Weaving the Future
12/04/2024 11:33AM ● By Sophie Dingle
Photo: "Bird Grouping," Wendy Kowynia, sculpted forms, 19x6x12 each, 2024.
The door to Wendy Kowynia’s backyard studio swings open revealing not one, but two looms –one hers, and the other, her mother’s. Weaving is an ancient skill, passed down through generations, so it was apt that Wendy’s mother was the one who taught her how to weave when she was 22. “I had studied painting in college but I didn’t know the why,” Wendy says. “I was overwhelmed by the blank canvas and the limitless variety of abstract forms that I could bring to it. There seemed no good reason why to make one mark versus another." But when she sat down at the loom, she could immediately see the limitless forms that she could create. “They were all grounded in the abstract grid inherent to all textiles and the technicalities of the craft of weaving,” Wendy says. “I saw infinite possibilities within the narrow confines of the medium.”
Wendy spent much of the following decades honing her craft. When she had children, weaving was her sanity. “I couldn’t have done it without it,” she says. “Raising kids is hard, hard work, whether you’re working and raising kids or staying home and raising them – it’s all hard. Weaving was where I knew I could anchor myself.”
She started with wearables – scarves and shawls – which were popular at craft fairs and markets. But slowly, her interest changed into a purer art form and she began to pursue gallery exposure. “Art is meant to be shared and I wanted an audience,” she says. With the help of the former Steamboat Springs Arts Council (now Steamboat Creates) and artist co-ops (Pine Moon Fine Art, which began as the Artists’ Gallery, for example), Wendy learned how to present her work to the public. Since the early 90s, she has exhibited her textiles throughout Steamboat Springs, and she is currently represented locally by W Gallery and Space Gallery, in Denver.
Wendy has recently had a series of high-profile commissions: locally, in the oncology ward at UCHealth and in the Routt County Health and Human Services building, and nationally, in the lobby of the St. Regis hotel, Chicago’s third tallest building.
Her next project will pay homage to the burn area in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. Hiking through the area, Wendy will collect charcoal from the burn sites, grind it into powder and mix it into a cold wax medium which has a paste-like consistency. She’ll then spread it on a panel and press a stiffened textile into it, causing the wax to ooze through the openings in the weave structure imitating the texture of burned wood. “I want to respond to it,” Wendy says of her latest idea. “There’s so much beauty in the death, but there’s also so much devastation.”
Being rooted in Steamboat, able to experience nature in multiple forms is an inspiration to Wendy. “As an artist, I wanted to be in a place where nature was foremost,” she says. “I just don’t think I could do the work without it.”
The door to Wendy Kowynia’s backyard studio swings open revealing not one, but two looms –one hers, and the other, her mother’s. Weaving is an ancient skill, passed down through generations, so it was apt that Wendy’s mother was the one who taught her how to weave when she was 22. “I had studied painting in college but I didn’t know the why,” Wendy says. “I was overwhelmed by the blank canvas and the limitless variety of abstract forms that I could bring to it. There seemed no good reason why to make one mark versus another." But when she sat down at the loom, she could immediately see the limitless forms that she could create. “They were all grounded in the abstract grid inherent to all textiles and the technicalities of the craft of weaving,” Wendy says. “I saw infinite possibilities within the narrow confines of the medium.”
Wendy spent much of the following decades honing her craft. When she had children, weaving was her sanity. “I couldn’t have done it without it,” she says. “Raising kids is hard, hard work, whether you’re working and raising kids or staying home and raising them – it’s all hard. Weaving was where I knew I could anchor myself.”
She started with wearables – scarves and shawls – which were popular at craft fairs and markets. But slowly, her interest changed into a purer art form and she began to pursue gallery exposure. “Art is meant to be shared and I wanted an audience,” she says. With the help of the former Steamboat Springs Arts Council (now Steamboat Creates) and artist co-ops (Pine Moon Fine Art, which began as the Artists’ Gallery, for example), Wendy learned how to present her work to the public. Since the early 90s, she has exhibited her textiles throughout Steamboat Springs, and she is currently represented locally by W Gallery and Space Gallery, in Denver.
"Drift," Wendy Kowynia, woven silk panels, 6x4x19, 2022.
“Fiber art is having a moment right now,” she declares, mentioning recent shows at both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. “I think it tends to be marginalized and seen as women’s work and crafting and a nice little thing that women did at home. But now it’s being taken more seriously.”Wendy has recently had a series of high-profile commissions: locally, in the oncology ward at UCHealth and in the Routt County Health and Human Services building, and nationally, in the lobby of the St. Regis hotel, Chicago’s third tallest building.
Her next project will pay homage to the burn area in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. Hiking through the area, Wendy will collect charcoal from the burn sites, grind it into powder and mix it into a cold wax medium which has a paste-like consistency. She’ll then spread it on a panel and press a stiffened textile into it, causing the wax to ooze through the openings in the weave structure imitating the texture of burned wood. “I want to respond to it,” Wendy says of her latest idea. “There’s so much beauty in the death, but there’s also so much devastation.”
Being rooted in Steamboat, able to experience nature in multiple forms is an inspiration to Wendy. “As an artist, I wanted to be in a place where nature was foremost,” she says. “I just don’t think I could do the work without it.”