Zwia Lipkin
Zwia Lipkin is a textile artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her oeuvre is firmly political, and takes a strong activist stance. Her practice has an international view, looking both to injustices near her home and to the opposite side of the globe in China.
To see more of Zwia’s art, please visit her website.
About:
Except for a handful of quilting classes, Zwia is by-and-large self-taught. She is drawn to intuition-led folk pieces such as Amish quilts, the quilts of Gee Bend and Japanese boro pieces.
Spark 5 and Spark 8 from the Spark Series, 2020, 6 x 6’’, up-cycled home decor textiles, raw-edge appliqué with machine stitching.
Zwia has learned mostly through experimentation. She recently became a member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates), which has expanded her artistic horizons through exposure to fellow quilt artists and different textile-related methods.
Lush from the Calendar Series, representing April, 2019, 12 x 12’’, up-cycled home decor textiles and wooden beads, raw-edged appliqué with hand stitching.
She says ‘I love touching different textures … there is something almost three dimensional about them.’
Ashes, depicting the 2020 California wildfires, 2020, 16 x 20’’, up-cycled home decor textiles, raw-edged appliqué with machine and hand stitching with some couching.
Sustainability is at the heart of Zwia’s practice. She has been interested in recycled art since the beginning of her artistic journey, and even as a high school student was using found objects in her work. It was during this time of her life that Zwia discovered the early twentieth-century German artist, Kurt Schwitters. Schwitters’ upcycled, very poetic collages became an important influence. In more recent years, as she developed an increased awareness of environmental issues, Zwia committed seriously to upcycling. She now works almost exclusively with rescued fabrics, giving them a second life.
Berry Twilight, 2019, 21 x 24’’, up-cycled home decor textiles, piecing and raw-edged appliqué with machine and hand stitching.
Zwia works regularly with abstract themes, much of it inspired by nature. She enjoys spending her time outdoors, and considers activities like gardening and hiking as major sources of inspiration.
Tree Bark 3, from the Tree Bark Series, 2020, 12 x 16’’, up-cycled home decor textiles, raw-edged appliqué with free motion stitching.
Current events and political issues are an important reoccurring theme in her work. The recent mass shootings in the United States inspired her to complete Enough!, a small commentary on Gun Control. Currently Zwia is working on a series of letter-sized pieces describing the people of Xinjiang. She is using photos she took on a trip to the region as inspiration. She aims to draw attention to the current plight of the Uyghur people and, in her own words, denounce ‘the loud silence of the world.’
Enough!, 2020, 11 x 14’’, raw-edge appliqué with machine stitching and hand embroidery, mounted on stretched canvas.
Eerie Streets, Part of the Desolution series depicting Covid-19 Lockdowns, 2020, 10 x 10’’, up-cycled home decor textiles, plastic buttons, raw-edged appliqué with machine and hand stitching
Zwia recently completed ‘Ode to Spring’; an art quilt series of four early spring scenes of her garden. She also finished a hand-stiched kantha-influenced spring jacket, which incorporates a panel of hand-woven Bhutanese tapestry acquired in Bhutan.