S h e i l a H i c k s is n o t a w e a v e r . S h e h a s b e e n a s o r o r i t y g i r l a n d a s y n c h r o n i z e d

s w i m m e r , a n a c c i d e n t a l d r u g s m u g g l e r a n d a m a g a z i n e e d i t o r . S h e m a r r i e d

a M e x i c a n b e e k e e p e r a n d d a t e d a w o u l d - b e V e n e z u e l a n r e v o l u t i o n a r y . B u t s h e

i s , e m p h a t i c a l l y , n o t a w e a v e r .

“Sheila is an artist who works with fiber,

line, and color,” says Louise Mackie, cura-

tor of textiles and Islamic art at the Cleve-

land Museum of Art. “This you can see

by looking at her work: Her small woven

works are in tapestry weave,” a technique

in which wefts dramatically outnumber

warps, like a melody overwhelming har-

mony, “the equivalent of painting with col-

ored thread.” Hicks has a protean sensibility

that seems to stir her to extremes: She tends

to work in either a grand or diminutive

scale and not so often in between.

This summer, “Sheila Hicks: 50 Years”

at Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary

Art traces the 76-year-old American’s career

through the lens of her woven works in

what is, remarkably, her first major retro-

spective. (The show originated at the Addi-

son Gallery of American Art in Andover,

Massachusetts, and will move to the Mint

Museum Uptown in Charlotte, North Caro-

lina, in October.) Hicks makes paintings,

drawings, sculpture, and photographs - and

has studied all of those forms. But she works

most intensively with fiber. “Noteworthy

about Sheila’s practice is her respect for dif-

ferent traditions,” says art historian Whit-

ney Chadwick, who wrote an essay for the

exhibition catalog. “She rejects what is a

common attitude among many ‘artists’ that

concept takes precedence over materials.

At the same time, her fiber works can never

be reduced to aesthetics and techniques,

though those things are certainly present.”

Materials have been one of the great pro-

tagonists of Hicks’ creative output from the

beginning. A year after earning her MFA in

painting from Yale in 1959, she was already

plucking found objects out of context and

056 american craft jun/jul n

Above:

M ’hamid,

1970

silk, vicuna,

razor-clam shell

9.25 x 7 m.

Opposite:

The Principal

W ife

, 1968

linen, rayon,

acrylic yams

8.3 x 6.7 x .66 ft.

Below left:

L a Clef; 1988

rubber bands,

metal key

9.5 x 6 in.

Below right:

W ilBcrtbeux,

1973

silk, wool

9 x 7 in.

M 'ham id

photo: A C C archives /

1

m

C/e/and

W il Berlheux

photos: Bastiaan van den Berg /

P rin cip a l W ife

photo: Erik Gould