Crisol
(Crucible)
Woven by Oscar Huarancca Gutiérrez
Designed by Evan Young-Walentine
Dimensions: 82" x 57"
Number of Colors: 27
Medium: Hand-spun alpaca wool
Completed: 2007
Price: $3,400
This is a tapestry adaptation of a patchwork textile from the Wari period in Peru. The original technique employed tie-dye to create the diamond shaped decoration, and different colored fabrics were sewn together to form the Andean cross design, which is tessellated across the composition. To this day, the Andean cross, or chacana, is used widely as a symbol of Andean heritage. It is representational of the four directions, and specifically, of the four kingdoms of the Incan Empire (The Inca called themselves the People of the Four Kingdoms). This modernized interpretation casts the flat image into 3D, swelling like a womb. The title, Crucible, refers to this dome shape. Also in science, the crucible is the melting pot, the environment for the chemical reaction. The lush Andean valleys were the crucibles in which the elements of civilization coalesced and took shape.
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