Sheila Hicks ― Weaving As Metaphor

This intriguing book examines the small woven and wrought works artist Sheila Hicks has produced for the past fifty years. With their distinctive colors, thoughtful compositions, and narrative, these miniature creations reveal the emergence and continuity of the artist’s approach to her work. Internationally recognized for her mastery of a textile vocabulary of extremely different scales—sculpture, tapestry, site specific commissions for public spaces, environments of recuperated clothing and uniforms, and more—Hicks has thoughtfully crafted miniatures throughout her nomadic career. The palm-sized works present a record of her remarkable and personal journeys.

Focusing on some one hundred miniatures from public and private collections, the book demonstrates the breadth of Hicks's concerns: her persistent inquiry into the mysteries of color, her playful yet reverential subversions of weaving traditions, her surprising range of materials, and her exploration of new technology. From initial experiments based on pre-Columbian weaving structures to a 2005 sculptural project using ninety colors of synthetic filaments, these small works offer a unique opportunity to access and examine the artist's conceptual and technical forays. The volume includes informative essays by Arthur C. Danto, Joan Simon, and Nina Stritzler-Levine as well as illustrations of the artist’s working tools, related drawings, photographs, and chronology.

Nina Stritzler-Levine, curator of the exhibition that accompanies this publication, is director of exhibitions and executive editor of exhibition catalogues at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture.