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Bookmark: https://artcollection.carleton.edu/objects-1/info/1236

Six Songs

1986
20th century
48 in. x 30 in. (121.92 cm x 76.2 cm)

Mary Balzar Buskirk, American, (1931–2009)

Object Type: Sculpture and Installations

Creation Place: North America, United States

Medium and Support: woven silk and wool

Credit Line: Carleton College Art Collection

Accession Number: 1998.186

This six panel weaving was designed to reflect the artist’s memories of the first half of her life, spent in Southern Minnesota, "memories of happy times, certainly romanticized by years and distance."

With the composition loosely determined in a pencil sketch, the six-panel weaving was constructed by hand on an 8-harness loom. Wool and raw silk were used to give the work a richly textured beauty. The original plans, Buskirk explains, were altered continually to clarify visual relationships, change emotional qualities, correct compositional problems, and to make a more effective image.

The artist hopes that viewers will ôbe able to share in her joys and also bring their own delight in Minnesota’s seasonal changes to their experience of this work.

Keywords Click a term to view the records with the same keyword

This object has the following keywords:

20th Century, American*, Contemporary*, silk (fiber)*, silk (textile)*, two-dimensional*, weaving*, wool (textile)*

20th Century
American - Refers to the context of or associated specifically with the modern political entity of the United States of America.
Contemporary - Refers to painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and architecture dating from the recent past and present. It differs from modern art in that the term 'contemporary art' does not carry the implication of a non-traditional style, but instead refers only to the time period in which the work was created. 'Modern' and 'contemporary' are inherently fluid terms. The term 'contemporary' is sometimes more narrowly used to refer to art from ca. 1960 or 1970 up to the present.
silk (fiber) - Fine continuous protein fiber consisting primarily of fibroin filaments, secreted by silk caterpillars.
silk (textile) - Textile made from silk fiber, which is a fiber derived from the cocoon of the silkworm moth.
two-dimensional - Having the two dimensions of length and width, but not height.
weaving - Generally, the process of interlacing strands or strips of various materials, such as cane, textile, or twigs, to make materials or objects such as wicker, cloth, baskets, or wreaths. Specifically used for the process of making textile on a loom or other weaving device by interlacing warp and weft in a particular order.
wool (textile) - Textile made from the animal hair wool.

Dimensions

each panel Dimensions: 48 x 30 in. (1219 x 762 mm)