For ‘Tropical Scenery’, a series of woven paintings, Liesbeth Piena researched how to 'mix' colours on the loom. Her aim was to create as many different shades as possible using as few different yarns as possible to represent an image in textiles.
In this project, Piena investigated the possibilities of creating paintings from woven yarns instead of paint using a minimal palette. When mixing paint, different colours are blended to form a new colour. The original colours can no longer be distinguished from each other. However, this mixing process is visible in a woven painting. There are different 'mixing techniques' in weaving. You can alter the material (matt or glossy), the structure and weave (fine or coarse), and the way in which different coloured threads are combined to create the illusion of new colours. By experimenting with matt and glossy yarns and finer and coarser structures, Piena created as many colour nuances as possible with as few different yarns as possible. From a distance, the fabric appears to be composed of areas of colour while up close the image dissolves into pixels made up of the different coloured threads next to each other. ‘Neotropical I and II’ are bright fabrics full of subtle details that change depending on the position and distance of the viewer.
Supported by Mondriaanfonds Young Talent.
Over eight development days, Piena and product developer Judith Peskens investigated how to subtly mix colours using various bindings, yarns, combinations and proportions. They made numerous samples to test the palette. As the differences between the test sections were sometimes extremely subtle, it was important to take them off the loom to assess the result properly. It also turned out that assessing the sections in this way gave a distorted picture. In a sample of a small design, the subtlest – and in the test sections almost invisible – differences were actually visible.
In the tests, the initial focus was on the colours of the yarns and the colours that could be created if the yarns were woven next to one another. The duo then looked at the proportions of each colour for more subtle variations as well as how the materials functioned. Optically, the woollen threads mixed very nicely. Meanwhile, the glossy viscose threads ensured that the colour could be influenced by the light. Finally, they investigated how to produce areas of the same composition using larger and smaller weaves. The coarser weaves produced a different colour tone, which was very useful for achieving subtle colour differences.
Liesbeth Piena (Waalre, 1993) came to weaving from a background in painting. She graduated cum laude with a fine art degree from AKI in Enschede. In her work, she reduces plants and natural landscapes to essential forms. She looks at reality with an analytical eye, honing in on small details. She selects striking fragments and uses them to compose new images. She incorporates a lot of colour in her paintings as well as many different colours. Playing with colours and the sophisticated colour nuances that can be achieved in this way is a skill she has now transferred to the loom.
‘A Colour Has Many Layers’, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam, September 2021
‘Tropical Scenery’, Dudok Rotterdam, part of Rotterdam Art Week, February-May 2022
‘Showcase IV’, ACEC Apeldoorn, February-March 2022
‘How to Bring a Blush to the Snow’, Plaatsmaken Arnhem, November 2021-February 2022
‘A Colour Has Many Layers’, Mirjam Westen [ed.], Jurriaan Benschop, Francis Nagy, Jap Sam Books, September 2021, ISBN 978-94-92852-41-0
