Today’s studio Sunday will focus on Anni Albers. One of the most important and well-known textile artists of the 20th century, Albers is known for her loom-woven works, and is seen here weaving in her studio at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Albers’ husband Josef, another noted artist and educator, was a teacher at the college.

I imagine a textile studio to be slightly different from, say, a painting or sculpture studio. The prevailing mess would have been less paint splatters than bits of fabric and thread strewn about. The loom, or most likely multiple looms, so she could work on a few different projects at once, would have taken up most of the space. It would be interesting to have your studio space inside an art college – possibly the continuous bustle of students and teachers passing by would have been an inspiration, and it would have been nice to have people around to keep you focused on the work, or to bounce ideas off of.

Albers’ works combine textile design, printmaking, and drafting, often using as their basis geometric line art and repeating patterns on grids. In some of them, the influence of the geometric and colour focused pieces of her husband is palpable, but the influence never seems to be a crutch – it’s as if Albers is paying homage to her husband through her works, while still carving out her own niche.    

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