Barbara Shapiro
Welcome Pineapple 166, 2022
Tortoiseshell cane, waxed linen 14" x 5" x 5"
Working in traditional Japanese flower knot technique used for utilitarian bags and coal scuttles, I create contemporary sculptural basketry. The exotic pineapple, both real ones and those carved on doorposts, were traditionally a sign of welcome for visitors. Mine mimic nature in plaited dyed cane and welcomes visitors to my new studio. 236 individual hexagonal plaited flower knots make up this form. I am drawn to this hexagonal plaiting technique because the flower knots are not merely embellishment, they are structural to the basket. With each knot, the basket grows.
Barbara Shapiro
Faulty Towers: No Waste Fashion and The Inside Story, 2023
designer shopping bags paper, packing paper, sumi ink, glue 23 H x 17 W x 8 D" for installation of 2 works
My Faulty Towers series uses recycled paper to comment on social ills and environmental issues. Artists must have a voice in these tumultuous times. Technique and material draw the viewer in, making the message poignant. “No Waste Fashion” is a piece with precarious stability. Our beloved fashion industry has long caused great damage to the environment and continues to abuse its workers, who are mostly women. Disposable fast fashion pushes our planet to a frightening tipping point. One twisted block has crashed open and “The Inside Story” spills out revealing the dirty little secrets of the fast fashion industry, exposing the true cost of wasteful and inhumane practices. By reusing the bags that held objects long-ago purchased from companies with sustainable and ethical business models, I create my own no-waste fashion that seeks to spark important conversations.
Barbara Shapiro
Testing Testing II, 2012
Indigo test strips, strips of recycled cloth from 7 countries, coiled on wire paper core with waxed linen 7 Elements 12" W by various lengths up to 26 inches. Installation is 8 feet on the wall
I saved the test strips from 25 years of maintaining the indigo vats at SFSU. Testing Testing II displays seven coiled recycled indigo disks, each trailing its working element in a nod to technique. This installation speaks of the universality of indigo with each disk enlivened by bits of multi-colored fabrics from a part of the world where indigo has a presence. It also honors friendship through these scraps of colored cloth gleaned from the ragbags of willing friends from these places. Discarded textiles from Sweden, France, India, Indonesia, West Africa (Belgium), Japan and the US all came to me with family stories that enchanted me as I slowly wove them into a new life, honoring the past and reshaping the future.
Barbara Shapiro
Seven Urns for Covid, 2021
Cane, Found lids. Various sizes, Installation 4' x 10" x 10"
As the Pandemic dragged on I felt compelled to create a body of work honoring the memory of all the hundreds of thousands of people we lost. Each one is different as were each of them. My urns are open to the air because Covid is airborne, but so too I think is hope.
Barbara Shapiro
Faulty Towers: Night and Day, 2020
Recycled Artist Prints 22" H X 10" x 10" each Tower
The title refers to that funny British comedy show from years ago, and the inspiration was the Millennium Tower in San Francisco which has sunk, some 16 inches on its foundation. The plaited twisted cubes seemed the perfect building blocks for a structurally unsound building or world. There is so much that is faulty these days, there could be many ways to interpret this title.
Barbara Shapiro
Tikkun Olam: Repair the World, 2020
Sedori cane, tea bag papers dyed in indigo, sumi and persimmon, raw kozo paper 23 carat gold leaf 14 x 14 x 14 "
Barbara Shapiro
Strength in Diversity, 2019
Plaited Japanese sedori (scraped and dyed) cane in hexagonal technique with handwoven bands of various bast fibers and paper (gampi, hemp, linden, straw, indigo dyed ramie, nettle, mulberry, kudzu, pique, coconut). 12 x 12 x 12"
Barbara Shapiro
Troubled Waters, 2019
Sedori Cane, paper and cloth dyed in indigo, sumi and persimmon 13 x 13 x 13"
Barbara Shapiro
Unwrapping Memory, 2016
Cane dyed in onion, persimmon, sumi and indigo, and Persimmon dyed Japanese paper 35 L x 6.5 H x 6.5 D"
Barbara Shapiro
What Knot: Top Knot, 2018
Indigo dyed Sedori (scraped) cane, Japanese Flower Knot plaiting 7 x 7 x 4.5"
