Household items inspire weavers' art

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Elaina Malm's "Lion's Roar" was crafted by weaving together cotton threads and strips of Lion's coffee bags. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Weavers' exhibition When: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m Sunday. On Saturday, members of the Hawai'i Handweavers Hui will demonstrate weaving and natural dyeing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Information: Academy Art Center: 532-8742.

There's a warp (the lengthwise yarns, usually held taut) and a weft (the crosswise yarns, which are moved over and under the warp). The warp and weft normally interlace at right angles to each other. Normally.

However, Hawai'i weavers and artists have gone beyond the norm, drastically expanding the definition of weaving, in the juried exhibition "Home is Where the Art Is," on display through May 31 at the Academy Art Center at Linekona, across the street from the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Exhibition guidelines require that each item be something that could be found around the home. Each must also have a portion handwoven by the artist. In response, the artists contributed some recognizable screens, mats, dish towels and space rugs, as well as some pretty far-out works of woven art.

When Sydney Lynch remodeled her kitchen, she found that all the electrical appliances were woven together to generate the energy to run her house. Out of this realization came "Electrician's Christmas Tree," created by weaving electrical wires together, and maneuvering them around brightly painted outlets and switches.

Elaina Malm's "Lion's Roar" is a huge wall hanging, shaped like an oversized shawl, crafted by weaving together cotton threads and strips of Lion's coffee bags. The embellishments on the ends are the little clips used to hold the coffee bags together after they are opened.

Inspired by the legends of Pele and her sister Hi'iaka, Sue Boyz wove netting of waxed linen thread into mug shapes she lined with mulberry paper.

In a highly imaginative romp, Linda Hee called her installation "Wash Day Disaster: Jr. Finds the Bleach." She hung three woven garments, each looking like an act of graffiti, on a clothesline. Below sits the evidence: a pair of small rubber slippers and a water gun.

In a nod to creative recycling, Gallyn (Gina Kerr Bacon) cut her less-than-favorite watercolor paintings into strips and wove them into a mixed-media work titled "Terror Defining Domesticity."