Twist and turns, knots and loops, a burst of colour and a column of bobbins. That’s a sketchy description of what grabs your attention when you lay eyes on some of Marie Gnanaraj’s intricate pieces of art, for this artist works not with paints and a canvas but yarns and a loom.
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| Marie Gnanaraj |
A weaver since she was in her early twenties, Marie’s colourful and uniquely textured handlooms have been exclusively sold at the Barefoot for over 30 years. As principal designer for Barefoot and having displayed her work at 12 exhibitions previously, she is an expert weaver who has created her own style. Her most recent collection of creative handlooms is currently on exhibit till December 13 at the Barefoot.
“This is the first time I’m having a solo exhibition. This time Dominic (Sansoni) wanted me to do one on my own, because I have come a long way from doing simple things. I’ve experimented a lot in this collection in particular,” says the soft-spoken artist.
Marie ‘sculpts’ her handlooms, by giving them more texture and weaving in loops and knots, removing the plainer nature of fabric and making it more of a piece of art. “I wanted to push the loom and get the best out of it so my experimenting has always been with the loom. This time I thought I’d create something that has a lot of structure and texture. What’s fascinating is that this simple loom gives you satisfaction because you can create so much. The possibilities are endless,” she explains enthusiastically.
It’s clear she deeply enjoys her work as she passionately speaks about the intricacy of weaving in different textures and twisting several strands of threads of primary colours to create a whole new shimmering colour. But as creatively stimulating as that may sound, it’s far from easy. Once woven the fabric cannot be unravelled extensively. So it is essential that the weaver has an eye for colour and design, has a clear idea what she or he wants the finished product to look like and makes all the appropriate mathematical calculations before creating pieces of handloom.
Describing her current collection she says, “I don’t like monotony, so I give the pieces shape and sculpture. I want it to move and twist. Whatever I can make it do. I want to push my limitations. While I work with a lot of colour, I like creating texture a lot more. In this collection I’ve used coir, ekel, string, twine, newspaper,” she elaborates unfolding gorgeous piece after piece, and pointing out the designs with the fondness of a mother speaking of her child.
Marie has also incorporated the tools that are used in creating the cascading metres of intricate handloom fabric. “I saw the tools that I use in weaving as a work of art and basically, I used those tools on my canvas. The tools can also be attached and detached. I wanted to be able to remove these and put them back at any given time,” she says.
“No one thinks about what went into it and what helped. To me having worked along with the looms and with the weavers, I found that these tools were amazing, the shape, the texture and the function of these tools.”
Marie credits her expertise to Barbara Sansoni, founder of Barefoot, whom she trained under as an eager student in her early twenties. “I’m very fortunate to have worked under Barbara and I appreciate working for Barefoot,” she adds. Quite appropriately this display of colour, texture and creativity is titled ‘Dream Weaver’. |
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