Spring artist Elizabeth Calcote is a textile artist with a background in printmaking. Her works are inspired by history, pattern, and much more. Read on to learn about what is influencing her upcoming series for the 2015 spring share!
Perhaps my greatest source of inspiration is the artistic process. Because of my printmaking background, I am drawn to technique and experimentation with media. Vera Neumann was a textile designer born in the beginning of the 20th century. After studying at Cooper Union and marrying her husband, she started a company in her NYC studio apartment. Converting her kitchen table into a silkscreen press, she printed linen placemats. This was the modest start to her brand, Vera, which made scarves and eventually sportswear. Her story led me to start my brand, Sisters Grimm, block-printing wearable silk textiles out of my home studio in Charleston.
“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” Emile Zola
(Left) “Corpse and Mirror” Jasper Johns 1976, (Right) “The Dutch Wives” Jasper Johns 1975
When I was eight years old, we took a family vacation to Washington, D.C., which included a stop at The National Gallery. The one piece I could not resist going back to was past the dozens of Warhol soup cans and comic-book-style Lichtensteins. It was a series of linocuts by Jasper Johns called “Cicada.” I was immediately drawn to it. Little did I know at the time that there were dozens more pieces very similar to “Cicada” which Johns painted and printed in the years before. Now it seems as though the lines are an equation, something he was solving throughout the decades, working through to find an answer. The result was a series that was universally moving, regardless of time, place, or age.
“We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning.” - Henry Ward Beecher
(Left) Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stained Glass, Metropolitan Museum (Right) Interior of Mark Twain House and Museum
In history, I find inspiration and comfort, knowing that human life itself is just another repeating pattern. Henry Ward Beecher was the brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famous abolitionist who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Her home was adjacent to Mark Twain’s house, and often a double-stop field trip for all elementary age children in Connecticut, which included me in the 1990’s. Mark Twain’s house was the most magical place to me, untouched by time, glistening with stained glass like jewels, and designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The craft left behind by those before us, before our technology and unlimited resources, is astounding.
“There are 360 degrees, so why stick to one?” Zaha Hadid
(Left) Zaha Hadid, Aura for 2008 Venice Biennale (Right) Kiki Smith, Wonder
Yayoi Kusama, Yellow Trees
My designs are influenced by past artifacts, architecture, and civilizations. But work from visionaries like Zaha Hadid, Yayoi Kusama, and Kiki Smith remind me that while there are “no new ideas,” there are always new risks, new media, and new collaborations. As a designer, I am grateful to experience the work of others, to have the luxury to fail without punishment, to experiment without expectations, and to live and create freely.
Elizabeth Calcote is one of the 2015 Spring Season artists.
PURCHASE ELIZABETH’S SEASON