Change of Scenery

The tourists at The Ear of Dionysus were a bit challenging to weave. Sett at 6 eps, using bundles of 9 Weavers Bazaar, it is a much larger gauge than I am used to.

Just after I got these people all the way tucked into the mouth of the cave, I left on a two month adventure to the Southwest. A happy family event was the reason, but also wanting to see what it might be like to live somewhere else for awhile. We are in our new location for two months. I love love love our home base in Northern Michigan. Tucson really couldn’t be more different. We have been here for half a week, and Im starting to get the hang of the place. For one thing - there is that beautiful bright blue sky most days. Can you see it?

One Month into it

Trouble sleeping last night led to some doubts about my big projects. Working Title: Dionysus’ Ear. Is the idea strong enough? Will it be too unwieldy to display? Too heavy? Do I have the will and discipline needed to complete this monster weaving?

On the other hand - I find myself convinced this will be a very strong piece. It is actually moving along so well, that perhaps I will have time and energy for another one to add to this body of work. Do other artists find themselves of two minds? Like, all the time?

I am currently a little stalled on my small paper weavings - intended to debut in the same show. I am still developing an understanding of what they are - but I know I love the ones with some indigo in them the best. These need some light shining through them to pick out the blue glow. Also love the one I printed a birch leaf image onto. I am eager to get back into the rhythm of making these. It requires some faith to keep going without a solid concept. I often work this way - finding out what a work is about once I am close to the finish.

Really Big Project

I’ve been wanting to involve myself in a really big project. An installation, or a body of work that would require loads of preparation, thinking, execution. It’s daunting to think about. When I do think about it, the follow up thought; ‘and then what” haunts me.

I have an opportunity to do a group show, in a large space, 18 months from now. Just the prompt I need. It feels luxurious! And a little intimidating. The ideas for what I want to do with this space came to me rather quickly. I have the outlines of this body of work in place. I’m sure it will change over time. For now, I am planning to document the process here.

The center piece of this proposed body of work is inspired by a visit to a large cave in Sicily.

Ear Of Dionysius, Syracuse, Italy

The dimensions of this tapestry will be 37 inches wide by 74 inches long. About the size of an average doorway. I have been working with the cave image in several different media - trying to find my way into it.

Mono Print

Collage

Gelli Print

I purchased a LILY Loom from Mirrix. I purchased a variable height work table. I purchased a lot of Weavers Bazaar yarn.

Cave colors

Wall colors, and other colors too

I have warped Lily. Warping was much easier than I expected. I thought Id need a step stool and a massage after. But it was only a bit of a stretch. I had the loom on my work table, at its lowest height.

Warped with 12/12 seine twine, at 6 ends per inch.

The weaving has begun - lots of dark cave floor so far. But I will share a picture with you in a couple of weeks.

Review of Schacht Arras Tapestry Loom

In my teaching studio I have several looms. I often have more than one tapestry project going at a time. At the moment I have 4. Three on various sizes of Mirrix copper pipe looms, and my newest one is on the Arras.

As a teacher I wanted to try the Arras to help me decide if I could recommend this loom to students. The answer is a resounding yes.

The loom is beautiful, Not hard to put together - probably took me a total of 2 hours. I had to figure out which end was “up”. I like that the level of the bottom beam can be changed. This makes the warping process - in which you need to pass the warp thread underneath the loom - much easier. I will also enjoy it when I need to adjust the level of the weaving line while in process. This feature will buy me a couple of extra weaving inches before I will need to advance the warp again. The shedding device is sturdy and quiet. The size of the shed is roughly the same as the Mirrix. The warping process is also the same. The tension is adjustable, and stays consistent. The loom is very portable - doesn’t weigh too much, and the back legs fold up to make it more flat.

I also purchased the warp beam extension. I could have waited. The loom will already give me a decent length for the width.

