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Weaving Into Art
When most people, including myself, hear the word “basket” we commonly think of an object used to hold items. Nathalie Miebach of the Fitchburg Art Museum’s naturetech exhibit has taken the craft of “basket weaving” and molded the term into the “art of basket weaving”; literally.
Basket weaving has been dated as far back as 5000 to 1000 B.C. Native Americans arguably gave the craft of basketry its largest legacy by creating baskets that date as far back as the B.C era. Indians hailing out of, which are known now as Arizona and New Mexico, generated some of the first basket-molded pottery ever known to man. Back in these times, they created baskets out of vegetable fibers and used them as molds and brackets for their pottery based creations. Some of the first pots to be recovered by archaeologists have traces of these fibers within their cores. During these times the basket weaving technique was less for the actual use of a basket, and more for the base or structure for “more important” items to the Native Americans.
The materials used over the years of the evolving art of basket weaving that have been confirmed are a wide range of plant fibers including roots, cane, twigs, and grasses; reeds, raffia, and basket willows. Historically however, most Native American baskets have been made with willow, which is in fact, the most popular basket-making material worldwide.
Fast forward to March 8th, 2015 and enter the naturetech exhibit at the Fitchburg Art Museum. Nathalie Miebach’s breathtaking gallery became available to the public eye to get up and personal with. Going in blindly, I viewed all of her art abstractly and for the form, shape, and color of what the artworks delivered. It wasn’t until after that I learned from the Fitchburg Art Museum’s curator, Mary Tinti, that all of Miebach's works are created via the art of basket weaving. As seen in the images below, Miebach creates stunning sculptures out of colored willow and numerous other basket weaving materials; each varying per work.
“ The Ghostly Crew of the Andrea Gail ” has to be one of my favorite artworks of that utilizes basket weaving in Miebach’s gallery at naturetech. In this work as seen below, I interpreted Nathalie’s work as an astonishing usage of bending the fibers used to weave. From the wheels to the curving nature of the boat, I was amazed to see the basket weaving technique used in such a crisp, yet fluent manner. The sail and mast are equally impressive with their erratic and quirky bent details creating a circular yet “reaching” feel as if the works are circling and vibrating down the mast. However, my favorite detail of this artwork is the dragon breaching off of the right side of the ship. I could not believe that the dragon was used with the same basket weaving technique! The dragon’s face is so detailed with the clear vision of its eyes, tongue, and eyelids. I was able to get a genuine feel of the dragon’s facial expression and raw “anger” from Miebach's work.
“My method of translation is principally that of weaving – in particular basket weaving – as it provides me with a simple yet highly effective grid through which to interpret data in three-dimensional space. By staying true to the numbers, these woven pieces tread an uneasy divide between functioning both as sculptures in space as well as instruments that could be used in the actual environment from which the data originates.”-Nathalie Miebach
Check out this link to learn more!