Final Weaving – Elise Delgado

Intention:

My starting inspiration for this piece was the Puerto Rican flag and an image of a protestor. I knew that I wanted to shed light on the unrest in Puerto Rico but not as an activist piece but as a history piece. As I was weaving, I was reminded by images or stories of my family whenever I chose the colors that I did. I also wanted to incorporate how bright my warp was, into the piece as well. I intended for this project to be a sort of diary/storybook piece. I chose to make sections purposefully, because I wanted those to embody “pages” of a book. This book being pieces of my life story.

Process:

I used the wool we dyed in class, fabric from my fashion show application, and yarns that my mother gifted to me for this project. I also incorporated glitter pipe cleaner as “barbed wire” and duct tape to signify the duct tape the women protestors wore across their mouths in July. I started out my weaving by doing the Puerto Rico flag. Initially I wanted to cut an actually flag and thread it into the weaving, but I thought it would show more skill and allow me to think into my stories if I hand-wove the flag. I chose to add a variation of colors of red in the flag to give it some dimension. The next section embodies the landscape of Puerto Rico. When I closed my eyes to imagine what I wanted to tell next, I remember being high up in the mountains and looking out to the sun at the horizon, and seeing beautiful rolling hills of lush green trees and land. I chose to add a curve into that section and the textured sun to represent sun but also flowers. I kept to the yarn and fabric because I only wanted to add small elements of outside materials to this piece. I wanted the colors and imagery to do the work and to evoke feelings of energy, pride, and warmth.

The figure was a very tough section for me because I initially wanted to do a red background to the yellow figure, but my choice to leave the warp visible was to symbolize transparency about protesting. It also gives a feeling of a cage, how Puerto Ricans are caged from living comfortably and feeling supported by the US government. The white yarn that is tangled and with loose ends finishes off this section by exhibiting the unrest. It is unruly, chunky, interwoven- all of issues seen in protests and how people’s emotions were in July. I felt as though this imagery was very violent and strong that I wanted to contrast it with a strong memory I had of my grandmother. Her story as being a seamstress in New York City came to me and I wanted to emphasize the roots that landed on the US mainland -my grandparents. To conclude the piece, I wanted to tie all the colors I had together into a lovely image of the beach and sunset. Puerto Rico has incredible sunsets that I always miss, and I wanted to share a very warm and inviting image at the top to replicate the warmth of the flag at the opposite side of the tapestry.

Learning:

I learned that weaving takes a lot of discipline and many of the ideas that you have may not always come out the way you intend, but there is beauty in those errors. I also learned that I judge my work too hard. When I was in the class critique, I did not expect major responses to the person image and the use of color. I think that I sometimes get too close to my work and do not see how it embodies who I am and is doing what I want it to do. If I were to continue, I would love to do a lot of solids and color blocking with patterning. I like when the yarn is popped out and the textures that you can get. I would measure my sections better next time and maybe do a drawing of the entire weaving that I would like to complete. I usually do not do a sketch beforehand as to not stifle myself from creativity, but a guideline sketch would help. I think having confidence in my work being mine and that it will always embody me is important. People do perceive most of what my intentions are and I will strive to only enhance that perception.