The story..

Exploring her emotions about the backlash towards immigrants, the detaining of Indigenous people in Arizona & New Mexico, the artist went to work to extract what was inside. 3 generations back, Rhiannon’s great grandparents arrived individually from Mexico, Raramuri & Mexican, to pick food in the fields of Southern California. A beautiful love story was built between them and the understanding of where her roots come from inspires Rhiannon to stand strong & grateful for those who came before her. The clash between progressive and conservative is significantly noted in the social media sphere bringing a sense of dehumanizing to “ other.” The choice to weave on black sculpture wire reflects the rigid society left over from the days of the industrial revolution that is contrasting with sentiments to bring Earth back into balance. This work is about the play between hard, soft, rigidity, progression, anger and an unknown as to where we go from here.

The process…

Woven on an upright frame loom, this artwork took several weeks to produce. It started off in an experimental space, which is where all good art comes from, or does it? Listening to Rage against the Machine & Tool, the artist gave herself to the emotions fueled by the music. Warped with sculpture wire from a failed experiment weeks prior, she strung the loom with a high tension. After finding a single spool of brass jewelry wire at home, she began weaving a single section until the spool was finished. Enjoying the shine of the wire in the spring sunshine, she purchased 50 more spools in copper, brass and silver. Artist created 12 lbs of hemp yarn for this project from raw material. As the artist wove from bottom to top, the tension became quite challenging to manage so pliers were needed to weave on the wire with. Frame loom was placed on its on side to remove.

Dimensions:

60x38x4”