Student Connects Travels with Fiber Art in Talk

Lucas Colon, a fibers major in Buffalo State’s Art and Design Department, will share his experiences traveling through Vancouver, Canada, this past summer. His presentation, “Traveling to Vancouver: Weaving Tapestries,” will be held on Thursday, February 15, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Upton Hall 230. Colon’s talk is the first in the spring 2018 “Artists on the Road: Travel as Source of Inspiration” series.

For Colon, nature and fiber are intimately connected.

“As a fiber artist, as well as an avid hiker, this connection has always stood out to me. The intricate curling of a flower stem is reminiscent of loose threads, an elegant lattice of moss covering a tree stump suggests structural lace, and the graceful overlap of tree roots has a thick texture similar to knitted cables,” he said. “My work seeks to relate fiber techniques to elements of the natural world.”

Before this summer, Colon’s artistic activities included floor weaving, screen printing, and knitted pieces, but not hand-woven tapestries.

“I intended the travel to provide an opportunity to learn a technique that I might not have otherwise had the opportunity to practice,” he said. “I did not, however, anticipate that the travel would continue to influence my artwork long after I had returned.”

He said he chose Vancouver because it offers the perfect blend of seasons.

“You could wake up and watch the sunrise on a beach, climb to a snowcapped peak in the afternoon, and spend the evening strolling through a city park,” he said. “Besides the landscapes, you couldn’t ask for a city more invested in art. There are local galleries on every corner, and museums filled with historical drawings and sculptures. It is truly an artist’s paradise.”

Vancouver is also home to a large collection of indigenous art. Weavings were of particular interest to Colon, but he also found a large number of wood carvings and beaded pieces on display at numerous anthropology museums throughout the city. Most of the tapestries he observed as part of his research were made with very thick materials, quite the contrast to the nearly thread-like materials he used on his previous projects.

The “Artists on the Road” series is co-sponsored by the Art and Design Department and the International and Exchange Programs Office. For more information, contact Carol Townsend, associate professor of design and coordinator of design foundations, at (716) 878-4986.