Textile Weavers, to give them new ideas in creating their pieces. For the Artist-Partners, this becomes a new avenue for an additional income stream through handwoven textile reproduction of the works. Later on, rendered and handwoven-produced for home or fashion accessories/accents.”

“We chose to exhibit at ARTablado because Art Weave was also born during the pandemic. We are happy that ARTablado is a space that is nurturing and provides opportunities for new artists and groups to expose new art media to the public,” she said. “The Art Weave Project was made possible by Baguio Arts & Crafts Collective Inc. and TELUS International Grant.” (Source: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/476129/handwoven-pieces-that-delight-the-eye-urge-you-to-touch/)

Here are some of the works that were on display (images sourced from ARTablado Facebook page)