Shuttle, 2020, designed by Martha Clippinger and woven by Licha Gonzalez Ruiz, hand dyed wool, 23 1/2” x 13”, edition of 12.

In this limited edition of twelve tapetes (Spanish for “rug”), each individual weaving has a distinct palette. Wool is dyed by hand and woven on a pedal loom in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, a Zapotec village renowned for this weaving tradition.

The warps and wefts of the tapete structure, and the back and forth movement of its weaving, inspire this design of horizontal and verticals. Clippinger spent the majority of 2014 in Oaxaca, Mexico on a Fulbright grant to study the Indigenous textile traditions of the region. Along with a passion for textiles, her interest in the Ancient architecture of Mexico and its influence on Modernism influences these richly-hued geometric abstractions.