The Art Is the Cloth : How to Look at and Understand Tapestries

This guide from expert tapestry weaver and historian Sidore gives how-to strategies enabling weavers to notice and appreciate the meaning of their artwork.

A creative visual tour of 300 tapestries throughout history to present day, showing how they''re created and how to look at and understand them.

"An impressive presentation of what tapestry weavers are doing and of how to learn to see it . . . Of interest not only to tapestry weavers, but to all those interested in the art of weaving and art in general."
—Sandra Hutton, Executive Director Emerita, International Textile & Apparel Association

This guide from expert tapestry weaver and historian Micala Sidore gives how-to strategies enabling weavers and nonweavers to notice and appreciate the meaning of tapestries, what they can do, and how they do it. 

Enjoy more than 300 tapestries from the 12th to the 21st centuries, with Sidore''s strategies enabling you to think about the weavings in ways you have never before considered. She groups pieces that talk with each other—and that also converse with the viewer.

—Enjoy learning basic elements of weaving to help you become increasingly sophisticated in understanding what you''re seeing.

—Then, learn seven ways in which tapestries can call attention to themselves as cloth.

—Understand the eye-opening range of materials and visual themes, the use of trompe l’oeil, the importance of the direction in which the weaver weaves, and more.

After this learning experience, you''ll bring smarter eyes to your museum wandering, deeper enjoyment to your collection and purchases, and surprising new skills and creativity to your weaving of fibers . . . and of life.

A creative visual tour of tapestries throughout history to present day, in over 300 photographs, that shows how they''re created and how to look at and understand them,

A colorful guided tour from an expert, enabling weavers, textile lovers, and art lovers to notice and appreciate what tapestries can do and how they do it. This guide from expert tapestry weaver and historian Sidore gives how-to strategies enabling weavers and nonweavers to notice and appreciate the meaning of these artworks. 

You''ll discover much to enjoy in photos of more than 300 tapestries from the 12th to the 21st centuries. Sidore enables you to think about the weavings in ways you have never before considered as she groups pieces that talk with each other—and that also converse with the viewer. Enjoy learning basic elements of weaving to help you become increasingly sophisticated in understanding what you''re seeing. Then, learn seven ways in which tapestries can call attention to themselves as cloth.

This eye-opening guide to seeing explains the great range of materials and visual themes, the use of trompe l’oeil, the importance of the direction in which the weaver weaves, and more. After this learning experience, you''ll bring smarter eyes to your museum wandering, deeper enjoyment to your collection and purchases, and surprising new skills and creativity to your weaving of fibers . . . and of life.