Kallvü · Concón, Chile
Susana Peñaloza, textile art in felt and indigo
Kallvü · The maker
Susana Peñaloza
Chilean textile artist based in Concón. She works with felt, shibori, indigo, katazome and botanical printing. Her training has taken her to Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands and India, learning from masters of the craft and bringing those techniques into one-of-a-kind pieces.
In 2017, supported by Fondart (Chile's national arts fund), she spent two months in Okazaki, Japan, as artist in residence at Kusakizome Kōbō Shikari, Shibata Reiho's natural dyeing atelier. There she studied katazome, itajime, katagami, shibori and indigo, and closed the residency with the exhibition “Reiho and Susana: Two Months”, showing her work.
Okazaki 2017 · Ai no Keshiki 2018–2021
The blue that stays on your hands
In 2018 she was one of 450 participants from ten countries in Ai no Keshiki – Indigo Views, a work by artist Rowland Ricketts. For months she cared for a piece of cloth dyed with Tokushima indigo, slowly transformed by time and light. The work was shown in Tokushima in 2018 and later at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., in 2020–2021. Her cloth never came back: it remains part of the work.
Okazaki, 2017
Background
2011
Shibori-on-felt workshop with Julia Ross (Argentina). Weavers of the Americas Gathering, Cusco, Peru.
2013
San Isidro Textile Art Encounter, Buenos Aires. Felt garment workshop with Charity van der Meer.
2014
Felt sculpture with Andrea Graham. Publication: “Fieltro de Autor” (Chile).
2015
Felt modelling with Tatiana Sheverda. Advanced felt with Dawn Edwards. Advanced felt sculpture with Marjolein Dallinga, Santiago. Eco-print with Luciana Marrone.
2016
International Symposium on Shibori, Natural Dyes and Indigo, Oaxaca, Mexico. Felt creations for the “El Oficio” collection by Arte Origen.
2017
Two-month artist residency at Kusakizome Kōbō Shikari, Shibata Reiho's atelier, Okazaki, Japan, supported by Fondart. Closing exhibition “Reiho and Susana: Two Months” (November 3–5). Advanced eco-print with Irit Dulman, Montevideo. ExpoArte Concón.
2018
Participant in Ai no Keshiki – Indigo Views by Rowland Ricketts, Awa Indigo Art Project, Tokushima, Japan. International exhibition of the Tokushima Prefecture Cultural Promotion Division (July 11). Course on the history and development of indigo, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan.
2019
Studio visit with Charity van der Meer in Gieten, the Netherlands. Tannins in botanical print workshop with Romi & Ato, The Dyers' House, Buenos Aires.
2020–2021
Ai no Keshiki – Indigo Views is shown in Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
2023
Apprenticeship in Beypore, Kerala, India: batik with Vasuettan. Group exhibition at the Tasara International Retreat and Expo of Arts & Textile, Beypore, Kerala.