Textiles and Tea, Sock Ministry, Face check

Today's Textiles and Tea featured Angie Parker, a rug and blanket weaver, originally from the North of England, Manchester, to he exact, now living in Bristol UK. Very appropriate guest for international women's day. 

She's fearless, running her own weaving business specializing in rugs and wall hangings, teaching and committed to  color as you'll see. At one point she spent time designing theatre costumes including circus ones, one of which she's modeling!

She loves the work of textile artist Anni Albers, of Bauhaus and Black Mountain college fame. 

From the groundbreaking designs of the Bauhaus, to history:  Angie's making original rugs and blankets on a table loom in Bristol, where the first bed covers were woven back in the 14th century.

The blankets came about during the first Covid lockdown when her exhibit and commission work halted, so she developed a beautiful wool blanket, a  product that local people could afford and wanted. 

She points out that lockdown and working from home meant people had money normally spent on travel and entertainment, available for home decor.

So the blankets did well locally in Bristol, whose brightly painted houses suggested the design. Also influenced, I'm guessing, by Josef Albers' design studies of color and the square shape.

Both Albers were teachers of my mentor Maggi Johnson at Black Mountain.

Angie is a bold designer, rarely testing out ideas on paper, though there's one example here, but much more likely to design directly onto the loom. This stuns the artists of the methodical plan and execute school of weaving.

One slide shows her surrounded by the contents of the studio disposed of by weaver Jason Collingwood when he gave up weaving. You can see her color sense will take on this huge stash and create wonders.

If she hits a design problem, she doesn't unpick, but solves as she goes, by changing the next decisions to compensate. She's a very painterly worker.

Also a fun speaker, very honest and unsparing with herself and not taking herself seriously. Her work, yes, herself, not so much. 

Here she is

The time was too short to contain her energy. 

If you're unfamiliar with Anni Albers and Josef Albers, check them out. Hugely influential in American fine and applied art, Germany's loss after the Bauhaus artists had to flee Nazism in the 1930s.  

They taught at the experimental Black Mountain College; many American artists studied there and went in to spectacular careers in the art world. Both of them had huge exhibits,  at the Guggenheim and MoMA among other galleries.

If you check them out you'll see their influence on Angie Parker's work.

Meanwhile back on earth, the Sock Ministry is tripping along, socking the patriarchy, one sock at a time

And here we are.

Happy day!