Tapestry—“A Piece of Thick Textile Fabric with Pictures Or Designs Formed by Weaving Colored Weft Threads Or by Like the Like
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Foreword Tapestry—“a piece of thick textile fabric with pictures or designs formed by weaving colored weft threads or by Like the Like Foreword Like the ceramics of Chuck and Fulden Wissinger, which shape and give life to the raw materials of nature, experience, and the imagination, the contributions of this second volume of Tapestry create art from the raw facts of life. Touchingly beautiful, the pieces in this volume sometimes lay bare the hurts of the heart, the daunting search for personhood, the aching desire for belonging in a place and a nation that are not always kind. Finding strength in heroic and pioneering women, in families who worked to better themselves, women who faced personal challenges, the authors find hope for themselves and the future. Weaving together photographs and stories of the past with the fresh voices of today, the contributions tie generations together and illustrate the continuity of life. Through the variety of art forms—ceramics, painting, poetry, fiction, ethnographies, even recipes—the selections piece together a view of life in South Texas and convert it into an art, an aesthetics that nurtures us. We find ourselves in the mix of stories, in the ceramic collages and the tapestry of works that delight, surprise, sadden, and inspire us, in works that reflect the complexity of life. Dr. Susan Roberson Professor of English Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Interim Women and Gender Studies Director 2 Cover Page Art: Charles E. Wissinger Incorporating Two to Create One World Feature Artists: 3 Charles E. and Sara Fulden Wissinger Charles E. Wissinger Artist Statement All of existence, human activity included, is riveted together by the press of countervailing forces. Every action is balanced by a reaction, thus it is prudent to contemplate long term implications of shortsighted ventures. Humanity is the faintest of flickers in the broader spectrum yet what pervasive impact we have wrought and what are the implications? The environmental decline, inhumanity and aesthetic blight in which we wallow are self- inflicted. A myopic view of what it is to be human has allowed profit driven expedience to be elevated to a core cultural value. All existence has been given a price tag. Time has become money, and the lowest bidder owns the day. Everything and everyone have been relegated to commodity status. The very essence of being has been offered up on the altar of profit. I doubt that the lowest bidder built the Taj Mahal, and our time is money obsession would have rendered Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise highly improbable in its day. It is my belief that our money/expedience-laden values have locked us into a genuine dark age I am intrigued by North American cultures interaction with nature and our simplistic understanding of what it is to be human. As a society, and as individuals, we have become disassociated from the rest of creation. With footprints etched on the moon we exhibit little comprehension of our footing within the broader continuum. We have set ourselves apart from our world; going forth subduing and having dominion over it, carving it into ever smaller chunks for easy digestion, destabilizing the closed systems on which we depend. This fractured swirl alienates us from the natural order, others and ourselves, leaving neurosis and heartache in its wake. We think, therefore, we aren’t. Spiritual, animal and mythical garments have been shed, closeted away so as not to impede our rational preoccupation with amassing wealth. Barricaded 4 in suburbs, drugged by hundreds of channels, we hide from the whispers of our suppressed selves. Failure to embrace the total self and the paradoxes in which we live leaves us to wander in a one-dimensional desert devoid of magic. Though these concerns are reflected in my work I seldom indulge in literal story telling. No attempt is made at stridency or evangelism. Instead the intent is to create quiet focal points that elicit contemplative reflection. Lineal narrative gives way to an interplay of abstract, symbolic and metaphorical juxtaposition that hopefully reveals the possibility of a richer holistic way of viewing life. If I never made another image it would matter very little. Stature gained, as an artist, however, has allowed me to affect my world in quite meaningful ways. As an artist I can serve as healer, community builder, and an ambassador. With my art ego checked and no axes to grind I, as an artist, can move through our segmented society more easily than most, to function as a bridge builder. This requires every bit as much creativity as the self-indulgent act of art making. My work meanders across a spectrum of concepts, stylistic approaches, and media: from loosely narrative to purely abstract; from stoneware mugs to monolithic