WOVEN FORMS BY

WOVEN FORMS BY DOMINIC L. DI MARE: Members' Gallery

"What every poet starts from is his own emotion" writes T. S. Elliot. For the work of Dominic Di Mare, who loves Elliot's poetry, this might serve as the keynote. To call these hangings the work of a weaver restricts the horizon of appreciation. They are more properly the creation of a man to whom the loom and the threads present themselves as the most appropriate tools for his art. Dominic Di Mare became acquainted with less than nine years ago. His position as an art teacher in a Junior High School allows him but a small part of his day to pursue his creative work. Self-taught and obsessive in his struggle with the confining quality of the loom, Di Mare makes it serve his purpose, breaks loose from it and completes a piece finished in such a manner that it could be called cast rather than woven. Frequently, after many scattered hours of gestation a piece will come off the loom in one day. This might account for the intimate dimensions of his weaving. With virile determination he forges structures, plyes color and texture, to make them speak his language. Those who are interested in the "how" find that Di Mare uses a multiple harness loom, with often a quadruple weave set up. However, some of his three dimensional hangings stem from a single weave with free warp manipulation. Dominic Di Mare says of his work, "I want to create an environment, but one that is inhabited." And talking he picks up a round, rough geod—separates the halves and shows the heart of crystal. Each of his hangings has a core. In some it is raw or glowing, in others deep and cool. A centralized symmetry with often fierce, fuzzy exteriors suggests the com- plex symbolism of the human image. Even in the fine swaying tracery of "The Mourners" it is the mystery of the self which walks between them. And so is the invitation of "The Promenade", one to be a part of this floating orchid-insect-human crowd to find the melody within. Dominic Di Mare's manual skill and inventive use of thread matches the com- petence of ancient craftsmen, but his textiles are undoubtedly of this time. Trude Guermonprez

Dominic L. Di Mare was born in , , in 1932 and was brought up on the Monterey Peninsula. Upon completion of High School he contin- ued his education in the arts at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Monterey Peninsula College, San Francisco State College, University of San Francisco and the Rudolf Schaeffer School of Design. Throughout his school years his sole interest was in design and painting. He began his career as an art teacher in the San Fran- cisco Public School System in 1958. At the present time he serves as chairman of the Art Department at the San Francisco Junior High School. Di Mare made his first experiments in weaving in 1956. He is married, has two boys, and is living in Tiburon, California. The Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Craftsmen's Council, 29 West 53rd Street, N. Y.: November 19-January 9, 1966.

The Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Craftsmen's Council, 29 West 53rd Street, N.Y.: November 19-January 9, 1966. ~,: