By the Sea

Copied Adela Akers, By the Sea, 1987, sewn and woven sisal, linen, and wool, 96 1⁄2 x 47 1⁄2 x 5 3⁄4 in. (244.5 x 120.6 x 14.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of KPMG Peat Marwick, 1993.54.1

Artwork Details

Title
By the Sea
Artist
Date
1987
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
96 1⁄2 x 47 1⁄2 x 5 3⁄4 in. (244.5 x 120.6 x 14.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of KPMG Peat Marwick
Mediums Description
sewn and woven sisal, linen, and wool
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
  • Landscape — coast
Object Number
1993.54.1

Artwork Description

My interest was in creating something that would hang on the wall but project beyond the wall, involve my viewer. But I didn't want to paint. . . . I really wanted the loom to help me produce that.
--Adela Akers

Adela Akers grew up by the sea in Havana, Cuba. She developed this interactive woven structure to set into motion the choreography of color, light, and shadow across a seascape over time. When By the Sea is viewed from the right, the grey glow of morning light radiates across the deep turquoise water and the mountain peaks of a distant island. When viewed from the left, an evening sky absorbs much of the light, except the faint glow of a jutting rock and its reflection on the inky sea surface. As you walk from one end to another, only the purple horizon line remains constant. Each of the thirty-two panels was individually woven in Akers's signature dense style--with a rigid sisal warp (the vertical threads) and tightly pulled wool wefts (the horizontal threads)--and sewn together into the accordion form.

Exhibitions

Media - 2019.15 - SAAM-2019.15_1 - 137377
Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
May 31, 2024–January 5, 2025
The artists in Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women mastered and subverted the everyday materials of cotton, felt, and wool to create deeply personal artworks.