David Brackett / Textile Artist


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2015 -Present
2013 - 2014
2008 - 2012
2006 - 2007
2000 - 2006
1992 - 1999
Statement
CV

Materials/Methods
Jacquard Library

© David Brackett, 2017

wander lust

Open Season • 36” x 28” • 2015

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Artist's Statement

"Of all the possible pathways of disorder, nature favors just a few... Nature constrains the shape of things."
(Gleick, 1987)

  In school I was taught that the universe has a natural tendency to move towards disorder and chaos. I had trouble understanding this statement since I was surrounded by a world of structure and pattern. While our world is in a constant state of flux, people take comfort in routine and predictability. This routine is constantly bombarded by outside influences, making it difficult to maintain. The seemingly minor choices made on a daily basis can have major impacts on our lives given the passage of time. Our lives are filled with chance occurrences that can alter the paths we take and create. Scientists are learning that there is an order to chance. Nature relies on chance to produce evolution.

  My work alludes to these evolutionary forces and the way they control the form, structure, and patterns of our world. I am intrigued by the fact that the forces that shape rivers, produce stripes on tigers, and control the formation of snowflakes are the same forces that shape political, economic, and social systems. I utilize a variety of textile techniques that exhibit the same type of chance occurrences that occur in nature. I use technical process to talk about physical process. I combine hand-woven and industrial-woven (jacquard) fabrics. The row-by-row act of weaving creates images that are revealed over time. This is analogous to the day-by-day manner in which we live our lives. Time and history reveal patterns that are not apparent in the moment. Fragmentation and recombination of multiple images creates a sense of constant change and a system in flux. I employ a variety of techniques to allude to the dynamic ever-changing energy associated with change and evolution.

  To design the jacquard fabrics, I begin with digital photographs of images from my life – patterns found in nature, travels in other countries, and friends. These are combined, manipulated, and repeated on the computer. Final designs are adapted to be woven on computerized jacquard looms at commercial textile mills. I also incorporate hand-dyed and hand-woven fabrics. Utilizing complex weave structures, I try to produce patterns that defy the inherent grid structure and appear more organic than traditionally woven cloth. All of these fabrics are cut and pieced back together to produce large-scale fabric collages. Pieces have batting, backing, and are machine-quilted.

  By using repetition, mathematical progression, and simple pattern, I can appeal to the viewer's innate sense of order - the search for underlying order, unity, and the search for understanding. The splitting and recombining of images encourages the viewer to simultaneously combine the parts into a unified visual whole while trying to isolate the constituent parts. I aim for images that are energetic and open to interpretation without being merely confusing. The result is similar to the tension created when one is on the verge of solving a puzzle. The solution is in sight but not yet attained. By combining these visual images into a unified whole, I hope to convey the universal nature of these physical processes.

Curriculum Vitae: David B. Brackett


EDUCATION:

1990

University of Kansas, Master of Fine Arts in Textiles, with Honors

1979-85

University of Michigan, School of Art
Concentration: Weaving & Fabric Design and Art History

1977

University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science and the Arts
Bachelor of Science; Concentration: Zoology


ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:

2009-present

Associate Professor of Visual Arts
University of Kansas, School of the Arts, Lawrence, KS

2002-2009

Assistant Professor of Design
University of Kansas, School of Fine Arts, Lawrence, KS

1999-2000

Assistant Professor of Art
Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA

1990-1996

Assistant Professor of Art
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY

1999

Instructor
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO


SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

(Key: solo=1 person show, j=juried, i=invitational, t=traveling)

2017

Fold/Unfold (i, catalog)
Lyndon House Arts Center June 24-August 19, Athens, Georgia

2016-2017

Regents Exhibition (i)
Regents Office Building, Topeka, Kansas

2016

Material Connection: New Work by Members of the MFAEN (i)
(Midwest Fiber Arts Educators Network)
Kent State University Downtown Gallery, Kent, Ohio

New Fibers 2016, (j, catalog)
First Place
University Gallery, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan

2016 Vision Makers (j, catalog)
Exceptional Technique Award
108 Contemporary, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Michael Nicholson, David Brackett, Meghan Sullivan, July (i)
James May Gallery, Algoma, Wisconsin

KU Visual Art Faculty Exhibition (i)
Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, Kansas

48th Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood (j)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2015

Pushing the Surface (i)
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, Coshocton, Ohio

National Fiber Directions (j)
Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, Kansas

