Theta

Helena Hernmarck

1987

Wool wefts, wool warp, rosepath with weft float patterning

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In Theta, Helena Hernmarck paid tribute to an old Scandinavian textile tradition yet created something totally new through her artistic experimentation. The abstract dots and squiggles in this tapestry emerged spontaneously in a preparatory design, which Hernmarck painted herself, making automatic gestures with her arm. Her methods were inspired by 1950s and 1960s artists like Jackson Pollock, who saw painting as a physical process, intimately connected to the body. She extended this idea to the weaving process as well: Hernmarck employed a centuries-old Scandinavian technique called “rosepath, ” which she learned while studying pre