Weaving waves of colour
- Charlotte is a textile sculptor weaving 3D forms and wall art
- She explores ways of adding dimensionality in a typically 2D medium
- Her approach celebrates the act of physical making and the value of craft beyond utility
Charlotte Blake creates vivid textile sculptures with weaving at the core of her practice. Trained in drawing and painting at OCAD University, she came to textiles through a dissatisfaction with the constraints and approach she felt in painting. “Weaving allows me to embrace mistakes and offers greater creative freedom,” she says. Blake works primarily with floor looms, using materials such as rattan and other semi-rigid fibres that allow woven surfaces to be shaped into 3D forms after being released from the loom. She often uses negative space as a tool to emphasise the material in her creations. “I see weaving as part of a continuum of labour, skill and transmission, where tools and knowledge are passed from one maker to another,” she says.
Interview
- How important is your loom to you?
- I have a profound relationship with my loom. It is the place where I lose myself. I love that my looms are second hand, it means that they carry the history of the weavers who used them before me. It provides an emotional connection for me.
- Why did you move from painting to weaving?
- I trained in drawing and painting but struggled with the preciousness of it. Textiles felt freeing. I could let go, accept mistakes and work in a more physical, process-driven way. Now, my background as a figurative painter is still in focus. It influences my sense of proportion and movement.
- In what way do your materials influence your practice?
- I let the materials lead. I work with rattan and other structural fibres that hold form once they are off the loom. I do not always know the outcome and I try not to force materials to do things when they resist. It can take me years before reaching the final state for a piece.
- What matters most to you about craft?
- It is important to me that craft does not have to be utilitarian. Labour matters. The physical act of making is important, especially now, and it keeps us connected to something human.
Charlotte Blake is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2004
Where
Find Charlotte Blake in the itinerary
