Weaving Art with Computers

When I returned to Bolivia for the first time in 1969, I could not help but notice the variety of weavings. Some were handmade, old and rough and woven out of natural fibers using natural dyes. Others were handwoven—some very fine and some woven with cotton using modern dyes of bright pinks, greens and blues. I was captivated by the variety of weavings and how the indigenous people used them. They wore them as ponchos and skirts. They folded them into cradles, placed them on their backs to carry their possessions and babies. They laid out the weavings to sit on and show their wares. I knew that these were more than just fabrics. Over the next 40 years, I would collect weavings, meet with weavers and work on a database of weavings. Bolivian weavings would have a far-reaching effect on my art.

The artisitic body of work in this book reflects my journey towards a deeper understanding of both the computer abilities to generate patterns and the cultural meaning of the indigenous weavings. The book has its roots in the pattern generation potential of the computer and the meaningful patterns of Andean weavings.