The exhibit “Story Painters” now at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek includes some of Hung Liu’s dynamic paintings, combining compelling figures and her imagined environments. But the most amazing works were a pair of large-scale tapestries woven from two of her paintings. Here’s one example, although this web photo can’t reproduce the combination of subtlety and brilliance of the real thing.
These tapestries are created from a “digital weave file,” an image of a painting that has been manipulated by the artist herself. The technique allows the artist to paint with thread, varying the length and strength of the threads in the same way she does her brush strokes. The resulting tapestries have a depth and warmth that illuminates a different dimension of the image. Different from the painting, but equally wonderful.
Read more about Magnolia Editions, the Oakland, CA, fine art studio that pioneered this technique.
Joanne Taeuffer 