As I am approaching the last two chapters of my thesis, the section I am presently writing on Sheila Hicks has been the most interesting chapter to research and write. I was lucky enough to meet her in person this past June, I was so excited to meet her that I interrupted Lucca Missoni while he was speaking with her (that is right the Mr. Missoni). Here is some information about Sheila's work in case you are not familiar with oeuvre.
Sheila Hicks has been a leader in the growth of fiber arts and its present status in contemporary art. She is most well known for her large scale installation pieces and her role in the international fiber revolution which transformed textiles into a three-dimensional art form during the 1960’s. Hicks has been working with fiber arts since the late 1950’s. Her training began as a painter at Yale an institution where neither ceramics, glassware and especially not weaving was taught. At this time time there was a powerful bias against craft. As Hicks observed the knitting of painted lines on her canvases she began to wonder why the same couldn’t be done with thread. Halfway through her undergraduate degree her tutor, Bauhaus master Josef Albers persuaded her to apply for a fulbright scholarship which she received and set off for Chile in 1957. While in Chile she taught colour classes, travelled and established her fascination with textiles. Two years later, after finishing her masters degree, she married and moved to a beekeeping ranch in Mexico where she had a daughter and began to seriously develop her techniques. She became close friends with weavers in the area and architects such as Luis Barragan, Ricardo Legorreta and Felix Candela.
(Josef Anni quote where does it fit?) Similiar to Anni Albers her work is also highly influenced by the weaving techniques of Central and South America. Sheila's work was in the 1969 exhibition Wall Hangings at MoMA, in Larsen and Constantine's book Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric as well as many other exhibitions. Her retrospective has been at the Addison Museum of Art, ICA Philadelphia and it is now at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, North Carolina. This article written about her work and retrospective in Wallpaper is fantastic! Wallpaper magazine I have posted some of my favorite pieces below.
