In the Studio: Suzanne Tick

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suzanne's website
0:00:07
Suzanne has been doing textile and product design for a long time, and her website is absolutely full of materials inspired by the textures of weaving.

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fire safety
0:01:30
The question of functional object or art is one that comes up a lot for Suzanne. New York City fire code prohibits the use of certain (flammable) materials as structural or decorative elements in buildings. So, Suzanne couldn't mass-produce and sell the pieces she is working on here as wallcoverings or decorative screens, but she can design a safer piece in textile that is inspired by these textures.

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close-up
0:01:37
What you're looking at are straight metal rods cut from hangers, cardboard tubes from hangers, the tissue paper that sometimes comes with dry cleaning, and then plastic garment bags. The only things not from the dry cleaner are the black warp threads which hold everything together.

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the mac in the background
0:02:24
Suzanne is working on a loom that is functionally the same as looms made over the last few hundred years. The one consent to modern-times? She has an electronic row counter that keeps track of when she should engage which warp threads to change the pattern. It's run by that Mac over her shoulder connected to a unit bolted onto her loom (the device in the photo), and it also makes that ticking noise that you can hear in the background.

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Suzanne's products
0:02:55
Suzanne oversees much of the fabric design for Knoll Textiles - this link takes you to the page for Earthwork. Although there is some degree of abstraction that occurs when her handmade, very dimensional fabric is translated into a product made in quantity on huge jacquard looms, you can definitely see the relationship between the two. Suzanne oversees and approves the industrial production of her products, too, so she is aware of how that translation will affect the finished product.

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Suzanne in the Open Studios at MAD
0:03:20
Shortly after we shot this video, Suzanne spent a day our Open Studios, where she had ample opportunity to gauge peoples' reaction to her work. Check out the link to this photo set.

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Channels: Contemporary ArtSuzanne TickTextiles

Suzanne Tick is a weaver and textile designer whose work often makes use of unexpected materials. In this case, her material of choice comes from the dry cleaner: hangers, tissue paper, and plastic bags. By weaving these materials together, Suzanne creates a tapestry that has a rich and compelling texture and pattern, and whose component parts are almost unrecognizable.

In this video, Suzanne explains how her art-making is an integral part of her work in industrial textile design as her dry cleaning wall hangings are translated into a more conventional woven fabric.

Great thing you've got here! Wish someone would write an essay on people doing such amazing things!

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Andy Parker on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 09:52.

Suzanne Tick gives art a new meaning. When most people think of art they think of a type of drawing or sculpture. Tick futher proves the point that art is no one particular thing or object. Art can come in all shapes and fashions. When one thinks of a textile designer they usually think of the textile on the floors and walls. Tick shows that a textile desingers job is very complex and broad.
Suzanne Tick's job is to process new materials and discover concepts of weaving. It was interesting to hear about how the organic material and the technilogical materials always go together. I would have never thought there was a difference between material and art. In most cases material is considered art. The best part about this babble is learning that Tick uses waste from daily lives and daily living. It's amazing how a simple hanger and plastic from the dry cleaners plays a special part in the making of the textile and new concepts of weaving. Tick's job is a perfect example of how complex art and materials are.

Randi's picture
Submitted by Randi on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 00:04.

Art, as the world knows it today, can come in numerous shapes, sizes, and pictures. Art often has a message from it. No art work is done randomly. Thinking back on the most common forms of art, such as painting, sculptures, and drawings, people are sometimes ignorant of the fact that there are other forms of art. Therefore, you get reactions, such as "that's dumb". As oppose to making comments such as those about foreign art, think of it in an amazed manner. Saying words like "wow, that's different" shows that you are ignorant of this type of art, but rather, that you are willing to understand the message behind it.
Suzanne Tick expressed a type of artwork that is foreign to many people. The art that she does is considered to be textile. By textile, I mean, weaving styles of artwork. Her idea behind her textile work is to use what seems to a regular human being as unexpected, and use it to create art. As I stated before, all art relays a message. Her work is relaying the message that one can use the unexpected to please or even shock others.
This is evident in her work through her material being dry cleaning objeccts. By dry cleaning objects, I mean,objects found at the dry cleaners. To be more specific, I mean hangers, tissue papers, and plastic bags. She is able to weave these dry cleaning objects together to create a piece of art: more specifically, a tapestry. This art work has many different pattersns and textures. Just glancing at the art makes one want to find out what the components are, but one can't tell just by glancing at the work. This work is completely unexpected, but attractive. This is the message that Suzanne Tick is trying to get across to all the viewers of her work.
One could argue against my opinion, by expressing that Suzanne Tick is only doing this type of art work because she thinks that this is what looks nice. I believe that this is completely wrong. The idea is not to use what looks nice, but rather, what is unexpected. Wire hangers do not look nice at all, but they would be considered unexpected simply because most people would not think of such material to use as art.
If anyone walks away from this breakdown of Suzanne Ticks art, remember that art has different messages, and in this case, it is trying to relay that works can be unexpected and attractive as oppose to weird and dumb.

mason2's picture
Submitted by Mason Archie, II on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 23:00.

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