9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In 2017 Cranbrook Art Museum approached the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, about co-organizing the first large-scale retrospective of Olga de Amaral in North America. The two institutions shared an appreciation for the artist’s work: Amaral was introduced to weaving as a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1954–55, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, proudly holds the largest collection of Amaral’s work in the United States. Together, we worked to develop the exhibition Olga de Amaral: To Weave a Rock . In 1967, during her time as an instructor at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Amaral tasked her students “to weave a rock.” The exhibition’s title draws from this exercise and also speaks to Amaral’s poetic and expansive view of her textile practice. During the summers of 2018 and 2019, we spent transformative visits with Amaral and her family at their home in Bogotá, Colombia. We were in awe as we moved through each room of her studio, viewing the creative labor of her long and prolific career. Ultimately, this experience greatly affected the development of this exhibition, which aims to re-create the experience of witnessing the evolution of Amaral’s work over several decades and, we hope, is similarly awe-inspiring. For our visits in Bogotá, we must express gratitude and thanks to Olga and her hus- band, Jim Amaral, for hosting us in their city, sharing the studio space and artwork with us, and welcoming us into their home for memorable conversations and meals. Casa Amaral is truly a family venture, and we were treated as such by Olga, Jim, and their children, Diego and Andrea. We thank Diego Amaral for an epic adventure into the Colombian countryside to visit the Amaral family house. We are especially grateful for his artistic eye and exquisite photography of Amaral’s works, which is featured prominently in this cata- logue, and to his team at Amaral Diseño for providing these images. We also thank Andrea Amaral for opening her home to us, for allowing us to borrow works from her collection, and for her helpful communication and organization throughout the planning process. We give our thanks to Jim for his generosity of time and knowledge, and particularly for the memories he shared about his time with Olga as both her husband and fellow artist, and their formative year together at Cranbrook. We would like to thank Andrew Blauvelt, Director at Cranbrook Art Museum, and Gary Tinterow, Director, the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and both Boards of Trustees for supporting this project from its beginning. Andrew Blauvelt has been a champion of our shared mission for Amaral’s work to reach an expanded audience,