Dear editor:
I am writing in response to Fred Camper’s article entitled “The Banality of Badness” [January 21]. Although I respect Mr. Camper’s right to his own opinion I have a problem with his inaccuracy of statement. Most importantly, Mr. Camper’s statement regarding the collaboration between Judy Chicago and weaver Audrey Cowan on The Fall tapestry. Mr. Camper states, “This enormous tapestry was recently completed by an unpaid weaver who worked long hours for years, following Chicago’s design.” This statement makes it sound as if the “weaver” is some kind of an indentured servant, who has no brain and wasn’t allowed to contribute creatively in any way. In fact by not identifying the weaver as Audrey Cowan, Mr. Camper diminishes her significance in this project; her importance, though, is quite well documented and acknowledged in the Holocaust Project exhibition.
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Fred Camper replies:
I agree that I should have named Audrey Cowan, and I appreciate your elucidation of the nature of her and Judy Chicago’s collaboration, though to my ear “weaver” doesn’t connote someone with “no brain.” Cowan’s creative contributions to the tapestry may be great–it is finely and elegantly woven–but to my eyes it’s controlled by Chicago’s design.
