Into The Unknown

An ongoing self-reflection on emotional depths, losses, thoughts of resilience and new journeys. It’s about wanting to embrace uncertainty with a willingness to trust the process and a mindset of continuous learning.

Artist Statement

My early tapestries were very busy. My impulse in the beginning was to weave with an array of different fibers, colors, and textures to create a single artwork. Over the last couple of years, I have resisted this impulse and have slowly embraced simplicity. I have been taking my time to explore one new media at a time and to master a single technique. 

It didn’t take me long to realize that simplicity is not so simple after all. This new process is slow and steady. Every piece is a conversation. An opportunity to slow down, investigate, absorb the gaps, and honor the negative space. Within the unknown shadows of torn pieces, broken from the flow, the concept of wholeness emerges.

These new works are a dive into interruption, isolation, and instability. They are meant to nurture and converse with the light and shadows they create.

Wire, paper, and raffia are now the base materials of my sculptural tapestries. I like exploring every bit of the structure, stiffness, and malleability of their nature. The simplicity of these materials is core to my process and work.

My use of unconventional materials, like common chicken wire, led me to abandon traditional looms. Now passionate about the freedom, tension, and movement it creates, I have figured out endless ways to manipulate the galvanized steel wire into organic shapes.  I believe my exploration of the wire as the loom itself is quite unique in its process and results.

Raffia, a plant fiber made from the leaves of the Palmyra palm, is my preferred core fiber to work with for its strength and durability. I create my palette by dying the raffia by hand.

My goal is to achieve simplicity and possibility. I want people to see these simple, day-to-day, mundane mediums in a fresh new light and elevated way. 

-Tininha SIlva

Biography

Based in the Pacific Northwest since 1999, Brazilian-born Tininha Silva has been applying her creative approach to traditional crafts since 2018.  Her tapestries and installation pieces are inspired by the abundance of organic forms found within and along the shores of the Salish Sea and forests of the Olympic Peninsula.

Through her creations, Tininha strives to evoke, manifest, and recreate “feelings” elicited by immersion in nature.  She sees her practice as an intuitive way of interpreting nature and her surroundings.  “Through my work I am effectively communicating without words. I like that the work itself conveys emotions and messages.”