Randall Darwall

With their complex color and patterns, scarves from the studio of this Bass River, Massachusetts weaver are known for their ability to partner with almost any piece of clothing. “Why use five colors when fifty will do nicely?” asks the artist.

Randall earned a degree in art history from Harvard before completing a masters’ in art education at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1970s. He was a faculty member at the Cambridge School of Weston, Massachusetts and has since taught at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennassee. For the last 30 years he has maintained a small thriving studio, producing much sought-after wearable art. His work is represented in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York City’s Museum of Art & Design, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

The artist began as a painter, but struggled. “When I mixed color on my palette I usually ended up with mud because I never knew when to stop. (Weaving) has all the internal logic and order that I lacked,” he explains. Randall does all the dyeing of fibers and strings the warps on the loom, often collaborating with a trusted assistant, who adds the weft in response. “I design as I weave, struggling to keep up my own end of the conversation with colors, fibers and the constantly chiding voice of function,” he says.

Randall’s scarves are primarily silk that is sometimes combined with other natural fibers for texture and drape. They are tightly woven to withstand wear over time, although they are intended to soften with use.