Adela Akers (born February 7, 1933,
Santiago de Compostela, Spain) is a Spanish-born
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
and fiber artist residing in the United States. She is Professor Emeritus (1972 to 1995) at the
Tyler School of Art
The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...
. Her career as an artist spans the "whole history of modern fiber art." Her work is in the
Renwick Gallery
The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, and the
Museum of Art and Design
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...
. Her papers (2.6 linear feet, dating from 1960 to 2009) are at the
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
.
Early life and education
Akers was born on February 7, 1933, in
Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She was raised in Cuba, her mother was a trained seamstress, and later she and her husband had a small import business in
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. ,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
Akers' exposure to business practices through her family helped her later in life to run her own small art business.
She has one brother who later became an accountant in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Akers graduated from the
University of Havana
The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...
with a degree in
Pharmacy. She had wanted to have a practical job, especially because her parents had helped her get through school.
However, later, Akers found she was bored with pharmacy work.
In Havana, she met a group of artists who called themselves Los Once (The Eleven) who encouraged her to make art.
Akers started taking art classes because of the suggestion of Los Once and she went to study in Chicago in 1957.
She studied at the
Art Institute of Chicago, even though at first her English wasn't as strong as she wished.
At the Institute she was introduced to weaving.
Later she studied at
Cranbrook Academy of Art
The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of C ...
where she finished in 1963. She was a weaver-in-residence at
Penland School of Crafts
The Penland School of Craft ("Penland" and formerly "Penland School of Crafts") is an Arts and Crafts educational center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, about 50 miles from Asheville.
History
The school was ...
.
In 1965, she went to a small town, Chota, in northern
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
with a government program as a weaving advisor.
She lives in
Guerneville, California
Guerneville ( , ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, California, United States. The town is historically known for the logging community, formed in the late 1800s. Guerneville ...
.
Artwork and career
Her weavings consist of zigzags, checkerboard patterns, and simple geometric shapes.
Akers’s work has been influenced and informed by pre-Columbian textiles and paintings by women of the
Mbuti
The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages.
Subgroups
Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the old ...
(Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo). Pre-Columbian work, especially appealed to Akers because she saw math and geometry in it.
Akers is also very attached to using a loom for the same reasons, because the loom is very mathematical.
Journeying from one point to another has been a physical and transformative reality in her life, increasing her self-confidence and expanding her vision of the world. These geographical voyages have enabled her to experience the broad horizons and quiet strength of country living, the power of nature, and the palpitating rhythm of cities. While travel has enlarged her perspective, her work expresses the sense of journey itself, rather than alluding to a specific site or sense of place.
Akers works in series, with each piece informing the next.
Exhibitions
*2014 "August Artist-in-Residence: Adela Akers: Traced Memories" Fine Art Museum of San Francisco
*2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 Fiber Biennials at Snyderman-Works Galleries, Philadelphia PA
* 2010
Sonoma County Museum
The Museum of Sonoma County, commonly known as the Sonoma County Museum, is a non-profit organization located in downtown Santa Rosa, California. Its 7th St. campus comprises the historic 1910 Santa Rosa Post Office, a contemporary art gallery, an ...
* 2010 "The 49th Anniversary Show" Triangle Gallery
* 2008 "Ashes to Art", The Gallery at FUNERIA
* 1991
Philadelphia Museum of Art
* 1986
* 1982
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
* 1982
Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum
References
External links
"Oral history interview with Adela Akers, 2008 Mar. 4-6" ''
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
''
*
"Adela Akers" Ilana Stanger, ''New York Foundation for the Arts''
Snyderman-works.com Artists - Snyderman-Works Galleries*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers, Adela
1933 births
Living people
20th-century Spanish women artists
21st-century Spanish women artists
American weavers
People from Santiago de Compostela
Spanish emigrants to the United States
Women textile artists
People from Guerneville, California
Spanish textile artists
Fellows of the American Craft Council