Loom

Richard Wagener

Looms provide the blank canvases for weaving stories, a basic structure of utility and grace that connects the threads of our inner world with those of the natural world in countless and ever enduring forms. This project began when the California printmaker and book artist Richard Wagener asked simple question - how many threads does it take to make a weaving? From this journey (undertaken over several months on the surface of endgrain wood blocks, with a wood engraver's burin as walking stick) have come sixteen extraordinary engravings, artwork which evokes the mystery and beauty of connection and disconnection, while honoring the elegant simplicity and frailty of the loom and all it represents. New Zealand-born, Australian-resident poet Alan Loney, long-time weaver of words, was asked to respond to this series of engravings, and produced a poem, asking deep questions of connection...