salt fired sculpture; from drawing to porcelain to wood, steel, stone and clay mixes; from intimate mythscapes to six meter high public installations. It may seem a bit scattered, but with scrutiny the common threads binding the work together become apparent. In terms of media I find myself increasingly drawn to clay mixed with other materials i.e. welded steel, wood, stone, bone, found objects, etc. The use of juxtaposed materials is often more responsive to creative impulse than clay used alone. This is particularly the case when trying to create a sense of dialectic or opposition as is central to my work. Clay continues, with its pleasures and pain, to be my preferred medium. Frustration with its cumbersome nature is outweighed by clay’s inherent ability to capture raw tactile energy. I enjoy walking into new situations cold without preconceived ideas, sketches, tools etc. to see what happens. I believe an artist should be able to step outside of preconception to field whatever comes down the pike. For an image to transcend the mundane it must reflect the universal dynamic balance alluded to above. Remove this tension and the magic dies and image is reduced to merely craft. 5 Fulden Sara-Wissinger Artist’s Statement My heritage is European mixed with Byzantine and Seljuk- Ottoman Culture. I grew up in Istanbul, a cosmopolitan melting pot with 15 million souls. In the broadest sense Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul bridges the Mystical East and the Pragmatic West. As a person of mixed culture, I am fascinated by other cultures. Living in one of the world’s most exotic cultural crossroads created in me a delight for such diversity, and a hunger to venture into the world to experience ever more. I attempt to reflect this in my work by fusing together visual elements that have opposing qualities thus creating harmony out of dissonance. Circumstance dictated that I live in a very controlled closed environment for much of the time. With two working parents, no close relatives, and few friends I spent much of my time alone overlooking the magic below, the chaotic jostle of customs, cultures and religions rubbing against each other. Some of my most vivid memories are of emerging from my sheltered home to walk hand in hand with my parents through Istanbul’s world famous Bazaars. I became swiped up in the sensual soup of sights, smells and sounds, a magical world far removed from my seven story perch. It has taken quite some time and living half a world away for me to realize just how profoundly this dichotomy has shaped me. After a decade working as a graphic designer I decided to turn my visual skills toward exploring what I am about and how my past has affected me. Quite by accident and very much to my surprise, I found myself gravitating to clay. For me clay most directly captures fluid energy while requiring patient methodical manipulation. This in itself stands as a metaphor for the East West push and pull of Istanbul. I prefer to make wall pieces that use my 2D sensibilities. My pieces mix motifs from past cultural references with my graphic design background. Thus a strong graphic style tends to produce focus on crisp geometry, which then is mingled with the Arabesque fluidity of “Turkish Calligraphy”. Strong texture against clean edges creates a sense of tension. I view this juxtaposition of rigid geometry and animated organic as a metaphor for the interplay of opposing forces that enlivens Turkish Culture. 6 Charles Wissinger Art Works Legacy 92 7 8 Eloian Metamorph 9 Of Man, Myth and Magic Codex de la Cosecha Santa Barraza 10 On the Wheel of Life and Death 11 Cycles of the Stars, Cycles of the Seasons 12 Homage 13 Gulgong Australia Installation 14 Eolian Metaporph, XI, VIII 15 Eolian Metaporph 16 Sara Fulden Wissinger Art Works The Tulip Series Fulden 3: Tulip Series IV .2007. Earthenware Ceramic The Tulip period (Turkish: Lâle Devri), or "Tulip era" is the traditional name in Ottoman history for the period 1718 to 1730, when Nevsehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha was Grand Vizier under Sultan Ahmed III. It was a relatively peaceful period, and has been considered the period when the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself towards Europe. The name was applied by early 20th 17 century historians, starting with Ahmet Refik, and comes from the contemporary fad for tulips in Ottoman court society. During the Tulip Period, the capital Istanbul expanded on the Bosporus. Wealthy residents began to build alternative residences (yalisi) outside the crowded walled city. The Tulip Period was traditionally linked to the beginning of Westernization of Ottoman culture. But more recent studies have instead shown the Tulip Era as a period of revivalism, which looked to both "classical" 16th century Ottoman society and Safavid Persia. The Ottoman tradition of miniature albums was revived with the work of the outstanding miniature painter Levni, who became the court painter.