Shuttle, 2020, hand dyed wool, 23 1/2” x 13”, edition of 12.

In this limited edition of twelve tapetes (Spanish for “rug”), each individual weaving has a distinct palette. The wool is dyed by hand and woven on a pedal loom in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, a Zapotec village renowned for this weaving tradition.

These designs are inspired by the horizontals and verticals inherent to the tapete’s woven structure. Clippinger spent the majority of 2014 in Oaxaca, Mexico on a Fulbright grant to study the Indigenous textile traditions of the region. The artist’s interest in the ancient architecture of Mexico and its influence on Modernism inspires these richly-hued geometric abstractions.