Pattern Mechanics: Reanimating Archival Weaving Diagrams

Catalog description

Stanford University Libraries holds two bound volumes of student work (assignments on paper as well as fabric samples and loom punch cards) from a course taught in Lyon in the 1880s on the archaic theoretical foundations of mechanical Jacquard weaving. The diagrams and drawings they contain are complex and visually compelling - cryptic to a modern hand-weaver yet clearly conveying deep art - and exemplify obscure analog contrivances that constitute the "computer" for the celebrated binary code of Jacquard weaving punch cards. In this course we will work to reverse-engineer the mechanical logic behind these illustrations through detailed study of the geometries and topologies of warp shed formation, reproduction weaving tests, and experiments involving mechanical supplementation of countermarch and/or table looms. We will consult archival treatises on Jacquard weaving only as a last resort, after having developed as much mechanical insight as we can recover on our own. Throughout the quarter we will consider relationships between technical sophistication and creative expression in the making of cultural objects, as well as the historical context of the Lyon textile industry in the late 19th century. Graduate seminar open to undergraduates with instructor permission; limited enrollment by application; prior weaving experience helpful but not required.