Ruth Scheuing

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Ruth Scheuing, “Flowers and Leaves #20 muy.broom,” 2003

handwoven Jacquard pieces with computer assistance, 62” x 40” (photo by Michael Lawlor)

Vancouver weaver Ruth Scheuing covers a lot of ground. In her latest show, futuristic cyborgs and online gaming figures rub shoulders with female protagonists from Greco-Roman mythology and Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician considered one of the first computer programmers.

The works in Ancient Women in Textile: The Jacquard Weaving of Ruth Scheuing, on view at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver until June 15, are visually rich and challenging, with layered patterns, graphic images, computer codes and text.

The Jacquard loom, invented in 1804, relied on a mechanical punch-card system to reproduce elaborately patterned textiles. Scheuing weaves on an updated, computerized version of this loom, which allows her to create fabrics from digital files. Possessing the weight and physical appearance of toweling, her textiles function conceptually as paintings.

The exhibition, curated by Angela Clarke, is the second instalment of Gendered Voices, a four-part series running through 2019 that explores traditional female roles, whether saints and martyrs or wives and mothers.

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Ruth Scheuing, “Penelope Meets Ada Lovelace,” 2006

handwoven Jacquard pieces with computer assistance, 40” x 64” (photo by Michael Lawlor)

In this show, the focus is on three mythological figures associated with textile history: Penelope, Ariadne and Arachne, who each challenged accepted norms.

Penelope forestalled suitors who hounded her during the absence of her husband, Odysseus, by weaving a shroud for her father-in-law during the day and unweaving it at night. In Penelope Meets Ada Lovelace, Penelope slumbers at her loom, while, opposite, Lovelace appears, as if in a vision.

The activity of weaving and unweaving finds parallels in Scheuing’s earlier work, Men or Penelope in the Boardroom, in which 13 men’s suit jackets are altered with geometric patterns created by pulling threads or unweaving sections of fabric. Making and unmaking are proposed as feminist strategies of deception to undermine and shift the patriarchal order.

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Ruth Scheuing, “Ariadne Showing the Way with Flowers,” 2007

handwoven Jacquard pieces with computer assistance, 27” x 26” (photo by Kiku Hawkes)

Ariadne is associated with mazes and labyrinths. She provided her lover, Theseus, with a ball of wool to help him find his way back through a labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur imprisoned within.

Scheuing connects this homing device to her current work with GPS in Ariadne Showing the Way with Flowers. In this work, a historical image of Ariadne is framed by an irregular shape generated through Scheuing’s mapping of her daily travels.

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Ruth Scheuing, “Arachne Emerges as Drider,” 2019

handwoven Jacquard piece with computer assistance, 38” x 38” (photo by Ruth Scheuing)

Arachne challenged the goddess Athena, weaving a sort of prototype #MeToo tapestry documenting the rapes and abuses male gods committed against mortal women. She was punished by being turned into a spider.

Arachne Emerges as Drider equates Arachne with driders, hybrid spider/elf creatures from the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. In this work, a sword-bearing female emerges from a giant spider at the centre of a frenzied red web. Scheuing links ancient myths with the present day, proving again the universal and timeless appeal of these stories.

Hybrid creatures abound in contemporary culture as well as ancient myths, a point made by Scheuing’s compositions featuring driders and cyborgs, curious human/machine fusions that point the way to a new world order. Drawing on the writings of cultural theorist Donna Haraway, Scheuing represents the cyborg as a utopian figure who resolves conflicts by emphasizing the commonalities that unite us.

Scheuing’s open embrace of technology combines ancient craft practices with advanced computer programming, reanimating ancient tropes and finding new relevance in stories that have resonated for millennia. ■

Ancient Women in Textile: The Jacquard Weaving of Ruth Scheuing is on view at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver from April 19 to June 15, 2019.