Farming Textiles

A couple of weeks ago, my partner and I traveled to Bergen, NL to see an exhibition of Diana Scherer’s work at the Museum Kranenbergh. Scherer is a German artist based in Amsterdam who has been working with plants since 2015. She has developed a way of molding roots to form patterns in a process she likens to printmaking.

Her work is rich with meaning and possibility: Making art in tandem with nature, control versus chaos (or maybe it's not chaos?), the hidden communication and coordination of plant life, interwoven roots as textile, compostable art, the ephemeral life of the work from seed to sprout to carpet to soil. It makes me think about how we shape, live in, and are molded by our environment, how cities and grids have developed in nature, and principles of urban planning versus desire paths, the informal paths created when people cut across a patch of grass, for example, rather than using the sidewalk. There must also be roots making their own paths in Scherer’s work.

The exhibition is on view until April 7! Locals, go if you can!

Small work by Diana Scherer in the exhbition.

House in Bergen, NL.

Bergen is a lovely town with a history as an artist’s enclave and summer destination surrounded by forests, not far from the sea.

The “Ruïnekerk” in the center of the old town was built on the site of two miracles related to Catholic host wafers and seawater turning to blood in the 1400s. The church fell into ruin after it was burned and looted in 1574 by the Dutch Protestants during the 80 Years War with Spain.

The Ruined Church in Bergen.

I’m excited to think more about and continue following Scherer’s work.

And I’ll look forward to returning to Bergen for another exhibition and a forest walk to the beach this summer!

Note: All photos are my own.