Olga de Amaral · 2024

Amaral and her family returned to Bogotá in 1968. She and her sister Helena were appointed profes- sors of the textile art workshop at the Universidad de los Andes. Amaral began creating even more com- plex and monumental works. To do this, she needed more materials and to streamline the production of her works, and decided to recruit several craftswom- en for her studio, who would accompany her in the creation of her works throughout her career. Between 1968 and 1970, Amaral represented Colombia on the World Crafts Council (WCC) and headed the WCC for Latin America from 1970 to 1978. Within the scope of her role, she travelled to Peru in 1969 to attend the General Assembly of the 3rd WCC Biennial, taking advantage of the trip to visit the Museo del Oro in Lima, Machu Picchu and the city of Cuzco, all of which made deep impres- sions on her. Two years later, on the occasion of an- other WWC trip to Ireland, she travelled to London, where she visited the studio of ceramic artist Lucie Rie. She was particularly drawn to Rie’s use of gold in her ceramics, applying the Japanese kintsugi technique to repair cracks with gold. In 1969, Larsen and Mildred Constantine pre- sented Amaral’s work Entrelazado en verde y naranja (Interlaced in Green and Orange, 1966) in the Wall Hangings exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, alongside works by textile artists from around the world such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Anni Albers, Elsi Giauque, Sheila Hicks, and Lenore Tawney. Amaral’s first major solo exhibition in Colombia was held at Bogotá’s Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango in 1970. That year she also presented her firstmajor solo show in theUnited States at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York, before exhibiting again in Colombia at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá in 1972. In 1971, Amaral won first prize at the Salón Nacional de Artistas in Bogotá with Muro tejido 79 (Woven Wall 79, 1970) and in 1972 first prize at the Bienal de Arte de Coltejer in Medellín with Gran Mara a paramuna (Large Thicket from Páramo, 1970, p. 79). Amaral was again invited to direct the textile art workshop at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 1970, and taught at the State College in San José, United States, in 1972. 1968–72: The First Major Solo Exhibitions 4–5. Exhibition Muros Tejidos : Olga de Amaral , Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango–Banco de la República, Bogotá, 1969 6. Olga de Amaral in the San Agustín Archaeological Park, Colombia, c. 1960 The years 1966 and 1967 were marked by a move away from classical weaving and works with flat surfaces. Amaral was inspired by the weaving technique of mochilas Wayuu —small, colorful, tra- ditional Colombian handbags made from cotton and wool, based solely on a warp of elements, with no weft. This technique allowed her to give her works a freer structure, revealing the braiding of the threads. She also abandoned hand-dyed wool in favor of materials such as virgin wool, horsehair, and polyethylene (a material she quickly aban- doned, fearing its lack of resistance over time), whose brilliance and ability to reflect light achieved the effect she sought. This was a period when Amaral produced works of more monumental dimensions than her previous creations. These pieces, made up of nar- row interlaced bands inspired by the woven strips worn by pre-Columbian Indigenous communities on the Altiplano, break free from the wall and are designed to present a double reading on both sides. Titled Muros tejidos (Woven Walls), they occupy and blend into the space like woven sculptures. The year 1966 marked Amaral’s debut on the international art scene. She presented her first solo showoutside Colombia at theMuseo de Bellas Artes in Caracas and at the Universidad de Carabobo in Venezuela. Then, in 1967, she exhibited her work in the United States at Larsen’s New York gallery. That year, she was also the first Latin American artist to take part in the International Biennial of Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland, a world-renowned event she would attend on many subsequent occasions. During 1967, Amaral moved to New York with her family for a year. For a few months, she direct- ed the textile art workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, and at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. 1966–67: Research on Three-Dimensionality 1. Poster of the 3rd International Biennial of Tapestry, Lausanne, 1967 2. Exhibition Olga de Amaral , Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, 1966 3. Olga de Amaral in her studio, Bogotá, 1967 274 275 1 2 3 4 6 5