Linda Schultz

Statement

I create fibre art by weaving on a shaft loom. Groups of threads (threading) are controlled by shafts, rather than thread-by-thread (Jacquard loom). And shafts are combined (treadling) to produce the design. This is the perfect balance of freedom and constraint for my creativity. My works use freeform lines of colour, and distinct shapes and pattern. I use conditions, often mathematical, which create unplanned and serendipitous results for inspiration. The mathematical origins are often hidden. Higher order polynomial functions used to produce complex curves in the threading and treadling may appear as “ripples on water” in the cloth. Or the meaningful words encoded into numbers cannot be read in the ornamental designs they create.

Artworks

I work with tessellations where pattern and background take the same shape and differ only by their contrast in colour effects. This piece starts with a motif which is formed into a tessellating periodic tile using 180 degree rotation. Translation of the periodic tile can be seen in the lower right corner. Then, two changes in the threading and three in the treadling have the effect of transforming the symmetry operations within the periodic tile. The motif remains the same throughout but exhibits different combinations of rotation, mirror, and glide-reflection as it repeats in each area. These recombinations produce what appear to be a variety of different shapes, which evoke forms from nature, whimsical creatures and other tiling shapes.