Grids Across Borders: Art, Craft, and the Global Context

A grid is a framework of uniformly spaced horizontal and vertical lines that intersect at right angles to produce a series of squares or rectangles. One widely recognized example is the lines of longitude and latitude used to locate points on a map. In art, the grid serves as both a visual structure and a conceptual framework, often associated with modernist movements.

In her seminal essay Grids, art historian Rosalind Krauss identified the grid as “a structure that has remained emblematic of the modernist ambition within the visual arts,” drawing a connection between Cubist paintings and modern abstraction. While the grid is commonly linked to Minimalism—a movement that emerged in the late 1950s and is frequently associated with male artists in New York—it has broader historical and cultural significance. Grids have been used for aesthetic and practical purposes across diverse global contexts long before and after Minimalism’s rise.

This workshop will explore the concept of the grid as a visual and conceptual framework, expanded in terms of time, place, and gender. Jessica Braum, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art History, will deliver a talk drawing on her dissertation research and her work as an LCDSS extern curating a digital exhibition on the theme of the global grid. Her presentation will examine the grid’s significance in modernity, with a particular emphasis on its material, cultural, and aesthetic manifestations in a global context. Works by artists such as Kim Lim, Yolanda Laucito, Otti Berger, Annie Albers, Agnes Martin, Nasreen Mohamedi, and Mary Lee Bendolph will illustrate the varied approaches to and interpretations of the grid across different mediums and cultural frameworks.

The second part of the workshop will provide participants with a hands-on experience of creating their own woven artwork using small, rigid heddle looms. Led by Meghan Kelly, Assistant Professor of Textile Design at Jefferson University, this session will introduce participants to the basics of weaving, including how to create and interpret a draft—a diagram representing the threading, tie-up and treadling for a weave. The weaving session will highlight the tactile and material possibilities of the grid in an arts and crafts context, encouraging participants to reflect on its theoretical and historical dimensions while producing a material representation of this enduring structure.

By engaging with both the theoretical and practical dimensions of the grid, this workshop aims to offer a nuanced understanding of its significance across art history and craft traditions, while fostering creativity and dialogue among participants.

This workshop will be taking place in the Innovation Lab at the Loretta C. Duckworth Scholars Studio.