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Contact: Barbara J. Hauck
Phone: (814) 449-2217
Address:
414 Lincoln Ave.
Erie, PA 16505

Artist Statement

Weaving for me is a meditation. I love every aspect of it. The discipline requires multiple skills (aesthetic acumen, mechanic skills, and mathematics) and that is what challenges and inspires me. Passing on this knowledge is an ongoing drive of mine as well. My studio and the Neighborhood Art House help me to do so. Since weaving is an ancient art, my intention is to make sure it doesn't disappear. To create and stretch the medium, a student must know the steps to designing a project (fiber, color and pattern), setting up a loom (dressing), and then weaving the piece. I have been weaving for over 50 years and these processes come naturally now.

My work includes fiber-arts pieces for display and functional items to wear. The love of color and texture drive me to create works that give the viewer or wearer a comforting and tactile experience. I am after a sense of warmth and calm. I want the viewer or wearer to be happy and at peace. Depending on the yarn (cotton, wool, alpaca, Tencel, acrylic, silk and others), these experiences are significantly different.

The fiber-arts pieces are paintings with yarns and other fibers. To create them, I dress a loom with white cotton warp, paint these warp threads when in tension, and then manipulate the painted warp using weaving, tapestry and wrapping techniques. I utilize the painted images as the footprint for the colors of the weft. With texture variations, the pieces become three-dimensional. These art pieces take 6 months to a year to complete.

My shawls and scarves are unique since I change and manipulate traditional patterns. Over the years I have sold many functional pieces. A favorite material of mine is alpaca which is beautifully soft. A close second is Tencel which acts like silk. These pieces take about 2 weeks to complete, much quicker than the art pieces but just as intense in regard to their creativity.

History/Biography

Barbara J. Hauck’s work includes both functional weavings and fiber artwork which is a convergence of painting and weaving. Hauck received a Bachelor of Science in Art with an emphasis in painting from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, and a Master of Arts in Speech and Communication Studies from Edinboro University of PA. Having learned to weave at Skidmore, she has been working within this discipline for over 50 years.

Although she has been known mostly in the Erie region as a fundraiser, her passion has always been in the visual arts. She has participated in many art shows over the years with both paintings and fiber arts. She also authored the book “A Picture Palace Transformed: How Erie’s Warner Theatre Survived a Changing World.” Even in her fundraising positions, she advocated for arts and culture (Warner Theatre Preservation Trust, Erie Philharmonic, and the Arts Endowment of the Arts Council of Erie).

She is active in the Chautauqua County Weavers’ Guild, the Lake Erie Fiber Arts Guild, Northwest PA Artists Association, the American Association of University Women Erie Branch, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 435. She has taught weaving and fiber arts at the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House for over 25 years. Her mission at the Studio at St. Mary’s is to inspire adults to keep this skill alive. For her, weaving is her relaxation and a most important link to beauty. Opening the studio in 2017 allowed her to share her passion with other adults. It has become a community.