Kayla Mattes archives moments of digital culture through the interconnected threads of weaving. Driven by meme culture, current events, and the chaos of our digital lives, her tapestries weave together narratives that simultaneously act as jokes and as social commentary. Mattes received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 and her MFA from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2019. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including at Charlie James Gallery (LA); Eli & Edythe Broad Museum (East Lansing, MI); Asia Art Center (Taipei and Beijing); Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Portland, OR); Torrance Art Museum; Richard Heller Gallery (LA); and Collaborations (Copenhagen). She has been awarded residencies at Fountainhead (Miami) and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Maine), and she is one of twenty weavers included in the 2018 book, Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
What does it mean to make drawings, especially over other art forms?
My drawings, which serve as tapestry cartoons, represent the second stage of my process as a weaver. Tapestry cartoons have been used for centuries as guides to help weavers translate pictorial imagery into thread.These drawings are both functional and purposeful. They allow me to convert complex imagery into the woven grid. As artifacts of my process, they bear the marks of their use—pinholes scattered across the surface, paper bent and worn during the act of weaving. Once they have fulfilled their role, they remain as relics of my process as a weaver.
What kind(s) of rituals are embedded in your drawing practice?
My tapestry cartoons are always made at night. I use an old-school projector to blow up the digital collages to the right scale, so my studio needs to be nice and dark. I sharpen a bunch of pencils, gather rulers, and sit on the floor while I work. Some of my weavings are quite large, so the drawing process often involves a lot of physical movement—which sometimes requires me to stand on a ladder. My cats like to hang out with me while I draw. Sometimes they bite the pencils.
In what ways does Los Angeles influence (or not) your approach to drawing?
Emblems of Los Angeles often find their way into my work— palm trees, “76” gas stations, and Air Dancers, to name a few. For imagery like palm trees, the drawing process helps me pare down the form in a way that I know I’ll be able to translate into a weaving.