The following two jacquard fabrics were created and woven by Professor Alan Donaldson, in the College of Textiles at NC State University. The pieces were recently jury-selected for exhibition at the International Textile and Apparel Association (I.T.A.A.) Design Exhibition, in New York city.
They serve, also, as calming and contemplative tactile images as we near the anniversary of 9/11/2001.

“AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN . . .” was created in memory of a splendid sunset which was captured with my first camera, nearby my Scottish home, while out cycling with my father. The date was November the 9th, 1964.
I always loved that scene, which I immediately named “The red-hot Tree” because, as the setting sun went behind the tree trunk it appeared as though it were red-hot. Someday, I knew, I would feel inspired to do something creative and dynamic with this bold, simple and poignant memory. I thought it would surely find its reincarnation as a stained-glass window -- instead, it has evolved as part one of a pair of Jacquard woven tapestries -- complementing its partner: “. . . AND IN THE MORNING”.

This 57” x 36” jacquard woven fabric makes a bold, yet contemplative statement framing the majesty of the setting sun as it marks the end of another clear November afternoon, in Scotland.

“. . . AND IN THE MORNING” is the second part of, or complement to, “AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN . . .”. This tapestry is 57” x 39’’, and is based upon my photograph of a wonderful, spreading tree that grew outside the house where I first lived and worked as a textile designer in the USA, in East Douglas, Massachusetts. The picture was another November shot, taken in semi-mist -- at dawn, in 1966.

The two pieces form a poignant statement about the shortness of life and remembrance -- perhaps appropriate to our present time of uncertainty, and also reminding us that it is not only we humans who are at risk, but the wonderful trees – indeed, all the world’s flora and fauna -- and those very sunsets and sunrises, themselves!
It is a wake-up call to us all, as the stewards of the Earth.

Manufacturing Process
Following the painstaking development of a series of semi double-weave structures, the overall design and construction of the two fabric pictures was committed to a 5,120-hook, electronic Jacquard mechanism. The subsequent weaving process allowed me to construct tapestry-like fabrics whose yarn interlacings and unique color qualities would serve to convey a strong sense of “being there” -- in an emotionally evocative manner that cannot easily be achieved through any other medium.
The resultant compositions were achieved through the utilization of no fewer than 43 different weave structures -- each bringing its own unique color value and texture to the scene.
There are only 4 actual colors in these fabrics (plus Black and White). The colored yarns, which exist only in the warp, are of relatively fine multi-filament polyester. There are 84 threads per inch and they are arranged in the following sequence (repeated 1,200 times) throughout the fabric widths: Deep Green, Gold, Blood Red and Navy.
The thicker weft yarn is of low-density polypropylene, repeating White and Black, followed by a very fine Black binder stitch. The structure is organized in such a way that either the White or the Black weft yarns are brought to the sub-surface in different weave modules, thus tinting or shading the corresponding groups of warp yarns that are selected to pass over them.

R. Alan Donaldson, 8/2002.