Skeins

Mariska Karasz, Skeins, ca. 1950, linen, cotton, and wool, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1992.117, © 1952, F. Schumacher and Co.
Mariska Karasz, Skeins, ca. 1950, linen, cotton, and wool, 53 1250 14 in. (135.9127.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1992.117, © 1952, F. Schumacher and Co.

Artwork Details

Title
Skeins
Date
ca. 1950
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
53 1250 14 in. (135.9127.6 cm.)
Copyright
© 1952, F. Schumacher and Co.
Credit Line
Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
Mediums Description
linen, cotton, and wool
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
1992.117

Artwork Description

Embroidery is to sewing what poetry is to prose; here the stitches can be made to sing out as words sing in a poem. -- Mariska Karasz

Throughout her life, Mariska Karasz pushed traditional sewing techniques to extremes, creating new stitches and applying existing ones in unusual ways. She started this wall hanging by wrapping different colored yarns around her fingers "for play." She liked how the loops looked and tacked them down to the fabric, varying their scale and position so they appear to fly out toward the viewer from a point far in the distance.

Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019

Works by this artist (3 items)

Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Green Balance, 2011, Mi-Teintes watercolor paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artists in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 2011.54.3, © 2011, Erik and Martin Demaine
Green Balance
Date2011
Mi-Teintes watercolor paper
Not on view
Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Natural Cycles, 2009, Zanders Elefantenhaut paper (elephant hide paper), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artists in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 2011.54.1, © 2009, Erik and Martin Demaine
Natural Cycles
Date2009
Zanders Elefantenhaut paper (elephant hide paper)
Not on view
Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, Hugging Circles, 2011, Zanders Elefantenhaut paper (elephant hide paper), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artists in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 2011.54.2, © 2011, Erik and Martin Demaine
Hugging Circles
Date2011
Zanders Elefantenhaut paper (elephant hide paper)
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 2016.11 - SAAM-2016.11_6 - 124929
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
November 13, 2015March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.

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