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Offering information on Contemporary Tapestry

CHRISTINE LAFFER

TAPUS Studio
San Jose, California

e-mail: claffer [ at ] christinelaffer.com

Biographical

1953 Born in Columbus, Ohio.
Education:
1995 M.F.A. in Spatial Arts, San Jose State University, San José, California.
1985 Internship in tapestry technique, La Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins, Paris, France.
1984 Study in Textile Arts, DeAnza College, Cupertino, California.
1982 Aubusson Tapestry program, San Francisco Tapestry Workshop, San Francisco.
1977 Textile Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.
1975 Architectural Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
1966 Private studies with Myrtle Jones, painter, Savannah, Georgia.

Solo Exhibitions

Two-Person Exhibitions

Selected Curated Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

Awards

1990 First Place Recommendation, Art Jury, the Library Tapestry Commission, Sunnyvale
1984 Award for Excellence, Conference of Northern California Handweavers
1983 Judge's Choice, PAA Membership Show
1983 Award for Excellence, CNCH

Private Collections

Louis and Denise Brockway
Margaret A. Brosnan, deceased
Linda Cline Chandler
Nancy Cleveland
Barbara and Michael Heller
Frederick Rodney Holt
P. Lynn Holt
Clifford R. Huston
Mary Idso
Joanne P. Laffer
Dr. Walter B. Laffer II
Consuelo J. Underwood
Karen Verbica
... and other private collections

Curatorial Experience

Professional Teaching Experience

Other Professional Experience in the Arts

Appointments

Selected Lectures and Speaking Engagements

Selected Bibliography

Published Writings

Slide Registries

Studio Collaborations

1990 "Brax," designed by and woven for Klutz Press, Inc., Palo Alto, California
1989 "Lyrical Landscape," collaboration with Trudi Eldridge, tapestry artist
1987 "The Ark," by Laurie Gross, woven for Peninsula Temple Beth-El, San Mateo

Professional Affiliations

1990-1997 ITNET, Inc. (International Tapestry Network)
1987-curr Member, South Bay Area Women's Caucus for Art, California
1985-curr Member, Tapestry Weavers West, California (Founding Member)
1982-curr Member, American Crafts Council, New York

Philosophical Statement

Tapestry is a medium which has a life and vitality beneath the surface, an energy which is contained in the yarns themselves as they twist and turn inside the cloth. Even the dyed color of fiber is penetrative, not superficial. The expressive qualities of these materials, of this way of working up layer upon layer of woven yarn, have possibilities that will still take lifetimes to explore. In my own work I hope to make obvious the intensity of the physical forces embodied in tapestry.

Architecture and cloth have been the dominant imagery of my exploration, with occasional references to the figure. The presence of cloth is what involves me the most, its character and its meanings and the way that it can imply the presence of a human being. My studies in architecture, as an undergraduate student in Chicago, eventually led me to cloth, and the experience of weaving fabric. Both architecture and cloth have similar structural systems and similar purposes (of protection), but they also have strong contrasts, visually and socially. They are both extensions of a basic grid, but one is rigid, the other supple. One is monumental, the other intimate in scale. One is permanent, the other temporary. One exists predominantly in the exterior, exposed world, the other in the interior, sheltered world. One shapes our culture in systematic ways, the other reflects our culture in personal ways. These contrasts and similarities offer vivid material for the senses, which tapestry, an eminently architectural cloth, can express most effectively.


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