By: Lauren Hodges
PERUVIAN CELEBRATION:Arrow Ross showcases an ode to the ancient people, places and things of Peru, as inspired by textile artist Maximo Laura.
So many trends have come and gone in the art world. Some went on to the Modern Museum of Art, while others were doomed to be stapled to wood paneling (ahem, velvet paintings). The true test of quality art seems to be staying power. Is it a mere chapter in the book of creative history, or does it still influence modern-day artists?
When local photographer Arrow Ross visited Peru last April, he was introduced to one of the oldest and most influential art forms in the world. “It is amazing how old the techniques of weaving are,” he says. “The people in Peru, they just keep the tradition going.”
Ross’ discovery began at No Boundaries, a local painters’ retreat arranged by Dick Roberts, Gayle Tustin and Pam Toll, with whom Ross shares space at Acme Art Studios. It was there that he met Maximo Laura, a Peruvian artist who had come to the Carolina coast to paint.
“He was a good painter, but he kept talking about his tapestries,” Ross says. “I was just amazed at how detailed they were. Later, someone bought one of his tapestries, and when I heard how much he sold it for, I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s all it was? I would have bought it for 10 times that price!’ So, I had to learn more.”
Ross, originally from Denmark, has quite a few stamps on his passport. His next trip would be to Lima, Peru, to visit his new friend and learn about the craft that went into Laura’s tapestries. “When we got there, he and his wife welcomed us into their home.
It was a large blue house that had started out as one room many years ago. They kept adding rooms and then floors. Now it is five floors.” The first two floors of the house consist of Laura’s weaving rooms, staffed with 20 trained crafters.
Most of Laura’s employees are family members. “He supports them all,” Ross says. “He is a very generous man.” “He was a good painter, but he kept talking about his tapestries,” Ross says. “I was just amazed at how detailed they were...
Each of the staff has been personally trained by Laura himself, who has work hanging in the Smithsonian and several other museums around the world. Each work is handmade in his home by the people he trusts. As Ross scans his photo album from the trip, he stops at a shot of what he calls “the butterfly room.”
“These are the butterflies,” he says, pointing to a pile of yarn bunches. “They are pre-made threads created by twisting yarn into the color scheme needed for the design of the tapestry. It’s a mathematical process.”
The precise colors are determined after a sketch of the design is produced by Laura and his helpers. “He sketches it all out on paper, and then they draw it into the loom,” Ross notes, pointing to another series of photos.
Once he had his photo album organized, Ross decided to add something extra to a few of them. “While I was in Peru, I took a lot of photos of the landscape,” he says. “This one here is of Machu Picchu. I was in awe of these ancient cities and the art that came out of them. People like Maximo are carrying on those ancient traditions.”
He used his skill with Photoshop to superimpose Incan icons into the landscapes and a few into the images of Laura’s tapestries. “I just wanted to put some things together,” he says. In one of his most poignant pieces, Laura’s face is translucent over one of his most intricate tapestries.
In another an Incan sculpture floats unattached against a background of Peruvian ruins and hillside. “I wanted to give the pictures some depth and put the people into the creations.”
Ultimately, Ross wanted to pay tribute to the deep past and people, recreating the strong connections he felt while visiting Peru. “There was such a mystery there,” he says. “I loved that mystery. I was so drawn to the history of these people and what their lives was like back then.
We see here, in their pictures, so many clues to their past.” He is mostly fascinated with the Incans’ ability to preserve their culture, even after their civilizations died out and the Spaniards invaded South America.
“They were all forced to convert to Roman Catholicism, but the people found secret ways to pass on their beliefs,” he points out. “Because they were so artistic, the Spaniards had many of these people painting, weaving and sculpting for them.
Even though the icons they represented were Christian, they snuck in images of the moon and stars, which is what they worshipped.” He points to an ancient image of the Virgin Mary. “
You can see here that they painted her like a mountain, even though it just looks like her dress is shaped like that. This was to symbolize Machu Picchu, the great city that the Spaniards never found.”
To this day people like Maximo Laura are responsible for carrying on those traditions for which his ancestors fought so hard.
Taken From
EncorePub.com
