WOOL TWINED INTO ABSTRACT ART
Text by Robbie LaFleur
Swedish-born Liilian Saksi lives and works in Skotterud, a village in rural eastern Norway. After receiving her master's from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2017, Saksi has been studying the traditional twining technique known in Sweden as språngning (or sprang in Norwegian and English).
© Liilian Saksi 2019
Saksi creates colourful geometric artworks that hang on the wall or are hung as free-standing sculpture. Using sprang, Saksi is able to highlight the wool yarn she spins and dyes herself. She is interested in the optical perception of color, often juxtaposing shades of equal value. Her works are planned carefully, with set limitations, but allowed to change with both systematic and intuitive exploration.
The wool she works with is as important as technique in creating the surfaces of her geometric works. Her relationship with the sheep she raises is an important part of her practice, and the titles of her works often include the names of the sheep whose wool is used.
Image: In the process of sprang with yarn spun from the fleeces of Frida, Lovikka, and Anni, 2022.
She recently wrote in the Norwegian Textile Letter, “I work with my own flock of sheep at home on the farm and at my parents’ house. Rooting the work in a specific place and life situation, and not least in my relationship with the sheep, springs from my interest in the human relationship with other species. I am interested in how daily contact with animals affects us psychologically, but also in our conflicting attitudes towards different groups of animals and the animal’s intrinsic value.”
Image: Hemmaflokken - the names of Saksi’s sheep are often featured in the titles of her works.
See more of Saksi’s work on her website, www.liiliansaksi.com, and read more about her process in the Norwegian Textile Letter article, Liilian Saksi: An Artist in Språngning.
Image: Liilian Saksi: “Variationer av ungefärliga komplementärer (orange och turkos, 5+6) [“Variations of Approximate Complements (orange and turquoise, 5 + 6)], 2021.© Thomas Tveter.
Swedish-born Liilian Saksi lives and works in Skotterud, a village in rural eastern Norway. After receiving her master's from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2017, Saksi has been studying the traditional twining technique known in Sweden as språngning (or sprang in Norwegian and English).
© Liilian Saksi 2019
Saksi creates colourful geometric artworks that hang on the wall or are hung as free-standing sculpture. Using sprang, Saksi is able to highlight the wool yarn she spins and dyes herself. She is interested in the optical perception of color, often juxtaposing shades of equal value. Her works are planned carefully, with set limitations, but allowed to change with both systematic and intuitive exploration.
The wool she works with is as important as technique in creating the surfaces of her geometric works. Her relationship with the sheep she raises is an important part of her practice, and the titles of her works often include the names of the sheep whose wool is used.
Image: In the process of sprang with yarn spun from the fleeces of Frida, Lovikka, and Anni, 2022.
She recently wrote in the Norwegian Textile Letter, “I work with my own flock of sheep at home on the farm and at my parents’ house. Rooting the work in a specific place and life situation, and not least in my relationship with the sheep, springs from my interest in the human relationship with other species. I am interested in how daily contact with animals affects us psychologically, but also in our conflicting attitudes towards different groups of animals and the animal’s intrinsic value.”
Image: Hemmaflokken - the names of Saksi’s sheep are often featured in the titles of her works.
See more of Saksi’s work on her website, www.liiliansaksi.com, and read more about her process in the Norwegian Textile Letter article, Liilian Saksi: An Artist in Språngning.
Image: Liilian Saksi: “Variationer av ungefärliga komplementärer (orange och turkos, 5+6) [“Variations of Approximate Complements (orange and turquoise, 5 + 6)], 2021.© Thomas Tveter.