Form & concept’s holiday gift guide considers thoughtful gifting, with a focus on fiber works by Bhakti Ziek.
As the holiday season approaches, we consider the gift. Should it be practical? Luxurious? Certainly, it should be thoughtful.
To us, fiber artist and educator Bhakti Ziek’s inventive and thought-provoking textile works, born from a lifelong dedication to fiber as a pragmatic and beguiling medium, is the physical embodiment of the intangible qualities that make a great gift, such as thoughtfulness, attention to detail, beauty, and utility.
Ziek has spent a lifetime traveling the world and studying the art of weaving through the lens of different cultures, intended uses, and aesthetic approaches. Her decades-long love affair with fiber began as a practical inquiry into the utilitarian craft of textile production, “Weaving as art was not my intention,” says Ziek.
In the early 70s, the New York–born artist embarked on a journey to Latin America to study the tradition, craft, and cultural significance of textile production. Through her mentors’ grace and her humble and assiduous disposition, Ziek honed her fiber practice, developing the technical skills she now uses to activate her conceptual works that blur the boundaries between fine art and traditional artisanship.
In the late 1970s, Ziek returned to the States to begin a new chapter in her weaving journey at the University of Kansas, where she joined an emerging movement that explored fiber as a fine art. Over the next forty years, Ziek would continuously refine her practice through playful experimentation, leading to numerous gallery exhibitions and acquisitions from institutions such as the Museum of Arts and Design.
Ziek’s story demonstrates the fruits of pursued passion and teaches us that what piques our curiosity often leads us to where we are destined to be. This holiday, share the joy of discovering the works and stories of artists like Ziek by browsing form & concept’s holiday gift guide of contemporary craft and design artworks.
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