Huge Tyvek Art Installation by Signe Stuart

Signe Stuart is an artist living in Sante Fe NM whose work is currently on display at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City SD. The Tyvek installation art exhibit called INSILENCE2 is being shown from May 10 to August 30, 2013. The images here are from this installation; the dimensions are 24' wide, by 10' high and a 30' extension into the gallery.

Signe provides this description of her work with Tyvek:

I selected Tyvek #10 paper-like material to make my INSILENCE installations. I had used various kinds of collaged paper in an earlier installation, Room2, but felt paper was too rigid. I wanted something that could roll up, drape and have a more fluid appearance. Added benefits are lightweight and easy to store. I tried various adhesives with the Tyvek collage and settled on Nori paste - easy to use and clean up. These installations are very large unpainted collages. Light is used dramatically to isolate and focus, to define and obscure, and to create shadow patterns on walls and floor to to suggest mood or atmosphere.

My first version of INSILENCE, a forty by nine foot passageway constructed of three patterned fields of collaged Tyvek, was presented at Untitledartspace in Oklahoma City in the summer of 2008. The process of constructing the fields was obsessive, intuitive and meditative... repetitive acts of cutting and gluing thousands of small pieces of Tyvek became a mantra to empty the mind and allow ideas to flow without judgment.

For the second version at the Dahl Art Center in Rapid City, SD, I reconfigured the three collaged fields to form a new variation: INSILENCE2. Two fields, each nine feet wide, were attached along a top edge of the gallery wall and pulled out diagonally onto the gallery floor, creating a passageway for viewers to walk through. The six foot wide field was suspended from the ceiling between and in front of the other two. In the darkened gallery, white light cascaded onto the side fields making the patterns appear to dissolve in places. A blue light directed toward the bottom of the center field faded upward. The three fields spread about thirty feet outward from the passageway in wavelike rhythms.. reminiscent of landscape or seascape. Patterned shadows fall on viewers walking through the passage making them moving aspects of the installation. The idea of field can suggest many things, among them expanding relationships, synapses, theories of growth. Passages suggest transitions between beginnings and endings, pasts and futures. The collaged Tyvek fields appear both crystalline and soft, transparent and opaque, revealing and concealing, alluding to dualisms that seem to be every where. ...reminding us of the diversity of patterns in nature. INSILENCE2 is paradoxically simple and complex.

From the Dahl Art Center's description of the exhibit:

In her most recent installation project, INSILENCE2, Signe Stuart creates an interactive space for introspection. Tyvek panels are draped from the back wall and ceiling extending throughout the gallery forming an intimate and thought-provoking passage for patrons. Patterned shadows fall over viewers in the passageway making them moving parts of the field as they pass through.

The surface of INSILENCE2 is paradoxically crystalline and soft, transparent and opaque, alluding to dualisms that seem to be everywhere. The surface is also reminiscent of nature’s patterns of inner structures and systems. The passageway is a metaphor for the transitions between beginnings and endings and the "field" metaphor for expanding relationships.
This installation is constantly in motion - with the movement of people and with the effect of gravity, eventually the installation piece will come apart and flutter to the ground, leaving patrons with only a memory of its existence.

About Signe Stuart

Find out more about Signe Stuart from her website: www.signestuart.net. Many thanks to Signe for sharing her innovative Tyvek installation art. All photos copyright Signe Stuart, used with her permission.

 

If you want to use Tyvek to create your own art installation, you can get more information about Tyvek paper and purchase Tyvek paper online. For further assistance, please contact Material Concepts or call us at 215-338-6515. Material Concepts is an authorized DuPont™ Tyvek® master distributor.