47th Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood (j)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2014

Still Memories (solo)
Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder Colorado

Fantastic Fibers (j)
Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, Kentucky

46th National Exhibition Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood (j)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2013

National Fiber Directions (j)
The Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, Kansas

6th Annual Exhibition (j)
Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, California

Art of the Craft (j)
Highland Park United Methodist Church, Topeka, Kansas

45th National Exhibition Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass Metal, Wood (j)
(Honorable Mention) Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2012

Crafts National (j)
Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, Kansas

2011

Surface and Form, 3-person exhibition (i)
Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, Kansas


Fibremen, (j)
International fiber art exhibition, Kherson, Ukraine

2010

Unraveling Memories (solo)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa


42nd Annual National Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood Exhibition (j)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2009

Quilt National (j, t) {catalog}
•The Dairy Barn, Athens, Ohio
• The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
• Ohio, Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH
• Wuilter’ Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA
• The National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY

41st Annual National Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood Exhibition (j)
Awarded Winifred B. Brown Best of Show
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa

2008

40th Annual National Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood Exhibition (j)
Octagon Center for the Arts, Ames, Iowa


Branching Systems (i)
Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

2007

Fiberarts International (j,t) [catalog}
• Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Mint Museum of Art and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia, Charleston, WV


Discernable Chance (solo)
ToJo Gallery, Chicago, Illinois


Fiber National (j)
Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania


2006

New Work/Nine States (j)
Art Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri


2005

Bobbin and Weavin’: Contemporary Textiles (i)
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Fiber Focus 2005 (j)
Art Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri


2000

Uncommon Threads (j)
Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

1999

Textiles/Techstyles (i, 3 person)
Saratoga County Arts Council, Saratoga Springs, New York


Fiber Celebrated ’99 (j)
The Albuquerque, Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico

1997

Fantastic Fibers, Tenth Annual National Fibers Exhibit (j)
Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, Kentucky


Crafts National 31 (j)
Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania


1996

Ancient Structures (i)
Rice Gallery, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York


1996 Fiber Arts Competition and Exhibition (j)
Honorable Mention, Sponsored by BASF Fibers and the Creative Arts Guild
Dalton - Whitfield Commission for the Arts, Dalton, Georgia


1995

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh 85th Annual Exhibition (j)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Recipient of the Buncher Family Foundation Award

1994

Some • Ato Ten (Dyeing • Art Exhibition) (i) [catalog]
Kyoto City 12th Centennial Anniversary, Kyoto City Museum, Kyoto, Japan

Chautauqua International for Fiber Art (j)
Adams Art Gallery, Dunkirk, New York

Crafts National 28 (j) [catalog cover}
Zoller Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Materials & Methods

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My artwork is a collage of textiles that I produce through a variety of methods. Screen-printed and/or mill-woven fabrics are combined with hand-woven cloth. The following describes the processes I use in design and production.

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#1 • Various screen-printed and/or jacquard woven fabrics are cut and pinned to the wall. Designs develop as new fabrics are added and parts are re-arranged.

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#2 • Paper cartoons are inserted to act a guide for dyeing and the weaving on a hand-loom.

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#3 • The final composition is laid face down and backed with a woven fusible interfacing.

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#4 • All seams are machine-stitched using monofilament.

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#5 • Jacquard designs are a collage of original photos. Each design must then be adapted to the weave specifications of a specific loom.

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#6 • Palette is limited and changes between looms and mills.

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#7 • Hand-woven fabrics are produced on a 24-shaft floor loom.

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#8 • Cotton warp yarn is dyed prior to loom set-up. Multiple colors are painted on the warp according to the paper cartoons. Patterns and images are produced using both loom-controlled and weaver-controlled techniques.

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#9 • My early works utilize screen-printing techniques. Dyes are sprayed and printed on cotton webbing using polychromatic screen-printing, photo-screen-printing, and cut-paper stencils. Polychromatic printing is a method where dyes are hand-painted on a screen. Dyes are transerred to the cloth using a clear paste. Each print lightens and becomes more faint as the dyes get used up through each subsequent print.
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#10 • Photo-screen prints are used primarily for fine line drawings. Cut-paper stencils are used for simple shapes and broad areas of solid color.

Jacquard Library + Pairs

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Many of the fabrics for my work are produced using a Jacquard Loom.

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Here is a gallery of my fabrics produced with a Jacquard loom.

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And here is a gallery of work which illustrates the photographic influence contrasted with the final cloth design.