MARIA
GRIGORIOU
Having been trained in art and in the art of weaving, I slowly sought new methods to craft my work, using various media. For the last 15 years my work has taken two directions.
The one still involves textiles and weaving but has now become an increasingly conceptual method.I apply old traditional textile techniques to non traditional materials such as paper and bring these pieces into a contemporary context.
The other is sculptural, using iron wire the way you would use a pencil to draw a continuous line. Wherever I need a thicker line I hammer the wire on the anvil.
From the idea to the execution, I enjoy the process like a journey. The more open you are, the closer you reach. The best travels have been made in my studio.
Recommended by Homo Faber Guide
The Passage consists of three parts, The Wave, The Vessel, The land and it refers to the thousands of refugees crossing the seas.
Handmade paper, cotton cloth, natural indigo dye, wood, silver.
The blue of indigo.
The colour of the sea and sky, of the mountains in the horizon. The magic of dyeing.
The multiple dips, till the marks become permanent and the colour blue velvet of the coming night.
Through this exhibition I wanted to honour this unique blue.
Cotton paper pulp, cotton handmade paper, natural indigo dye, cotton thread, tie-dye, wood painted with natural indigo pigment.
I chose a simple object with a familiar use. A hollow shape, open, born to receive. I made it out of cotton paper pulp and used it as a canvas to hold, to fill, to record memories, to sink into blue to be stained with permanent marks, to tell stories, with a thread that embraces, hides and reappears, slides away ,breaks and gets knotted, a thread that mends tears and wounds. Considered and instinctive traces of time.
As in life, beauty lies in the ephemeral detail.
Works inspired by the long and narrow handwoven strips of cotton, linen or silk that were part of the Greek costumes, mostly waist or head bands.
Participated with three works dedicated to the art of weaving and the weavers,
Yukos, is based on the traditional pile of textiles under this name and serves as a memorial in a monumental form to contain the tools and products of weaving.
Fine balance, is an installation comprising of stacks of samples of materials, handwoven by the artist, placed in between the stretched threads of my last silk warp, a metaphor for an interwoven social structure.
Indigo, a column of 140 weft shuttle bobbins, the most essential tool of the art of weaving.
All three works have been exhibited also at the Curtius museum, Liege Belgium 2019 and at the Town Hall of Damme, Belgium 2019
A series of works inspired by the heavily pleated Greek costumes of the museum’s permanent collection. Also exhibited at Handwerksform, Hannover 2012.
Handmade cotton paper (dyed, pleated, waxed), transparent paper, thread, silver.
Banners.
Hammered iron, white metal, copper, paper, dry pastels.
Wire sculptures.
With an iron wire, I draw a continuous line, like someone would do with a pencil, varying the thickness of the line by hammering the iron on the anvil. The colour is either dry pastels on transparent paper of 200 gr or aluminium from refreshment and beer cans, that escaped recycling for a second life in another role.
