Sprang: Exploring an Ancient Form of Textile Weaving Through Handwork, Movement and Poetry
Susan Gerofsky and Samuel Milner

Proceedings of Bridges 2024: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Culture
Pages 573–580
Workshop Papers

Abstract

In this hands-on workshop, participants will be introduced to the technique of sprang, one of the oldest forms of weaving dating back over 3000 years, and arising in many cultures around the world. Basic fixed-end sprang interlinking uses only warp threads in a tensioned multiple ‘brickwork’ netlike fabric, very much like chain link fence, and weaves simultaneously from the top and bottom of the work with mirror-image chirality. We will experiment with sprang weaving on a small, individual scale, and at large scale as a coordinated dance, to explore its structure in relation to braid groups, chirality, and as a reflected doubled form, and its potential for generating a highly elastic cloth, a movement sequence, and a combinatoric poetic form.

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