Mary Zicafoose
{{Short description|American textile artist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Mary Zicafoose
| image = Mary Zicafoose Wayne Art Center 2021 01.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Mary Zicafoose, in front of Sandhill Crane Count, Week Number 7, Platte River, 2021
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| known_for = Ikat weaving
| alma_mater = St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN
| website = {{url|https://www.maryzicafoose.com/}}
}}
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.maryzicafoose.com/film-viewer/ “Mary Zicafoose”], Directed by Jeffrey Hahn, Midway Film |video2= [https://museum.olemiss.edu/fault-lines/ “Fault Lines: Mary Zicafoose“, 2017] }}
Mary Zicafoose is an American textile artist, weaver, and teacher who specializes in ikat, an ancient technique in which threads are wrapped, tied and resist-dyed before weaving. Zicafoose is the author of Ikat: The Essential Handbook to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth (2020). Her works are part of private and public collections, including at least 16 embassies around the world as part of the U.S. Art in Embassies Program.
Education
Mary Zicafoose ({{nee}} Brelowski) grew up in Niles, Michigan.{{cite web |title=Textiles Are My Livelihood: Mary Zicafoose's Story |url=https://nebraskaculture.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/textiles-are-my-livelihood-2/ |website=What's Your Livelihood? Embrace the Arts and Humanities in Nebraska |date=June 3, 2014 |access-date=December 7, 2021}}
Zicafoose studied photography and received her BFA in 1973 at St. Mary’s College at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She then moved to Chicago, studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and later to Nebraska, studying at the University of Nebraska.{{cite journal |last1=Reiner |first1=Kim |title=Mary Zicafoose |journal=Omaha Magazine |date=October 4, 2017 |url=https://www.omahamagazine.com/2017/10/04/302386/mary-zicafoose |access-date=December 5, 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose |url=https://www.sanbornmills.org/mary-zicafoose/ |website=Sanborn Mills Farm |access-date=December 5, 2021 |date=November 15, 2021}} During this time, she worked in clay and made "functional and beautiful tableware". She also lived in the Bolivian rainforest for year before settling in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1996.
Zicafoose is predominantly self-taught in her textile work. She first used a loom to weave while studying for an MFA, and the experience proved so transformative that she chose to leave the clay program at the University of Nebraska to pursue weaving.{{Cite journal|last=Zicafoose|first=Mary|title=Mary Zicafoose: Midway|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56b6a0861bbee0f507ec27f5/t/595bdba003596e64bf684c21/1499192225848/Natural+Dyes+%26+Ikat.pdf|website=FiberArtNow.net|issue=Spring 2017|pages=36–39}} She credits the "generosity, patience, and honed skills" of members of the Handweavers Guild of Lincoln, Nebraska, in helping her to learn her craft.{{cite journal |last1=Arney |first1=Suzanne Smith |title=Mary Zicafoose: The power of transformation |journal=Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot |date= 2004 |volume=35 |issue=137|publisher=Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. |pages=31–35 |url=https://maryzicafoose.com/assets/files/pdfs/ssd.pdf |access-date=December 6, 2021}} Zicafoose has also traveled internationally and studied the traditions of ikat work in different countries.{{cite news |last1=Kernick |first1=Cassie |title='Mountains and Ghosts' exhibit shows Mary Zicafoose's tapestries on UNL East Campus |url=http://www.dailynebraskan.com/culture/mountains-and-ghosts-exhibit-shows-mary-zicafoose-s-tapestries-on-unl-east-campus/article_c7a73694-5b12-11e3-ad15-001a4bcf6878.html |access-date=December 5, 2021 |work=The Daily Nebraskan |date=December 2, 2013 |language=en}}
Many of her early works were rugs. In 1984 she began working with a {{convert|45|in|cm|adj=mid|-wide}} loom. Later she began using a {{convert|72|in|cm|adj=mid|-wide}} Macomber loom.{{cite journal |last1=Suit |first1=Verna |title=The Tapestry Rugs of Mary Zicafoose |journal=Handwoven Magazine |date=1996 |issue=Nov/Dec |url=https://maryzicafoose.com/handwoven.html |access-date=December 7, 2021}} As of 2004, her two working looms were a {{convert|64|in|cm|adj=mid|-wide}} Macomber and a {{convert|96|in|cm|adj=mid|-wide}} Cranbrook.
