Roslyn Dupre

I am a Creole woman from New Orleans who has lived in Texas for 17 years. Outside of my place of origin – and I am usually outside my place of origin — I am ambiguously other and sometimes subject to attempts to strong-arm me into boxes where others feel comfortable. My work is my response. In my studio practice, I cultivate exploration, experimentation, and following vague notions of manifesting thought in form. This means that my catalog is broad: some works are tightly connected in material and form and stand with each other like movements of a symphony, while others seem to bound further afield. A closer look, however, reveals a consistent commitment to technique, deliberation, and concept. Even my formal works are political statements as I exert my right and my moment to explore abstraction with my sorts of materials in the ways that my hands and muscles know best. I am currently part of The Glassell School of Art Block XXI advanced studio program at the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston.

Tell us about the work(s) you have in this exhibition.

Window, woven
39″ x 39″
Artist-made bias tapes, pine frame.
$1,500.00

“Window, woven” is an illusion of depth or a path where none exists, in essence, a conceptual pun on the societal effects of bias. As I plan the projects of this series, I am thinking, researching, and reading about the Fayyum mummies, a mixed-culture people of ancient Egypt who were buried in elaborate wrappings and with delicately painted portraits.

What draws you to your chosen medium, what do you love about it?

“Window, woven” is weaving on the macro scale. The piece is formed from strips of fabric cut on the bias, or at a 45-degree angle to the warp and weft of the textile. I weave these cloth tapes to distort dimension and create the illusion of depth. The weaving is then stretched on a pine frame.

What inspires you to make art?

As a multidisciplinary artist, I work with basic materials and traditional craftsmanship to fashion sewn papers, bronze foundry sculptures, and welded steel constructions. My materials vary with the project and include wood, steel, glass, fiber, clay, and textiles. My methods incorporate domestic handicrafts like sewing, hand-weaving, and knitting with fine art fabrication and foundry work. I credit my grandmother, a seamstress, modiste, and inventor, with my love of experimentation, as we come from a rich lineage of artisans and tradespeople. The early woodcut prints of John T. Scott, the sculptural constructions of Martin Puryear, the weavings of Leonore Tawney, and the soft sculptures of Louise Bourgeois are persistent sources of inspiration in my work.