American tapestry artist Michael F. Rohde has been weaving tapestries for almost twenty years. His work is divided into limited series all of which are linked by his style of combining thoughtful colour combinations with linear grid like designs. His work has been exhibited widely and is in many permanent collections including The Art Institute of Chicago and The Textile Museum in Washington D.C ‘My art is abstract geometric with underlying messages that aren’t immediately obvious.’ 

Where are you from and where are you based now? 

I’m from United States and I grew up in the Mid West, mostly in Missouri and a little bit in Nebraska. I’ve lived in California since 1986. 

What is your background in art and textiles?

Initially I was self taught then I began taking lessons from people and did short workshops. I did about a year and a half at art school when I lived in Houston which taught the basics of art, colour design, art history and I did some drawing. Then I decided I didn’t need to learn painting as I wanted to weave.  

I was weaving rugs for many years and I really didn’t start weaving tapestries until 2004, I’d done a little bit of tapestry weaving before that but I decided it took too long. Very early on in my career I had friends who were doing tapestries and I admired what they were doing but many were trying to weave circles  and I thought it was time consuming and crazy. Then a small group of us had a small critique from a gallery owner who said “I don’t understand these people wanting to weave circles when the loom operates on right angled threads on a grid”. That was all the encouragement I needed. 

Why do you use textiles as your medium? 

I started weaving as I had seen someone wearing a hand woven top and I thought ‘I wonder if I can weave a shirt for myself’. That never happened but I somehow ended up doing rugs. I was fascinated about taking threads and turning them into something else.

Using textiles is a little bit about the texture but most of all I respond to colour and I’ve always dyed my own yarns. For the last 15 years I’ve been using natural dyes.

Where do you weave? 

My main studio is in my house where I have a large loom where I can weave tapestries about 2.5m wide.  It’s a horizontal large sturdy loom which I bought when I was weaving rugs.

I have another studio I share with three other artists about 20 miles from here. Before the pandemic I went about once a week and hung out with them and did some smaller pieces.

How do you describe your work?

It is abstract geometric but with underlying meanings and messages that aren’t immediately obvious. Quite often I’m trying to convey a message but letting the beauty of the textile seduce people first and then they find out what it’s about. Most of my designs are made from blocks and lines and the way I put them together is sometimes semi-representational.

How do you work?

I start with an idea then I do all my sketching on the computer as it’s so easy to move blocks and colours around. Once I have a design I think is good I let it rest for a few days before looking at it again to make sure it doesn’t need modification. Then I go back and forth between the design and the colours. Next I dye the colours and I will weave the final design.

How long do pieces take?

The pixelated faces were a moderate size, less than 1m wide and 1.5 m tall and took anywhere between four to six weeks. The language pieces had many more colour changes, up to 50 small colour changes in one line so were much slower and larger. They took me anywhere between three, four or five months each. That series went on for about two and half years. 

What is your career highlight so far? 

Selling a piece to my first major museum which was The Art Institute of Chicago .

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists? 

Work every day. One of the best pieces of advice I had was when I was starting to weave and trying to be professional about it but I also had a full time job. A well known fibre artist came to give a talk to a guild and at the social event afterwards she asked what I did. I told her what my job was and added I won’t be any good at weaving as I’m not trained as an artist. She looked my straight in the eye and said how long are you going to use that excuse? 

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