As a participant in the European Textile Trainee programme in 2012, Ursula Wagner created an ultra-light and transparent multi-layered object, using abaca and metal wire to make huge waving and moving floats. The piece was inspired by the multi-layered sculptures of Japanese artist Kay Sekimachi (1965).
In 2012, the TextielMuseum organised the European Textile Trainee programme for the fifth time. The programme was attended by eight talented students from various European academies in the Netherlands and Italy. A key aim is to enable students to work and learn in a range of sectors in the textile industry. In addition, the trainees are expected to embark on (their own) design projects, making use of the opportunities provided. The central theme was ‘triggers’. Wagner explored the possibilities of multi-layered woven structures that become spatial objects through their own tension and stability.
Artist, textile designer and researcher Ursula Wagner divides her time between Berlin, Germany and Providence (RI), USA, where she is Assistant Professor for Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She studied textile and surface design at the Weissensee Academy of Art Berlin and Hiroshima City University in Japan. In her work, she explores the interplay between material, technology and aesthetics, especially the sculptural and three-dimensional aspects of textile construction. In 2012, she attended the European Textile Trainee Programme at the TextielLab and has since then come back to Tilburg to develop her projects here.