Tyvek DIY Bivy Sack, Groundsheet, Rain Skirt from BackPacker

Thanks to Kristy Holland and her piece on Backpacker.com called "Create Tyvek Treasures - Stay warm and fight the rain with three simple projects using this waterproof/breathable material." In particular, Kristy's article offers a Supplies callout box (shown to the right) that tells readers they can buy a 60" by 10 yard roll of Tyvek 1443R online from Material Concepts with enough Tyvek material for all three do-it-yourself projects for:

• Tyvek Groundsheet 
• Tyvek Bivy Sack 
• Tyvek Rain Skirt 

For the Tyvek ground cloth, Kristy provides a few good tips and a link to a Backpacker slide show Make a Tyvek Groundcloth for Your Tent with photos and detailed instructions on how to make the Tyvek ground sheet for a tent. This is particularly good if you have a unusual-shaped tent. Of course, Material Concepts offers a 8 foot by 10 foot Tyvek ground sheet for sale online, but you are more than welcome to buy a 60" by 10 yard roll of Tyvek 1443R and make your own, and use the rest for other projects as Kristy suggests.

Kristy's instructions on how to make the Tyvek bivy sack are quite clever. And the Tyvek rain skirt is a new idea that could work great if hiking on a rainy day.

So these three Tyvek DIY (do-it-yourself) projects are good ideas, and thanks again to Kristy Holland for mentioning Material Concepts as the source for purchasing Tyvek.

Have a Tyvek DIY project/idea that you would like to share and have featured on this Tyvek Innovative Uses blog? Just drop a line to web@materialconcepts.com and let us know what you are doing, and maybe we'll feature your Tyvek DIY idea here in future post.

Tyvek Garments and Tyvek Belt Bag from Polish Artist Agnieszka Sukiennik

Agnieszka Sukiennik is an artist living and working in Warsaw, Poland, using Tyvek for her illustration and fashion design work. We are happy to feature her work as she is certainly using Tyvek in an innovative fashion. Her work includes Tyvek belt bags and various Tyvek garments, including Tyvek dresses, Tyvek tops, and pants with Tyvek accents in colorful, striking designs.

Agnieszka provides this description of her work with Tyvek:

I am an artist who uses Tyvek as a medium to create illustrations. I focus on Tyvek1443R. In my opinion, it's the best kind of product to wear, because it's breathable and lightweight. Tyvek is an amazing, paper-like fabric which easily accepts acrylic paint, permanent pens or print. I like to combine Tyvek with other fabrics like natural leather or knitwear.

My first collection ILLUSTRATIONS IN MOTION includes 11 Tyvek garment creations with various illustrations. In 2012, in cooperation with Coiffure Artist Jaga Hupalo, I held a fashion performance that took place on Warsaw’s streets. It created a brand new artistic experience. The main inspiration was an idea to take art out of the gallery space (or usual catwalk scenery) on to the streets. During this event a blend of Art, Fashion and Modern Design, all underlined by subtle understatement, confronted bystanders face to face.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN MOTION Video

My other project is a Tyvek belt bag with handmade acrylic painting. The unique picture of a colorful and charming Robin in a magic garden was inspired by the book "The Secret Garden", written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The external surface of the belt bag is covered with illustrations and the internal surface is covered with handmade typography of "The Secret Garden" quotations.

The whole process of creation starts with a lot of sketches. I drew the illustration, designed the belt bag, choose the right fabric and met my dressmaker. In this project I decided to combine

About Agnieszka Sukiennik
Find out more about Agnieszka Sukiennik from these various online sources:
Her website: www.sukiennikagnieszka.com, Bio page and Contact page
Facebook: facebook.com/sukiennikagnieszka, facebook.com/AniessIllustratorDesigner

Thanks to Agnieszka Sukiennik for sharing her innovative Tyvek garments and belt bags. All photos copyright Agnieszka Sukiennik, used with her permission.

If you want to use Tyvek to create fashion designs, you can purchase many styles of Tyvek online, including Tyvek 1443. And check out more information on all Soft Structure (Fabric-like) Tyvek. For further assistance, please contact Material Concepts or call us at 215-338-6515. Material Concepts is an authorized DuPont™ Tyvek® master distributor.