Peruvian Textile Art

A little while ago I read a wonderful travel report from Diane Dorrans Saeks in her blog The Style Saloniste about Peru. And that reminded me of the wonderful textile art you can find in the Andes countries.

Especially the weavers of today can look onto an ancient tradition, dating back up to 4000 years. The oldest textiles were found at the pre-Columbian temple of Huaca Prieta in the Chicama Valley. The materials used then were brown and white cotton, vicuña, alpaca and llama wool. Sometimes materials such as human hair and bat fibers were included, more often gold and silver thread. Main weaving locations are Cuzco, Lima, Ayacucho, Puno, Junin and Apurimac. The colourful decorative works of today are often dyed with industrial dyes although natural dyes are still used as well or rather again by artists.

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On the website of a shamanic center I found the following two examples of peruvian textile art. Unfortunately I could not find any information about these pieces but I love the patterns as well as the colours...

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I am sure when people mention ancient Peruvian art they think of those incredible gold treasures first place which have been found in a country that can be proud of so many cultures and incredible works of art and craft. These treasures have made the country extremely vulnerable against looters and thieves and only since a few years "Peru has moved aggressively in recent years to reclaim works of its early cultures that have ended up abroad not to mention "private collections" where the artefacts unfortunately will be lost to the public and scientific research. In November last year, a final batch of thousands of artifacts from the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu were returned to Peru from Yale University." (read more)

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Between 600 and 1000, long before the Inca, the Wari (Huari) founded a society widely regarded today as ancient Peru's first empire. Wari became dominant in much of the territory of the earlier Moche and later Chimu cultures. Their textile art is beautiful.

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One of the most extraordinary masterpieces of the pre-Columbian Americas is a nearly 2,000-year-old cloth from the South Coast of Peru.
Despite the textile's small size (it measures about two by five feet), it contains a vast amount of information about the people who lived in ancient Peru; and despite its great age and delicacy, its colors are brilliant, and tiny details amazingly intact. (after The Paracas Textile).

The following images are from the website of the Khanacademy and show incredible workmanship that rather seems to belong into "modern times" rather than from 2000 years ago...

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On the above website you can find a fascinating explanation how this mantle has been created. There is a very special technique involved how the figures of the border have been created - crossed-looping. A diagram shows how this has been accomplished. The result looks nearly like knitting. Imagine that this example (The Paracas Textile) of unbelievable textile art is about 2000 years old.

Another breathtaking example from the Paracas culture is this mantle (normally used for wrapping up mummies in bundles):

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But the first reason for all these introductions into Peruvian Textile art and its thousands of years old tradition is a modern fiber artist - Maximo Laura. His award winning wall hangings are breathtakingly beautiful, full of mysteries and I am sure you will feel the same excitement and enthusiasm when you see his work if you don't know him already. He is an incredibly diligent artist and his works have been shown all-over the world. I can only show very few examples of his wonderful art:

Aire Vital, 20 x 20 cm. Alpaca, cotton, mixed fibers. Peruvian Contemporary Tapestry Art

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 Augur of the Harvest Time, 82 x 140 in, Alpaca Wool, Mixed Fibers. 

Handwoven Peruvian Tapestry Art

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 Camino Ardiente Hacia la Luz, 47 x 95 in., Alpaca Wool, Mixed Fibers. 

Handwoven Peruvian Tapestry Art

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Looking at the Balance of Life, 68 x 124 in., Alpaca Wool, Mixed Fibers. 

Handwoven Peruvian Tapestry Art

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 Ritual of the Birth Song, 96 x 48 in, Alpaca Wool, Mixed Fibers. 

Handwoven Peruvian Tapestry Art

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The Dream of the Warrior of Light at Dawn, 99 x 48 in, Alpaca Wool, Mixed Fibers. 

Handwoven Peruvian Tapestry Art

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Ritual of the Eternal Chant IV, 280 x 100 cm,  Alpaca wool, mixed fibers. 

Hand-Woven Peruvian Tapestry

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Sacred Night, 180 x 250 cm,  Alpaca wool, mixed fibers. 

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The following examples can be found on the World of Threads website. And don't forget to read the interview with Maximo there - he talks about his traditional roots, his inspiration, his progress as an artist and much more.
 

Presencia de los Apus en la Jungla, 180 x 278 cm, Hand-woven Tapestry

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Sacred meeting in the jungle, 176 x 402 cm, Alpaca wool, cotton, mixed fibers. Hand-woven Tapestry

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Spring of Love, 178 x 258 cm, Alpaca wool, cotton, mixed fibers. Hand-woven Tapestry

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A Silk Painting about a very special Place - Machu Picchu in Peru

As the next post will be about Peruvian textile art I am re-writing this post from a long time ago. Machu Picchu has always been a mysterious and magical place for me and I cannot get enough from listening and watching all sorts of documentations regarding this sacred place. To visit this spot in reality must be an incredible experience where already due to lack of oxygen the sucseptibility to spiritualism probably grows noticably. How could this place leave anyone untouched?

