DREAM HOUSE - DREAM GARDEN

A Song of Ascents

When Vilma Lőrincz was a young girl she took the shelves made by her father and used them as a loom to see what weaving was all about. She ran away from home, even climbing the fence, so she could continue her studies at the Secondary Grammar School of Arts and Crafts in Pécs. She was disowned. Later, however, the paternal sternness subsided, but until that time she lived in need. First she was given lodging by friends, and later she was admitted to the school's dormitory. After that she rented a flat and went to work in a weaving workshop. Here she was able to do what she most enjoyed and would continue to enjoy for the rest of her life.

In high school she was taught and supported by Ilona Fürtös. It was from her that she learned all the ins and outs of weaving. She also studied under Éva Nyerges where she was able to observe the accuracy, delicacy and beauty of different weaving techniques. Finally, she was admitted to the College of Arts and Crafts, during which she experienced some interruptions. First she needed to postpone her studies when she was expecting her daughter. Then it was her husband's scholarship to Finland that brought her to a halt. It was only after one and a half years, after coming back from Finland, that she realized something important: the technique she was studying from famous Finnish masters, riyjy, was something she had been doing in her earlier experiments at home. (Finland has brought so many artistic experiences to her that she has never regretted having spent the time there.) While completing her diploma work she was expecting again, so for quite a time she was occupied with things other than weaving. That was 8 years ago. It's not surprising that she is still experimenting, is it?

One doesn't often hear a textile artist say she is experimenting with soumak, Greek soumak, knotting, riyjy or Madeira type embroidery in making her wall hangings instead of simple gobelin. In this way she is expanding the expressiveness of weaving and produces diverse surfaces.

Her diploma work - as that of all graduates - was a fictitious project: planning a tapestry for one of the staircase landings in Hotel Helia. She prepared her plans and made a part of the tapestry using an exciting combination of two techniques: gobelin and riyjy. In Fountain - that became the title of her piece - greenish water is rolling down like a waterfall with the flow of the riyjy layers displaying a great variety of shades within one color and thereby symbolizing nature with the water of the fountain bursting through. Her compositions and themes often portray gradualness. Many of the pieces have increasing or decreasing elements for which riyjy is an ideal method to use. Her single gobelin piece entitled A Song of Ascents also has a gradual pattern.

Vilma Lőrincz took courage and - maybe as an experiment again? - went to the director of Hotel Helia to show him her plans. Through chance, good luck or convincing powers he accepted Vilma's offer and today the three piece Daybreak series is an ornament of the director's conference room in the Hotel. In this series the fascinating reds of daybreak are accompanied by nature's uncombed colors. Under the sky made with traditional cut knotting, riyjy makes the blues waving and the greens as if torn by the wind. A difference of heaven and earth told in the differing techniques, maybe? Riyjy in itself is capable of creating variegated surfaces since it is a kind of weaving that willingly lends itself to portraying the elements of nature - from a showering summer rain to leaves overlapping one another. The wave-form weave may shape a wind-blown meadow or a lake waving under a storm.

However, when cut short, riyjy stays in the background, like in the picture called A Gift. This piece, by the way, is worth mentioning also because it uses gobelin and knotting apart from riyjy, gobelin being the deepest and knotting the upper layer forming a non-traditional kind of relief. The same effect can be seen in her Trees by the Roadside with the poplars and the special frame indicating green grass and lots of dandelions. Another triplet called Overflowing illustrates the artist's vein for experiments again: the striped part is created by the alternate use of soumak and Greek soumak weaving. The frame is made with flat knotting and the 'overflowing' is realized by the technique of plastic knotting. Knotted weaves make a velvety soft surface. This was the feature she made use of when planning a children's tapestry set consisting of five small houses that can be put together by the kids themselves, or can be used separately as pillows.

Experimentation of another kind can be traced in her lattice work which was first started with a Madeira-type sewing, but then the artist changed her mind and made it with Greek soumak weaving against the parallels of the warp threads. One of her pieces made with this technique, which resembles a glass window, has been bought by an insurance company and taken to Pochjola, Finland. It emulates a glass window so authentically because the colored inlays are made from silk yarn whereas the frames are made from thick matte wool.

And where does her way lead in the future? Well, Vilma Lőrincz has been working with hand tufting lately and is making right now an ecru carpet on her loom. She is experimenting with how to cover floors with thicker textiles in a way that they wouldn't make one stumble all the time. And she wants to try the combination of silk and sisal that is of the weakest and the strongest yarns. We have always known that a good priest learns all his life. But what does a good textile artist do? Vilma's answer: she is experimenting!

Alíz Torday