Textile work
Ikat weavings are the result of a complicated process in which threads for weaving are laid out, wrapped and tied with tapes, submerged in dye vats, removed, untied and dried, and eventually used for weaving. Wrapped sections of thread tend to resist the dye, but the results are unpredictable, as some dye can wick under the tape. This gives the pieces spontaneity, a "serendipitous alchemy" of "new and unexpected colors".
Zicafoose dyes all her own yarns, often repeatedly overdyeing the yarn to achieve rich, deep colors. She has developed a personal library of over 1,000 dye recipes. She is known for her use of bold, saturated color, inspired by both ancient textile traditions and the works of modern artists like Mark Rothko.{{cite journal |last1=Arney |first1=Suzanne Smith |title=Mary Zicafoose: Weavings & Prints |journal=Fiber Arts |date=2018 |issue=April/May |pages=48–51 |url=https://maryzicafoose.com/assets/files/pdfs/fiberarts.pdf |access-date=December 6, 2021}}
Zicafoose is known for making extremely large pieces of weft-face ikat, which can be many feet in length. A {{convert|10|by|10|ft|m}} piece woven of silk thread might require 80,000 ikat ties, each of which must be wrapped, tied, and then untied again after dyeing. Preparation of the thread for a piece, even with the help of studio assistants, can take more than a year before Zicafoose starts the actual weaving.
The work requires careful, painstaking planning. When developing a design, Zicafoose begins with a small sketch, then creates a line drawing to scale on graph paper, and finally a full-size color mock-up that she will refer to as she works on the actual piece. Zicafoose describes the process:
{{Blockquote|Ikat is based on math, geometry, dye chemistry, and the ability to think and design abstractly — expanding shapes and images at the ikat board to then severely compress them at the loom. It also requires an abnormal otherworldly amount of patience with process.{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose: Weaving in Code |url=http://tsgnyblog.org/index.php/2011/09/mary-zicafoose/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109121424/http://tsgnyblog.org/index.php/2011/09/mary-zicafoose/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |website=Textile Study Group of New York |access-date=6 December 2021}}}}
{{Blockquote|The work takes weeks. As the planet speeds along, the weaver sits hour by hour, day by day, slowly and steadily building a tapestry{{nbsp}}... Nothing in the making of a tapestry happens quickly. It is a deep inward breath, a meditative activity that draws you in, not out.{{cite web |title=Artist & Weaver : Spring Concentration with Mary Zicafoose |url=https://penland.org/blog/artist-weaver-spring-concentration-with-mary-zicafoose/#sthash.IWC0R8MG.dpbs |website=The Penland School of Craft |date=November 6, 2015 |access-date=6 December 2021}} }}
She began The Blueprint Series during a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, in 2008. Zicafoose considered fingerprints as universal indicators of personal identity. She wove an edition of seven Blue Print tapestries. The final Blue Print #7 presents two fingerprints next to each other across three panels. The triptych used 68,000 ikat ties and took three months to wrap. Zicafoose made three versions of this triptych, two using silk and another using wool.{{cite web |title=encoding identity: Mary Zicafoose's ikat fingerprints |url=https://selfiesonslow.wordpress.com/mary-zicafooses-ikat-thumbprints/ |website=Selfies in Tapestry: slo art in the age of quick |access-date=December 9, 2021 |language=en |date=April 24, 2015}}
Her paired pieces Hope & Healing, each larger than {{convert|12|x|9|ft|abbr=on}}, used 1,000 skeins of yarn and took nearly a year to create. They hang together in the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The pieces include the words for hope and healing in 16 different languages. The center also hosted an exhibition of her works in 2018.{{cite web |title=Nebraska artist featured at Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center |url=https://www.unmc.edu/news.cfm?match=22765 |website=University of Nebraska Medical Center |date=October 12, 2018 |access-date=December 9, 2021}}
