Lialia Kuchma is a tapestry weaving icon in the US.  I have wanted “to be like her when I grow up” since I was first introduced to her work in the early 2000s. I was able to meet her and visit her studio some years ago – 2015 or 2016 maybe?  Basically, a decade ago.  She was so nice to me, so encouraging to a relatively new weaver. Since that time, Lialia has not aged one day, I kid you not.  She is still the speed-walking dynamo I remember from so long ago. This visit, when I met Lialia at a coffee shop in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago, she was wearing a hot pink duster and stylish sunglasses. (Needless to say, I still want to be like her when I grow up!)

The occasion for my visit was to see the exhibition Agency: Craft in Chicago from the 1970s-80s and Beyond, at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, on view through December 22, 2024.  Lialia’s tapestries serve as an anchor for the exhibition, as she appears prominently in both the historical section and the “beyond” (contemporary) part of the show. Lialia was my personal tour guide for the exhibition. What a treat!

Lialia Jaroslava Kuchma, “Tarts,” 1986

The first thing you see when enter the museum is her large portrait tapestry, Tarts (1986).  Back in the day, she was a dedicated printmaker and photographer when she was introduced to weaving through friends. She made a habit of portraying of her friends using both lithography and photography. It was the logical jump to weave tapestry portraits. Having known only Lialia’s abstract work, the photorealistic weaving was a marvelous revelation. I had no idea this was how Lialia got her start. Also, with figuration all the rage in art today, I couldn’t help but think about how contemporary this tapestry looks.

In the intervening years, Lialia has become well known for her dramatic, often blue and yellow, tapestries that reference current events in her native Ukraine.  Many have appeared in the American Tapestry Biennials over the years.

In the contemporary half of the show, one is immediately drawn to Lialia’s bold recent tapestry, War I (2022). War I is the first in her latest series of work.  Like her past works, the War tapestries are painterly and energetic.  The mark-making of the design medium is carefully preserved in the weaving. Unlike her past work about Ukraine, the new series embraces an ironically sunny palette of bright reds, greens, and yellows.  Each tapestry in the series features a poppy, a flower with special symbolic significance in Ukraine.  A symbol of death and memory, Ukrainian soldiers are said to decorate their uniforms with poppies in remembrance of those who have perished at the hands of their enemies.  Lialia’s poppies are a potent reminder of the ongoing war. They splatter like blood, as if blown to bits amidst the barrage.

Lialia Jaroslava Kuchma, “War I,” 2022

Lialia graciously invited me to visit her studio after showing me the exhibition. There I was able to see the other three tapestries in her War Series. War IV, the most recently completed, is especially moving. There’s the poppy again, but now the land implodes even more violently within a swirl of dirt and smoke.  The calligraphy of an unintelligible language hovers over the poppy. It is incredibly powerful – the best in the series so far. The urgency of the situation is amplified. It is impossible not to feel her emotions when viewing this work. 

Lialia showing me “War IV”

So, as you’ve gathered, Lialia weaves from her heart and is no stranger to emotionally draining subject matter.  She breaks it up by weaving colorful eccentric weaves as a respite.

Lialia’s studio is an art filled oasis. She has two looms: a floor loom and a 6-foot upright Shannock loom. Her weft of choice is Australian Tapestry Workshop yarn, of which she has a substantial stash.  There are tapestries and other art covering absolutely every surface in the studio. Prominently displayed are Ukrainian embroideries made by her mother, and traditional wood inlay objects made by Lialia herself or the local craftsman who taught her the craft (sadly, now deceased).  Lialia also makes paper weaving with her prints and photographs.  The paper weavings are gorgeous, of course.

I saw one thing in her studio made me do a double take. There were several examples where Lialia cut up a tapestry, keeping only a framed fragment of the piece. They were amazing!  The randomness of the cut shapes and the artful unraveling is quite engaging. Would you cut up one of your tapestries?  Since visiting Lialia I am seriously considering giving it a try. 

Lialia Jaroslava Kuchma, weaving fragment

My visit with Lialia made my heart very happy and I returned home full of inspiration. If you are in Chicago before December 22nd, I highly recommend seeing Agency: Craft in Chicago 1970s-80s and Beyond at the UIMA. While you are there, you might see a stylish woman striding down the street wearing a very cool pink coat. Be sure to say hello.