About

Lenore G. Tawney

Lenore Tawney was born in 1907 but her career as an artist did not begin in earnest until the age of fifty. Although she studied with various teachers including Bauhaus alumni during the 1940s and 50s, it was after her 1957 move to New York that she created the innovative woven work that challenged the boundaries between fine art and craft.

Biography

Fiber

Tawney’s innovative work was at the vanguard of what came to be called fiber art during the second half of the twentieth century. Her groundbreaking sculptural weavings were an important influence in the United States and internationally. Works ranging from intimate to monumental in scale evidence both the originality of her vision and her sensitivity to the expressive potential of the medium.
Drawing

In 1964, Tawney began a series of ink drawings on graph paper, initially inspired by her study of the Jacquard loom. These meditative pieces became a significant and ongoing part of her oeuvre. During the 1990s, she reinterpreted the ink drawings using linen thread in three dimensions in a series titled Drawings in Air.
Collage

Shortly after beginning her graph paper drawings in 1964, Tawney also began to explore collage. In these works, the pages of antique books were often enhanced with drawing or Tawney’s own fine handwriting. She sent hundreds of postcard collages with cryptic, sometimes humorous messages to friends and created a series of collaged books and other objects.
Assemblage

Tawney’s highly personal sculptural assemblages were begun during the mid-1960s and continued throughout her career. In these primarily small-scale works, objects collected over the years–eggs, feathers, pebbles, bones, shells, beads, buttons, and vials–were infused with new meaning and a personal, hidden poetry.

About

The
Foundation

The Lenore G. Tawney Foundation was established in 1989 by pioneer fiber artist Lenore Tawney (1907-2007) for charitable and educational purposes. She endowed the Foundation with her life’s resources, artistic and financial. Consistent with the artist’s philanthropic interests, the Foundation supports the visual arts with a focus on craft media, including fiber art. Its broad aim is to increase public access to and knowledge about the visual arts and to assist learning opportunities for emerging artists.

About the Foundation

About

The
Studio

An installation of Tawney’s studio environment is on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s Art Preserve, which opened in 2021 and provides the public and researchers year-round access to an unparalleled collection of art environments that now includes works by more than 30 artists.

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About

Mirror of the Universe

This short documentary on the life and work of Lenore Tawney is a companion to the exhibition series and publication Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe, produced by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in 2019. It includes interviews, archival photos, and exhibition footage.

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