Archie Brennan

Born 1931 Roslin, Scotland, now living in upstate New York

1958-61 DA (Edin) Stained Glass
1961-62 Andrew Grant Postgraduate Scholarship
1962-73 Head of Tapestry Department
1973-75 Lecturer in Tapestry

Quite simply, the practice of woven tapestry has been an obsessive passion my entire adult life. It is my language and I love -hate- delight and struggle with it each day, all day. In an unique manner, it is a vehicle to convey concepts, comment, harmony, discord, rhythm, growth and form. Simply put, it is what I do. That tapestry today is widely regarded as a minor art form leaves me unconcerned. That is somebody else's loss. In medieval Europe (and pre-Columbian Peru and Coptic Egypt) tapestry was supreme. 500 years ago it was already extremely sophisticated in its development- aesthetically, technically and in diversity of purpose. Today, its lack of a defined purpose, its rarity, gives me an opportunity to seek new roles, to extend its historic language and, above all, to dominate my compulsive, creative drive. In 1967, I made a formal decision to step away from the burgeoning and exciting fiber arts movement and to refocus on woven tapestry’s long-established graphic pictorial role. My belief was and still is that tapestry had foundered into an imitative, reproductive process. In spite of a few notable exceptions, the technical virtuosity of the eighteenth - twentieth century became a serious and sorry disadvantage. Tapestry was merely a servant to painters and paintings.

Selected Biography
1981 OBE for Contributions to the Arts
1977-80 National Arts School, Papua New Guinea
1975 Creative Arts Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
1962-1975 Artistic Director, Edinburgh Tapestry Company
Consultant, Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, Australia

www.archiebrennanproject.com
www.americantapestryalliance.org