Barbara Setsu Pickett, Associate Professor Emerita, Department of Art, University of Oregon, focuses on velvet weaving, Jacquard weaving, shibori and book arts. She researched velvet weaving techniques at ateliers in Italy, France, England, Spain, Turkey, Japan, China, India, and Uzbekistan. She has received awards from NEA, Fulbright, Institute of Turkish Studies, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Asian Art Museum San Francisco, and University of Oregon Summer Research. Since 2005, she and her son Michael Pickett have created highly textured scarves as Mihara Shibori Studio. They have taught workshops in Korea and Turkey and the USA.
Playing with Symmetry in Figured Velvet Design
For more than 40 years, velvet weaving has been the focus of Barbara Setsu Pickett’s research and artwork. She is particularly fond of figured velvets and the designs created from the contrasting textures of cut and uncut pile with voids. She weaves on a manual Jacquard loom at the Foundation Lisio in Florence, Italy with its two Jacquard heads, the smaller for the ground weave and the larger for the pile pattern. The mounting of the Jacquard capitalizes on the principles of symmetry creating clever, efficient repeat patterns while minimizing time and labor. Contrary to the practice of one comber repeat on computerized Jacquard, the historic Jacquard mountings do pack extra visual power and punch.
Materials fee: None
Supplies: None