Diane Itter (4 October 1946 – 12 October 1989) was an American fiber artist. Her work emerged from the 1960s renaissance of interest in fiber art.

Life

While studying at the University of Pittsburgh, she met her future husband, artist

William Itter William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

, who encouraged her to experiment with hand-tied knots. Itter used fine threads, small knots, and bright colors, whereas most fiber artists working at the time were producing large sculptural works from undyed fibers tied into large knots. Itter was inspired by historical textiles from Peru, Japan, and Africa. Itter had limited herself to brightly dyed thread and a single type of knot by 1974. Each work took her about one and one-half weeks of 8 to 10 hour workdays. In 1981, she developed carpal-tunnel syndrome. She slept with splints on her wrists, but continued to produce 20 to 30 intricate pieces annually, while continuing her teaching and lecturing schedule. She died from cancer in 1989.

References

External links

Diane Itter: An Interview
''Video Data Bank'', 1982
Photographs of works by Diane Itter
in the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itter, Diane American textile artists 1989 deaths 1946 births 20th-century American women artists Women textile artists