Zicafoose describes cloth as "a manuscript, a woven surface encoded with visual symbols".{{cite journal |last1=Arney |first1=Suzanne Smith |title=Speaking with the Text of Textile |journal=American Craft Magazine |publisher=American Craft Council |date=2009 |volume=December/January |url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/speaking-text-textile |access-date=December 5, 2021 |language=en}} She often creates series of tapestries, carpets, and prints which explore aspects of a theme. Her collections include Ancient Texts, Blue Prints, Grasslands, Mountain for the Buddha, New Dreams, Sun Signs,{{cite journal |last1=Mezoff |first1=Rebecca |title=The ikat tapestry of Mary Zicafoose and her solo show, Color Fields |journal=Rebecca Mezoff |date=March 10, 2015 |url=https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog/2015/03/the-ikat-tapestry-of-mary-zicafoose-and.html |access-date=December 7, 2021}} Fault Lines, and The Blueprint Series.{{cite web |title=Fault Lines: Mary Zicafoose |url=https://museum.olemiss.edu/fault-lines/ |website=University of Mississippi Museum |access-date=December 7, 2021}}
The artist sees her work as a process of creation as well as a transmission of cultural record to future generations: {{Blockquote|One cannot discount what can happen when a culture sits behind wheel and loom remembering, intentioning and giving birth in fabric. One cannot discount the power of cloth.}}
Shows
Her work has been included in international juried shows such as the 13th International Triennial of Tapestry, May 10 – October 31, 2010, at the Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz, Poland.{{cite journal |title=Kudos |journal=Tapestry Topics: A Quarterly Review of Tapestry Art |date=2010 |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=18 |url=https://www.americantapestryalliance.org/Docs/TT_v36n2_Summer2010_col_lores.pdf |access-date=December 5, 2021}} Her works have also been shown at the American Tapestry Biennials including #7 (2008), juried by Susan Warner Keene;{{cite web |title=American Tapestry Biennial 7 |url=https://americantapestryalliance.org/exhibitions/atbiennials/american-tapestry-biennial-7/ |website=American Tapestry Alliance |access-date=December 5, 2021}} #8 (2010), curated by Rebecca Stevens;{{cite news |last1=Holtmeyer |first1=Dan |title=Worldly tapestries on display in Lincoln until Nov. 15 |url=http://www.dailynebraskan.com/culture/worldly-tapestries-on-display-in-lincoln-until-nov-15/article_996bd3f8-355d-580a-b60e-8ee6cfbcdd1c.html |access-date= December 5, 2021 |work=The Daily Nebraskan |date=September 27, 2010 |language=en}} and #9 (2013), juried by Lee Talbot.{{cite web |last1=Mezoff |first1=Rebecca |title=The shape of tapestry and the ATB9 |url=http://rebeccamezoff.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-shape-of-tapestry-and-atb9.html |website=Rebecca Mezoff, Tapestry Artist |access-date=December 5, 2021|date=January 24, 2013}}
As part of the United States Art in Embassies Program, her works are included in the permanent and lending collections of at least 16 embassies, particularly those whose countries have strong weaving traditions. These include Baku, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Yemen.{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose |url=https://art.state.gov/personnel/mary_zicafoose/ |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=December 5, 2021}}{{cite web |title=Local artist Mary Zicafoose to speak March 7 |url=https://www.unmc.edu/news.cfm?match=23436 |website=University of Nebraska Medical Center |access-date=December 7, 2021|date=March 1, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose Artist/Tapestry Weaver |url=https://maryzicafoose.com/site_files/Zicafoose%20CV%209_17.pdf |website=Mary Zicafoose |access-date=December 6, 2021}}
Zicafoose also produces collagraphic monoprints of works.{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose |url=https://americantapestryalliance.org/artist-pages/mary-zicafoose/ |website=American Tapestry Alliance |access-date=December 5, 2021}} Mary Zicafoose: Tapestries, Prints, and Carpets was the opening show for the relaunch of Gallery 72 in Omaha in 2013.{{cite web |title= Art Review: Dream Weaver |author-first= Mary |author-last= Day |date=February 11, 2013 |website=Roberta & Bob Rogers Gallery |url=https://rbrg.org/news/55-art-review-dream-weaver |access-date=December 5, 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Arney |first1=Suzanne Smith |title=Gallery 72...Anew! |url=https://www.omahamagazine.com/2013/02/25/304466/gallery-72-anew- |access-date=December 5, 2021 |work=Omaha Magazine |date=February 25, 2013 |language=en}}
Teaching and writing
File:Mary Zicafoose Wayne Art Center 2021 02.jpg, 2021]]
Zicafoose speaks and teaches extensively, at venues including the de Young Museum, the Penland School of Craft, and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, as well as at conferences and workshops.{{cite web |title=Teachers 2017 – Contemporary Handweavers of Texas |url=https://www.weavetexas.org/teachers/ |website=Contemporary Handweavers of Texas |access-date=December 7, 2021}} She is described as a "generous teacher" who encourages her students to "trust the process".
