Lenore Tawney, Drawing in the Air #7, 1997. Thread, beads, plexiglass. 55x16x10 1/2 inches.

Born in 1907 in Lorain, Ohio.

Lenore Tawney's visit to a factory thirty years ago led to her recent Drawing in the Air series. She claims the Jacquard loom she saw that day, combined with the "thousands of trembling threads in the air," inspired drawings and three-dimensional work. Her transparent plexiglass "loom" in Drawing in the Air #7 uncovers the complex construction usually hidden in traditional weaving.

Tawney's use of thread relates to her strong feelings towards women and weaving. She sees weaving as a "...primordial mystery of weaving and spinning ...experienced in projection upon the Great Mother who weaves the web of life and spins the thread of fate..."

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