Suzanne Knight
3D Woven Tapestry
The Printmaking Studio
June to September 2023
Suzanne is a Canberra artist, initially trained as a printmaker her art practice includes textiles, Japanese woodblock prints, drawing, painting and lithography.
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Every day as a small child I shared the morning tea table with the women in the street, watching a moving display of objects and patterns shift across the tablecloth, contained in the format of the kitchen table, contained in the format of a suburban house on a three-quarter block. For many years my art practice has explored this containment and those memories; primarily in imagery influenced by domestic vessels and food. These suburban experiences have also informed explorations of comparative cross cultural food practices- what is food for one culture is not food for another, and cross cultural food traditions. I have also been interested in food miles, the cost to the environment in our reliance on long distance truck transport and the future of fresh food production where genetic enhancements have bred more disease resistant yet generic crops or insecticides threaten our insect populations.
Most recently my concerns have turned towards the environment, where non-degradable plastic bottles, cups, supermarket items and bags fill landfill and edge out our native fauna and flora; or escape to our beaches and oceans to be consumed by sea creatures. This pollution has become even more prevalent during a pandemic where we filled containers with disinfectant and attempted to scrub away a virus.
In my most recent work I have used the technique of tapestry weaving to draw and paint with yarn- creating small tapestries depicting domestic vessels such as kitchen objects, tea cups, Tupperware, glassware, plastic bottles, plastic bags. These are then displayed either as a still life arrangement on the wall or self supported standing on a shelf attached to the wall.
Tapestry weaving resists impatience and is a very contemplative medium. The surfaces are rich and lush, woven and airy yet very robust and strong. I begin by capturing the shapes and colours in a simple gouache painting, which then informs how I mix the blends of coloured yarn in the tapestry, trying to match the lightness and translucency of the painting in the medium of wool and cotton."
