The American Tapestry Alliance (ATA) is an association of a broad range of

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

enthusiasts. ATA was founded in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1982. It provides educational programs, exhibition opportunities, and a variety of awards for tapestry artists. In addition, ATA publishes a quarterly journal, ''Tapestry Topics''.

History

At the turn of the twentieth century, a few tapestry workshops, such as William Baumgarten & Co, were operating in the United States. Many of the weavers in these workshops had come from Aubusson, Creuse,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, a region known for tapestry production. Immigration from Europe during World War II also brought

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainmen ...

to the United States who took teaching posts at craft schools and universities, including

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

. These early teachers inspired many to take up weaving. In the mid 1970s, Jean Pierre Larochette, whose family roots were in Aubusson tapestry, organized a weaving demonstration at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, in conjunction with the exhibition, ''Five Centuries of Tapestry''. Larochette, along with three of his students, Ernestine Bianchi, Phoebe McAfee, and Ruth Tanenbaum (Scheuer), went on to form the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Tapestry

Workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the on ...

. The SF Tapestry Workshop offered classes and workshops and was a significant influence on the development of contemporary tapestry in the last quarter of the 20th century. Many other tapestry weavers in the United States have studied Navajo weaving with native southwestern people. In 1976, Jim Brown and Hal Painter, two tapestry enthusiasts, organized a Bicentennial Year tour, offering tapestry workshops throughout the country. As a result of this tour they founded the American Tapestry Alliance in 1982 to unite artists in North America working in the medium of handwoven tapestry. By the mid 1990s, the focus and membership had broadened internationally. ATA received its nonprofit status in 1995 and is governed by a Board of Directors.

Activities

The American Tapestry Alliance offers a variety of programs. The initial exhibitions, ''Panorama of Tapestry'' and ''World Tapestry Today'' evolved into two

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

, international juried tapestry exhibits, ''American Tapestry Biennial'' and ''Small Tapestry International''. The first American Tapestry Biennial was held in 1996 and a new iteration of the show occurs every second year. Small Tapestry International was initiated in 2009 and is also biennial. ATA also supports a very popular non-juried small format exhibition that attracts both

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

and beginning tapestry weavers. ATA's exhibitions have featured well known artists such as Muriel Nezhnie Helfman, Archie Brennan, and Marcel Marois. The exhibits are documented through full color catalogs and are reviewed in a variety of publications. In addition, ATA hosts online exhibitions in the TEx@ATA Gallery. These shows feature contemporary tapestry from around the world and have included online documentation of shows organized by other organizations, such as the

Australian Tapestry Workshop The Australian Tapestry Workshop (formerly known as the Victorian Tapestry Workshop) is a not-for-profit organisation that employs weavers to create tapestry pieces and promotes tapestry creation though collaboration with contemporary artists. Fou ...

. ATA offers educational opportunities including symposia, online educational articles, and a variety of awards. ATA's artist pages highlight the work of contemporary tapestry weavers. ATA produces programming in conjunction with the

Handweavers Guild of America The Handweavers Guild of America (HGA) is an association of fiber artists founded in the U.S. in 1969. The guild provides educational programs, conferences, and scholarships for fiber arts students. It publishes the quarterly journal ''Shuttle Spi ...

and the

Textile Society of America The Textile Society of America (TSA) was founded in 1987 as an international non-profit educational organization for sharing and disseminating information about textiles and fiber media. The society sponsors a bi-annual conference where juried pape ...

and participates in the Partner Pavilion at the International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair (SOFA),

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Journal

The American Tapestry Alliance publishes a quarterly journal, ''Tapestry Topics''. In addition, every two years ATA publishes ''CODA'', a selection of articles from ''Tapestry Topics''.

References

External links

* {{Official website, americantapestryalliance.org
''CODA''

''Artist Pages''
Organizations based in San Jose, California Textile arts of the United States Textile arts organizations Weaving Tapestries