Textile Lessons from Agnes Martin

When looking at paintings and drawings and for that matter, woven textiles - the subject of touch comes up. Touch is an interesting part of textiles but as in art, it is not talked about much. It does not refer to pictorial content on the surface of a textile - rather, touch is something entirely different than these. In traditional artwork, touch refers to the beautiful relationship between the artist's body and the canvas or drawing surface and the marks that result. And with textiles, it is the result of the weaving process and the fibers that were used in this process. Both these instances inform so much about the way an artwork feels, what is says, and why it is interesting.

Touch is especially important in the works for Agnes Martin, and in particular her grid works, like this one Composition #147. After her move to New Mexico from New York City in 1967, Agnes mostly focused on paintings using a grid format in different configurations. These artworks are repetitive and regular in composition have a meditative vibe, like looking at the sea. In most of her works, the grid acts like a weaving, a waft and weft structure that holds the composition in a regular pattern. 

Looking up close to her grid works, you can see inconsistencies in the mark due to a small shake of the hand or the weight put behind the pencil. It is these changes and variations that gives the canvas life and a glimpse of Agnes herself and our shared humanity.

While her grid paintings seem simple, they are complex pieces that invite a deeper conversation. All good textiles should do that too, I think.

Information for this article came from this Guardian article. A look at many of her paintings can be found here.