The Peter Collingwood Trust Award 2015 Winner: Rita Parniczky

Rita Parniczky is the winner of the Peter Collingwood Trust Award 2015. Her latest work, X-Ray Vault Series I and II have earned her this award for innovation in loom-based work. In 2014, to continue the development of her translucent material Parniczky set a new challenge to further investigate the movements of the warp, this time focusing on the manipulation of the monofilament warp.

Observing the architectural details of fan vaults Parniczky recalled the skeletal structure in her new body of work X-Ray Vault Series I. This piece, as previously posted on The Weave Shed was the winner of the Geoffrey Squire Memorial Competition 2014. Parniczky, with the  support of an Arts Council England grant further explored her process and technique to form more complex and abstract fan-like shapes at a larger scale in 2015.

The result, X-Ray Vault Series II exhibited at COLLECT at Saatchi Gallery, demonstrates profound monofilament warp manipulations resulting in patterns that are emphasised and truly visible with light passing through the structure.

Rita Parniczky’s curiosity about what lies beneath textile surfaces led her to experiment with various weave techniques during her studies at Central Saint Martins. She has developed her own translucent material that reveals the vertical warp. The warp threads, otherwise often invisible in most materials, become the focal point and form elaborate patterns in Parniczky’s work. `I like to imagine complex patterns running underneath the surface of woven materials, invisible to the naked eye until unveiled in my work. I compare this to the bone structure of the human body, only visible when x-rayed.` explains Parniczky.

Parniczky studies her translucent material installations with light; natural or artificial light bring visual change to the pieces taking on the luminosity of crystals. Parniczky is interested in the transformation of the material as light moves across her work; she analyses this performance at different locations and times and documents her findings in photography and moving image.