Carolina Jimenez, weaving memories...
I interviewed textile artist Carolina Jimenez who creates her pieces by using ancient Mexican weaving techniques. Going back to her roots, Mexico, she wanted to compose beautiful pieces based in memories which she translates into color or form.
The first time I saw a piece of Carolina Jimenez’ I felt an instant awe of appreciation. I remember this piece in particular because its whole composition had a beautiful sun-like palette. I would stare mesmerized at the huge 6ft x 6ft yellow toned weaved canvas - it gave me a peaceful and warm feeling. It stood against a 12ft white wall in our bosses studio in Red Hook, right next to an East facing window, where every morning the sun would shine bright, intensifying its essence and electricity, yet evoking a sense of calmness.
Carolina and I are both Mexican and I found her work very interesting given that it uses textile techniques I grew up admiring. I wanted to interview as her work really made an impact on me, evoking memories of traveling around Mexico, seeing all these crafts that from a young age I appreciated. One of her first memories in Chiapas was seeing indigenous women in the park weaving and carrying their babies in rebozos, walking around town in their vestidos chiapanecos, making you appreciate every single part of it. The craftsmanship is extraordinarily detailed and beautiful, every single piece has different colors and shapes along with hours and hours of labor.
Carolina’s work uses weaving techniques that along with memories as reference for her color palette create her art work. She will explain in more detail how she composes her pieces.
O: So how did it all started?
CJ: While in college in Syracuse, I took a studio course outside of the Architecture program. I decided I wanted to do weaving since I had always been interested in fibers and textiles, and prior I had very much enjoyed knitting, so it just drew my attention.
After my first class I felt “this is it, I should've been doing this the whole time.”
I went back to school and I studied my MFA in textiles, mostly geared towards design, and towards that time I really wanted to explore using weaving as an art form.
O: What is the inspiration for your color palettes, it seems like there's a lot of nature involved
CJ: Yeah, there's a lot of nature. Everything I work on is based on a series of memories. I meditate on the small moments that I think make up our lives. We are an accumulation of the best strawberry we ever ate, or the best day with our parents, even the difficult things… we are all made up of these tiny little moments. I then translate those moments into color or form.
It could be from how I feel at 3:00 am on a sleepless night, or an interaction with a stranger on the street, talking about fruit you’re buying.
O: Do you have different textile techniques, or only weaving?
CJ: I just do the flowerloom and I am interested in learning the Chipainese and Oaxacan techniques along with dying the fabrics with natural dyes. For instance, for the fabrics I dye, I use cochineal = cochinilla, axiote seed, and more natural dyes that were used by Mayan’s to create pigment and paint the pyramids.
I am also excited to explore pigments for different painting techniques I have been exploring with!
O: What's the piece that you’ve seen yourself through
CJ: All my pieces are all little moments of myself, but I think the closest one are all these different panels I have been working on (pictured in the studio floor)
O: Do you have different textile techniques, or only weaving?
CJ: I just do the floor loom and I am interested in learning the Chiapaneco and Oaxacan techniques along with dying the fabrics with natural dyes. For instance, for the fabrics I dye, I use cochineal = grana cochinilla, achiote seed, and more natural dyes that were used by Mayan’s to create pigment and paint the pyramids.
I am also excited to explore pigments for different painting techniques I have been exploring with!
O: Do you use natural fibers?
CJ: Yes, I only use cotton, linen and silk. I want us to remember “we are here”, and natural fibers I think, have their own life mirroring our own life span. They might fade over the course of about 50 years.
O: do you think you’ll evolve into working in different craftsmanship styles?
CJ: I definitely think I will stick to weaving for the most part but I’d love to explore more techniques and crafts. Printmaking is something I have been very drawn to. I really love Chucho Reyes, the colors that he uses, and the craft techniques he used for making all these beautiful artworks.
The choice to work with textiles and see it as art, i believe is so important. Textiles deserve our respect. What people are doing all over the world with textiles is amazing, I think we should really value that.
O: Who are your main inspirations
CJ: Helen Frankenthalen, although she is very gestural, I love how she created her own vocabulary and grammar within the painting, also exploring what her materials could do, I feel a lot of kinship with.
O: I definitely see a lot of color use very similar to yours.
CJ: I think that is my biggest tool. Color. The things color can translate to a viewer.
Let's not forget about Joan Mitchel, Luis Baragan and Sheila Hicks, who actually lived in Mexico and married a Mexican man, although she eventually moved to France.
O: So, I know you have a very exciting art residency coming up, can you tell us a little bit about it?
CJ: I have a 6 months fellowship at the MAD, NY (Museum of Art & Design). I'll be working out of their space and people can come by Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to see my process and how I work. This time I’m focusing mainly on one natural dye from Mexico and I will see what arises from working with that, which is a little different from what I usually do, since I will be letting that lead my way forward…
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