She was invited to present on "Weft Face Ikat Applications in Wool & Silk for Contemporary Tapestry" at the 9th International Shibori Symposium at China's National Silk Museum in 2014.{{cite book |title= Resist Dye on the Silk Road 丝路之缬 Proceedings for the 9th International Shibori Symposium at the China National Silk Museum October 31st - November 4, 2014|date=November 4, 2014 |publisher=China National Silk Museum |location=Hangzhou, China |page=147 |url=https://9iss.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/9iss-proceedings-final.pdf |access-date=December 6, 2021}}
Zicafoose is the author of Ikat: The Essential Handbook to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth (2020). In this beautifully illustrated book she provides both technical and cultural knowledge. She gives important and detailed instruction in techniques for warp, weft, and double ikat. She describes the tools that she uses, demonstrates thread binding, and discusses dye processes. Projects are organized clearly and sequentially to build upon each other. This technical approach is complemented by specialist essays that establish the cultural context of ikat fabric as it is made in Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Mexico and Uzbekistan.{{cite web |last1=Weiss |first1=Wendy |title=Book Review: Ikat: The Essential Handbook to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth |url=https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/10360/book-review-ikat-the-essential-handbook-to-weaving-resist-dyed-cloth |website=Textile Society of America |access-date=December 5, 2021}}
== Community ==
Zicafoose has served on the boards of GoodWeave, an international organization combating the exploitation of child workers;{{cite web |title=InnerAsia Custom Rugs |url=https://goodweave.org/brand/innerasia/ |website=GoodWeave |access-date=December 5, 2021 |language=en}} the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery at the University of Nebraska; and the Union for Contemporary Art in North Omaha, Nebraska, among others.{{cite web |title=Color Fields: A Conversation about Ikat, Tapestry and Contemporary Art » Textile Arts Council, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco |url=https://textileartscouncil.org/color-fields-a-conversation-about-ikat-tapestry-and-contemporary-art/ |website=Textile Arts Council |access-date=December 5, 2021}} She has also been co-director of the American Tapestry Alliance.{{cite web |title=Mary Zicafoose |url=https://americantapestryalliance.org/exhibitions/tex_ata/transformed-traditions-in-ikat-ii/mary-zicafoose/ |website=American Tapestry Alliance |access-date=December 5, 2021}}
In Nebraska, Mary Zicafoose and her husband Kirby Zicafoose have lived in Omaha and at Pahuk, a sacred ground for the Pawnee people located by the Platte River.{{cite news |title=Tapestry artist Mary Zicafoose to present Navajo weaving demonstration at Morrill Hall Nov. 20 |url=https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/nextatnebraska/article/tapestry-artist-mary-zicafoose-present-navajo-weaving-demonstration/ |access-date=December 5, 2021 |work=news.unl.edu |date=November 9, 2010 |language=en}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:People from Niles, Michigan
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:21st-century American women artists
Category:Artists from Michigan
Category:Artists from Nebraska
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
Category:Saint Mary's College (Indiana) alumni
Category:University of Nebraska alumni
Category:American women textile artists