Don and Era Farnsworth

Donald and Era Farnsworth’s Jacquard tapestries transform appropriated paintings from across histories and cultures, drawing viewers’ attention away from the human and toward the natural world. The artists take images from sources as varied as Tibetan mandalas and paintings of Christian themes, altering them through a kind of creative conservation—reimagining damaged parts of the canvas—or by removing figures. Their distinct historical sources are united in computerized Jacquard weavings, giving the finished tapestries a distinctive tonal texture. Don Farnsworth is the founder of the Oakland-based Magnolia Editions, a printing workshop at the vanguard of contemporary Jacquard practices.