Good bye.

Broken Home #2

Good Bye

I have always loved and been fascinated by the art of weaving- but have rarely seen work with a narrative and conceptual back ground that works.  There are many contemporary weavers making gorgeous paintings with thread but I have never seen such contemporary and conceptual woven work as that of artist Erin M. Riley.

Good-bye.

Erin is obviously an expert weaver, as she weaves moving, intricate, and unique personal narratives in her telling and often tragic work.  She weaves in image, composition elements and text in a way that look effortless.

Lonely.

Conceptually Erin works with the ideas and memories of childhood, specifically the one event the perhaps made or could have made it all different.

Absent

Erin describes her work:

I am making art rooted in personal questions about how everyone grows up to be so drastically different in every way. Wondering if there are ties, pin points that I can discover to unravel a family history and make it all make sense. Maybe there was one day that changed everything …

third birthday.

With my work, and research I am hoping to invoke the feelings of isolation that I so often felt as a middle child as well as entice conversation and analysis of everyday interactions and relationship dynamics.

She takes on difficult subject matters such as abuse, substance abuse, trauma, death, and birth order in a moving and poetic way with her loom and thread.

Portrait of a father.

Though her work can be sad and even depressing to see the stories told it is truly moving and reminds us of the human struggle of family, loss, and our own inner demons in a truly inspiring way.  To see so many more beautiful works by Erin see her website.