American Drones on War Rugs

Warrug.com recently received a shipment of rugs from Peshawar, Pakistan including some new designs woven in Pakistan. The weavers are Afghan Turkmen who have settled permenantly in Pakistan after being refugees. This summer they produced three rugs featuring Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s or drones).

The blue rug below, #1566, features three different drones: Global Surveyors, Reapers, and Predators.

The second rug, below, #1580, features armed Predator drones.

Below is the third rug of the set, and it is particularly interesting because the drones are colored red, white and blue. I didn’t notice this important color choice until photoshopping (rather GiMP’ing) the border photo when I noticed the interlocking red, white, and blue border.

New Designs Posted

In January 2014 we received a new shipment of rugs from Afghan Turkmen weavers in Pakistan. They are an unusual designs using all natural dyes. The group of rugs is very limited, for the weavers only produced seven examples. The rugs are dated 2013, the wool is all hand spun, and no synthetic dyes are used.

Rug #1531


Rug #1530

TCNJ’s ‘Art Amongst War’ Exhibition featured in Sunday New York Times

Today’s New York Times Metropolitan section has a story by Tammy La Gorce about the show ‘Art Amongst War’ at The College of New Jersey’s Art Gallery. The show is curated by Deborah Hutton, and it features an array of art made by Afghan artists including 5 war rugs loaned by warrug.com, including the one in Times’ story. The show includes fine paintings, beautiful needlework, historical and contemporary video, installation art and some beautiful and haunting photographs.

“The anonymous weavers of six 1980s and 1990s-era “war rugs” — carpets whose motifs include land mines, guns and soldiers — may have had no formal training, learning from their relatives, but they have incorporated the grim realities of life in a war zone into their traditional craft.”

Modern Petroglyphs Exhibition Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MODERN PETROGLYPH GALLERY EXHIBITION

– Show of prints, photos and video of recent stone carvings from across the United States –

New York City, NY, April 30, 2013–For the past three years, artist Kevin Sudeith has been traveling through the United States making stone carvings in immovable rock outcroppings. Sudeith is the only petroglyphist working today, and his work resides in a nether-region between fine art and outsider or folk art. His first solo show in New York City will feature a unique form of printmaking: Sudeith makes archival impressions of the petroglyphs on paper. To make the impressions, the carvings are painted with pigmented ink and then wet paper is applied to the carving; the paper absorbs the colored ink and captures the three dimensional space of the carving as an embossing. Also featured in the show will be time lapse videos of Sudeith making the petroglyphs and impressions. An array of Sudeith’s signature motifs, or emblems, will be on display. Sudeith does not permit photographic reproduction of these emblems, so one must go to a petroglyph site or see an impression. Also on display will be two new movable carvings on granite and marble slabs.

Sudeith has renewed the most antiquated art, carving petroglyphs, and infused it with contemporary life. Traveling alone and meeting diverse people along the way, Sudeith documents their lives, their stories, and their work in the most indelible medium. Each petroglyph is site specific and composed of images of the nature and endeavors near the petroglyph site. For example, in North Dakota, Sudeith carved broad-acre farming and oil production: tractors, combines, pumping derricks and tanker trucks. In Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Sudeith has carved -at true life scale- the fish brought ashore at the petroglyph site. Sudeith’s petroglyphs fuse art with science and technology, for all his works include aerospace imagery: satellites, space-based scientific instruments, and space vehicles. The artist’s choice of imagery is inspired by the brilliance of human exploration, invention, and adventure.

Sudeith (b. 1965, St. Paul, MN) received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he has lived for the past 20 years. His work has been featured at the Earl McGrath Gallery and Charles Cowles Gallery, both in New York City, and Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco. He has been making rock art since 2003. Sudeith is currently ‘at large’, traveling America making petroglyphs. His journey is chronicled on his website, Petroglyphist.com.

What: Modern Petroglyphs (rock carvings)
Who: New York artist Kevin Sudeith
When: Opening: Thursday, May 16 from 7-9pm. Show runs to June 14 by appointment only
Where: 308@156 Project Artspace, 156 Fifth Avenue, Suite 308, Manhattan, NY 10010

Media contact: Kevin Sudeith, 800-781-0153 or ks(AT SYMBOL)petroglyphist.com. Images at petroglyphist.com.
Editor’s note: High resolution images are available.

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Press release as .pdf file

Modern Petroglyphs Show

Kevin Sudeith, the founder of warrug.com, is having his first solo show in New York City at 308at156 Project Artspace . The show will feature his petroglyph work including marble carvings, impressions of petroglphs, large scale photography, and video. Photos of petroglyphs in the wilderness will be paired with impressions of petroglyphs, so the relationship between the prints and the remote stone carvings is visually clear.

Modern Petroglyphs
Where:
308at156 Project Artspace
156 Fifth Avenue, Suite 308 (at 20th Street)
New York City, NY 10010
When:
Opening May 16, 7-9pm
May 16 through June 14 (by appointment only)

Contact- 800-781-0153
Gallery Tumblr
Petroglyphist web site
Facebook Event

Show page

Textile Museum of Canada War Rug Database

This is a link to the Textile Museum of Canada’s War Rug Database. I use this excellent resource often, but it’s very hard to find on from the museums home page. There is a link in an earlier blog post, but this post will hopefully make finding these rugs simpler.

The rug above remains one of my favorites, and perhaps the most important war rug in the show organized by Max Allen.

UPDATED November 2021: Link to database updated, but new link produces sub-optimal collection printing few photos and important rugs not visible.

Sharing photos seems to be impossible now, but
here is a good Rustam rug with pictures, including very hi-res. Salt bag without photos.