Ceremonial Mat c. 20th century

This woven Ceremonial Mat, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, feels like a painting to me, a slow kind of painting made with fibers. I imagine the anonymous artist, patiently working, layering thin strands to create this shimmering, golden surface. The texture! It's calling out to be touched, the push and pull of lines, the subtle shifts in tone, like a Rothko painting. It has this incredible plaid pattern, a crisscross of intention that draws you in. I can see echoes of Anni Albers’ weavings and the grid paintings of Agnes Martin. What kind of ceremony did it lay the ground for? How many hands did it pass through? Artworks like this feel like a kind of time travel, connecting us to human creativity across generations. And it's a reminder that artists are always in conversation with each other, whether they know it or not, building on what came before, and pushing the boundaries of what art can be.