The silk painting Machu Picchu belongs to the Magic Symbols Series. I love the warm colours and the golden ornaments leave a feeling of preciousness. Even if you choose an art print instead of the original it will leave the same feeling as I use to add gold pigments by hand after the printing process to all prints where the original has been painted accordingly with gold metallic pigments.

Machu Picchu is truly a magical place, an archeological site which still holds many secrets. Thousands of tourists undertake each year an incredibly exhausting trip to this place which is not easy to reach as it is hidden high in the mountains of the Andes. 

"Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.
The Incas started building the estate around AD 1400 but it was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.
Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a sacred place." (from wikipedia)"

Whatever might turn out to be the real purpose of Machu Picchu - there is no doubt that this is a place full of magic and an incredible aura. Until today artefacts are found at this site and may lead to new discoveries.

"Machu Picchu"
40" x 13" 

silk, stitched

The ancient golden ornaments certainly add a special touch to the historical city and dreams about the lost treasures of the Inca people...

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Do You like empty Bedroom Walls?

Some people love minimalistic interior and others the contrary. The first one is often cold the second more often over-stuffed and cluttered. Both are not very helpful for a peaceful sleep I believe. Personally I don't like large rooms as a bedroom - I am more the cave type of person. My bedroom must be cosy, the bed should stand in the corner of the room with the wall directly behind my back. For protection - you know! You never know who could enter your cave to disturb your sleep and attack you. You need a safe place. This must be the remnants of evolutionary past?

What type of person are you? Would you be able to sleep in a wide open space with nothing behind and nothing in front of you and sometimes not even underneath? Let's say in one of those hyper-modern beds which are floating on a magnetic field? I could not sleep for the whole night for fear of drifting somewhere I cannot control.

Back to this example. As it stands this room is quite unappealing to me, too many squares and straight lines and the colour scheme is quite boring too. I would replace the armchair by something more colourful or at least upholster it with a different fabric.Then I would have something friendly and cheering to look at before I leave for the land of dreams instead of a dead brown thing that looks like a pile of dog poop.

And of course: the artwork is missing in this room. My suggestion would be to hang a large landscape on the wall that adds a bit more colour but fits harmoniously into the overall colour scheme such as this one:

The motif has been painted on pongé silk and depicts one of those breathtaking landscapes you can find on the Hawaiian Islands:

"Haleakala"

(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

I have added Here are some details of the painting

The last picture shows a special detail. This couple of hikers is so small that it has been painted with a magnifying glass:

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A lovely Room with an additional Touch

There is nothing to complain about this room. I simply love it. I love the window and how it has been adjusted to the door so that you have different shapes. I love the colours which are serene and very soothing but not dull. A very relaxing room but for all that the stencil on the wall looks to me a bit lonely...

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...therefore I would add a small unintrusive acrylic painting on the wall that perfectly fits into the colour scheme and design - if this was my room:

The painting belongs to the Reminiscenses series, a painting series that was created from my photo documentary about the Olympic Student Village in Munich, torn down a few years ago in order to be re-constructed.

In order to create a kind of memorial for the beautiful and often funnily painted walls which are now all lost I took hundreds of photos from the village. But this was not enough for me - I also decided to create a painting series from the most impressive and beautiful parts i.e. walls, doors and windows. The peeling paints and especially the marks all the vines left on the plaster created wonderful patterns and structures. There is an extra photo series only about these wall motifs which you will find here.

"White Wall"
(from the Reminiscences series)

acrylic, 26" x 18"

©Petra Voegtle

 

 

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 mmm

Buddha and Krishna in a Hallway

This is an image I saved a long time ago. A wonderful spacy hallway of a huge villa or even hotel somewhere in Asia. During my travels I have seen the most beautiful and spaciest lobbies in Southeast Asia where they seem to have plenty of place although this is paradoxical in overcrowed cities such as Hongkong or other Asian metropoles. But somehow there is always money somewhere which can buy these places with spaces that cover a whole village...

There is a beautiful Buddha statue in the background and I thought I have created another beautiful sculpture that could serve as a wonderful room devider: a triptych of "Krishna and Radha" without obscuring the view towards the Buddha but what an impact this could make:

This paravent has been entirely handcarved from pinewood and then painted with a varnish that looks like old ivory. It took me 9 months to finish this work from drawing to polishing and quite some blood as a sacrifice. The chisels are very sharp! It was inspired by Indian stone sculptures and wood carving but the design is truly original.
I have added a few detail photos for you so that you can see how filigree the carving is.

"Krishna and Radha"
Indian style triptych, hand carved, massive wood, 

85" x 93" x 7", 65 kg
©Petra Voegtle

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