The Colombian artist Olga de Amaral was born in 1932 in Bogotá. After receiving a degree in architectural design, she went to study English at Columbia University, in New York City. From there, in 1954, she trekked to Michigan to study fiber art at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. “In Cranbrook,” she has explained, “the textile workshop had eight looms placed against the windows: one of them, in the corner, would be my home for a year. There, I lived my most intimate moments of solitude; there was born my certainty about color; its strength.” Amaral returned to her home country and began making decorative textiles as special commissions for architects and friends; she also started a workshop with her husband, Jim Amaral. Characteristic is her use of fabric, gesso, and precious metals such as gold and silver leaf, a combination that creates kinetic shimmers of transcendence. This is Amaral’s first solo show in London in a decade. —Elena Clavarino