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Fiber art
Hicks’s large-scale, three-dimensional fiber sculptures combine abstraction with the sensuousness of materials and forms. With its cascading lengths, colorful wrapping, and twisted ends, Bamian reflects the artist’s mastery at combining materials (wool and acrylic yarns) and techniques (plying and wrapping).
A pioneer in the post-war fiber movement, Hicks was first a student of painter Josef Albers at Yale University, from whom she gained a deep appreciation for color properties and material explorations. Like other artists of the nascent fiber movement, she became inspired by South American textiles. In the 1950s and 60s, Hicks spent time in South America and Mexico, where she worked with local weavers and explored traditional textile techniques, such as wrapped warps.
Bamian
Fiber art
Sheila Hicks (American (lives and works in Paris), born in 1934)
American
1968
Medium/Technique
Wool and acrylic yarns, wrapped
Dimensions
Height x width: 102 3/8 x 102 3/8 in. (260 x 260 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Potter Kling Fund and partial gift of Sheila Hicks
Accession Number2011.474
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsFiber arts
Hicks’s large-scale, three-dimensional fiber sculptures combine abstraction with the sensuousness of materials and forms. With its cascading lengths, colorful wrapping, and twisted ends, Bamian reflects the artist’s mastery at combining materials (wool and acrylic yarns) and techniques (plying and wrapping).
A pioneer in the post-war fiber movement, Hicks was first a student of painter Josef Albers at Yale University, from whom she gained a deep appreciation for color properties and material explorations. Like other artists of the nascent fiber movement, she became inspired by South American textiles. In the 1950s and 60s, Hicks spent time in South America and Mexico, where she worked with local weavers and explored traditional textile techniques, such as wrapped warps.
DescriptionFiber art piece consisting of forty-seven cords of wool and wool twisted with acrylic.
Provenance2011, partially sold and partially given by Sheila Hicks to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 22, 2011)
Copyright© Sheila Hicks