Garden Arcade, 1990

Judith Poxson Fawkes
American (born 1941, died 2019)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia

About the Artwork

Garden Arcade is a hand-woven linen tapestry created by artist Judith Poxson Fawkes. It is part of her body of invented landscape tapestries. The imagery was inspired by classical architecture, such as steps, columns, pools, and arches. To create this composition, she mapped the elements on graph paper. She used axonometric perspective, which creates the illusion of three dimensions on a flat surface by showing multiple sides and shadows of objects. We do not currently have a digitized image of this artwork.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Washington State Arts Commission.

About the Artist

Portland, Oregon-based textile artist Judith Poxson Fawkes (1941-2019) created elaborate, hand-woven tapestries that explore architectural and geometric forms, as well as the interplay of light and color.
Poxson Fawkes' tapestry artworks highlight the figurative possibilities of loom weaving. She designed her compositions using gridded drawings on graph paper. She often used a bird's eye viewpoint and played with the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface by showing multiple sides and shadows of objects.
Poxson Fawkes earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University in 1963 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1965. She moved to Portland, Oregon in 1972, with her husband, artist Tom Fawkes. She taught weaving at four colleges in the Portland area, including Lewis & Clark College. In 1984, she became a full-time studio artist. Her tapestry artworks have been exhibited all across the United States and are in many collections, including the American Crafts Museum in New York City.