How to Record Woven Layers Rising and Dipping in Anjuli Bernstein’s In the Wake

To record this scene, preserve one woven relief and the full relationship of its layers: rising from the work, then dipping back into it. Begin with that sequence before adding texture or detail.

The task is to make a visual record that retains the supplied scene’s defining geometry. A short description and an annotated drawing can work together: the description fixes the relationship in words, while the drawing records only the contours and transitions you can establish.

Bernstein’s own page identifies In the Wake as a 2025 work in handwoven double weave, European linen and mulberry silk, measuring 26 × 18 × 2 inches. These are documented details about the artwork; the recording instructions below are an application of observational drawing concepts to the supplied scene. Anjuli Bernstein, In the Wake (https://appliedarts.studio/in-the-wake)

What must the record preserve?

Start with a compact sentence: “One woven relief, with layers rising and then dipping back into it.” Keep this sentence beside the drawing as a reference. It preserves the object, the layered material relationship and the order of the change without supplying an unseen construction.

Each part does a different job. “One woven relief” keeps the scene together as a single work. “Layers” retains the distinction between its overlapping or separate visible surfaces wherever those distinctions can actually be followed. “Rising” and “dipping back into it” preserve the outward-and-returning relationship that makes this particular scene worth recording.

Treat the sequence as a description of form unless movement through time is explicitly present in the material being recorded. Following a contour from a rise toward a dip does not, by itself, establish that the artwork moves. A single drawing can record that spatial progression without turning it into an animation.

Also distinguish height on the page from projection out of the relief. A line traveling toward the top of a sheet may describe an upward direction in the image; it does not automatically show a layer lifting away from the surrounding surface. The National Gallery of Art defines form as three-dimensional shape. For this record, that distinction makes the relationship between the layers and the relief more useful than a generic wavy outline. National Gallery of Art, The Elements of Art: Form (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/elements-art/elements-art-form)

How do you draw the rise and return without inventing a route?

Use paper and a pencil, leaving room for brief notes. Establish only the overall boundary and orientation that the available view supports. If you are working solely from the supplied verbal scene, retain a verbal record or label any sketch as a schematic example; the description does not establish the work’s exact silhouette, layer count or placement.

When a reference view is available, begin by following a visible edge with your eyes before drawing it. Getty’s contour exercise defines contour as the outline of a shape and emphasizes looking repeatedly between the subject and the paper. Apply that method locally: inspect a short stretch, draw it, then look back before continuing. Getty, Framing the Landscape (https://www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/curricula/impressionism/lesson02.html)

For each layer you can distinguish, use three recording checkpoints. These are an editorial drawing aid, not a claim about Bernstein’s construction:

• Rise: Locate where the visible layer begins to project from the surrounding relief.

• Raised portion: Follow the visible contour through the projecting area, preserving its observed shape and spacing.

• Dip: Record how the visible contour descends back toward or into the relief, stopping where the evidence stops.

The final checkpoint deserves as much attention as the first. A sketch can preserve a projecting edge yet lose the return by ending the line too early or extending it into an unsupported loop. Compare the last visible stretch with the reference. Does the layer visibly descend? Does an edge become obscured? Is the continuation unclear? Record the particular condition you can establish.

For example, if a contour becomes obscured before its continuation can be followed, stop the drawn line there and add “continuation not visible.” This is an illustrative annotation choice. It preserves the limit of the view without drawing a passage through the work.

Avoid adding a cross-section unless you explicitly label it as a hypothetical explanatory diagram. A section drawing would require information about depth and connections that an exterior view may not provide. The visible rise and dip can be recorded without deciding how the material is routed behind the surface.

How can texture support the geometry?

Complete a first pass using contours and short annotations. Then add surface marks selectively, checking that they help a reader distinguish the woven layers rather than burying their edges. Keep the rising portion and the return legible as you work.

The National Gallery of Art explains that different line qualities can represent texture and pattern. Its drawing lesson also describes hatching, pressure changes and contour drawing as distinct tools. Those methods offer ways to record visible surface differences; their use here should follow the reference rather than impose a uniform decorative pattern. National Gallery of Art, Lesson: Drawing Everyday Objects (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/lesson-drawing-everyday-objects)

An illustrative choice would be to place a small patch of fine marks within a clearly observed woven area, leaving nearby contour transitions easy to read. If those marks stand for texture rather than individual threads, say so in a note. This prevents a simplified drawing convention from appearing to document every interlacing.

Keep the artwork’s documented materials separate from your surface observations. The artist identifies European linen and mulberry silk, but that material list alone does not establish which visible strand or region is which. Include the materials in the caption if useful; assign them to particular areas only when the available evidence supports that assignment. Anjuli Bernstein, In the Wake (https://appliedarts.studio/in-the-wake)

Use shading with the same restraint. Copy visible light and dark areas when they clarify the form, but do not manufacture a dark band beneath every rise. If a passage remains difficult to read, a precise note about the contour is preferable to shading that supplies unverified depth.

How do you check that the complete sequence survived?

Read the drawing alongside its opening sentence. Follow each recorded contour through the rise, the raised portion and the dip. Check their order and their relationship to the same relief. Where the drawing cannot establish continuity, its annotation should make that limit explicit.

Use this final diagnostic sequence:

• Object: Does the record still describe one woven relief?

• Projection: Can you distinguish a layer rising out from a line merely traveling upward on the page?

• Return: Have you retained the dip back into the work wherever it is established?

• Visibility: Do lines stop when the visible evidence ends?

• Surface: Can the layer contours still be read through the texture marks?

• Description: Are schematic choices and uncertain details clearly labeled?

A minimal descriptive caption can remain close to the supplied observation: “Anjuli Bernstein’s In the Wake: one woven relief with layers rising and then dipping back into it.” Add positional details only when you can verify them. Exact counts, repeated spacing, colors and directions should come from the available view, not from an attempt to make the caption sound more complete.

Finish when the record allows someone to follow the defining relationship: layers rise from one woven relief and dip back into it. Preserve the contour where it is visible, identify uncertainty where it begins, and let surface detail serve that sequence.

Sources

• Anjuli Bernstein, In the Wake (https://appliedarts.studio/in-the-wake).

• National Gallery of Art, The Elements of Art: Form (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/elements-art/elements-art-form).

• Getty, Framing the Landscape (https://www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/curricula/impressionism/lesson02.html).

• National Gallery of Art, Lesson: Drawing Everyday Objects (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/lesson-drawing-everyday-objects).