Artist Statement
Ikat allows for the painterly expression of color in my woven silk work. Taking advantage of the plain weave structure with both the warp and weft visible and of equal presence, double ikat quickly became the preferable way for me to contain colors and tie memories into the silk with layers of dye.
Essentially, I use ikat to balance a visual structure, pattern or road map (warp) with the potential (weft) for creating a new conversation — dynamic, and contemporary — within a traditional woven medium.
Polly Barton was born in New York City. She studied Art History at Barnard College and has lived and traveled in Paris, Florence, and Rome. In 1981 she moved to Kameoka Japan to study with master weaver, Tomohiko Inoue, living in the religious heart of the Oomoto Foundation. She returned to New York in 1982, married, and continued to weave on her Japanese tsumugi silk kimono looms. She and her husband are now based in Santa Fe. A nationally recognized artist, her woven silk ikat paintings are shown and collected throughout the U. S. and Japan.
Polly Barton
"Tierra Sienna", 2008, 10” x 10”, silk, double ikat with painted warp
Polly Barton
"Rhett Puck", 2008, 10” x 10”, silk, double ikat with painted warp
Polly Barton
"En Route No.1", 2010, 12” x 9.5”, silk ikat warp with metallic weft and silk ikat
Polly Barton
"En Route No.2", 2010, 12” x 9.5”, silk ikat warp with metallic weft and silk ikat
Polly Barton
"Sotto Voce", 2006, 51.25” x 53.75”, three panels, rayon warp with vermillion sumi ink, silk weft with tapestry interlock and ikat
Polly Barton
"Tidepools", 2003, 37.5” x 52”, ikat silk warp; pictorial ikat rayon weft 3 loom width
Polly Barton
"Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines", 2010, 39.5” x 59.5”, silk warp and pictorial ikat with painted warp
