90% of weaving happens before thread ever touches the loom. Indeed, the accumulation of warp over weft is only one of many actions, including drafting/design, winding, measuring, looping, counting, dyeing, knotting, setting tension, and others. These actions formed the inspiration and starting point for this exhibition.

Tie Up, Draw Down explores weaving as a source for experimentation across media, genres, concept, and scale. Of the fifteen contemporary artists included in this exhibition, many hybridize weaving technologies, weave “the wrong way,” or adapt and innovate weaving processes to encompass new media. Others do not weave at all, but find a rich avenue of inquiry within aspects or stages of weaving’s complex field.

Artists include: Polly Apfelbaum, Joell Baxter, Jen Bervin, Francesca Capone, Liz Collins, Marianne Fairbanks, Del Harrow, Sheila Hicks, LoVid, John Paul Morabito, Danielle Mysliwiec, Meghan Price, Molly Smith, Laurel Sparks, and Margo Wolowiec.

Tie Up, Draw Down is curated by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design’s (CCCD) 2017 Curatorial Fellows Natalie Campbell and Carissa Carman and organized by CCCD.

The CCCD Curatorial Fellowship is made possible by the John & Robyn Horn Foundation. CCCD is supported in part by a grant from the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Additional support for Benchspace programming provided by Sara and Bill Morgan.