The price is also comparable to the Mirrix Loom. I love Mirrix Looms! But I like this one too! If you are contemplating purchasing a tapestry loom - the biggest difference that I can see between the Arras and the Mirrix might be in wether you prefer the look of the copper pipe loom, or an all wood one. The craftmanship and quality of this loom certainly holds up to Schacht standards.

I would like to see Schacht make a larger one as well. I would make room in my studio if that were to come to pass.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving might be my very favorite holiday. It seems to be less impacted by materialism (though they have tried to ruin it with Black Friday nonsense). Instead, the holiday is mostly for gathering with friends, family and a table full of food. Sometimes references are made to that “first thanksgiving” to remind us of that mythical time when those native to these lands were welcoming to the newcomers.

For me, this holiday reminds me to practice gratitude. This is my spiritual practice. It is an awareness and acknowledgement of my many, many blessings. There are the obvious blessings of family, home, community and friendships. There are the less obvious ones of hardships that grew me into the person I am today. Taking some time to reflect on all the various blessings that have brought me to this place is grounding and comforting. May you find comfort in your many blessings, even as new ones come your way.

Horizontal and Verticle Bands

The work of tapestry artist Sylvia Heyden fascinates and inspires me. So much so that I joined a study group in which the goal is to look closely at her techniques, and take them for a spin ourselves. This study group is hosted By Kennita Tully - and can be accessed by joining her class “Elements in Tapestry”. I highly recommend.

We are working through S.Heydens’s book “The making of Modern Tapestry”. Chapter one explored half rounds and triangles, and resulted in some lovely test peices

Chapter Two is all about Horizontal and Vertical Bands. I am working on that idea now. I like to have a natural world reference to my work, and so I decided to indicate trees, as vertical bands. The piece will end up (I hope) as 8 inches wide by 24 inches long. The vertical bands are very long slits. Like the whole way. They are attached to each other at the bottom, will be attached at the top, and also along the way with sumac “branches”. I don’t plan to sew the slits shut. I plan to hang the piece horizontally, so the bands will run side to side instead of up and down. I hope that gravity causes the slits to droop a bit. Or, maybe not. We’ll see!

Vertical Bands - which may end up in the horizontal

Progress Report

People sometimes ask me about my design process. It varies from piece to piece. Today I am going to share with you some thoughts about a work in progress.

Last July I was invited to demonstrate Tapestry weaving at the Glen Arbor Art Association, all day, in the company of several other artists. “River Birch’ was in progress on my large loom - but too fragile to move. I also had something started on a very small loom - too small for people to see over my shoulders. I decided to warp for a medium size (18 inches wide) tapestry and start something new.

At this time, I had recently completed the course “Weaving Water” with Elizabeth Buckley. I also was involved with a study group focusing on the art of Sylvia Heyden. These two experiences directed how to begin my demo tapestry.

I made a very quick sketch to get some ideas on paper about wave patterns and half rounds, approximate colors and finished size.

It was a fun and relaxed day - I enjoyed sharing the tapestry process with all the passers-by. When I got back home, I decided that I had a good start and should keep going

And here it is now - November. I have been letting the tapestry itself dictate the direction of the weaving. The patterns and colors all were decided in the moment. It is really fun to weave this way! But now I have come to a decision point. I like what I have well enough, but want to proceed now with more intention.

I had the bright idea to print two copies of the above photo, flip one around, and see what happens if I repeat, symmetrically, the image.

What you see above is two pieces of paper - but it gives me some idea of how the finished piece might look.

I know I won’t (can’t) repeat it exactly (but upside down), but I can achieve this sense of repetition and balance.

Your thoughts and/or questions are welcome!

Always learning

Last Fall I signed up for Kennita Tully’s Elements in Tapestry course. I learned so much! I learned lots about sumack, twining, and supplemental warps that I incorporated into some pieces - Ghost Birch heavily employs sumack. I also have been following a self imposed challenge to learn more about wedge weave, and push it in ways that express what I’m after. Birch Logs (pictured in previous post)is an example of this.

At Christmas I received a gift of Sylivia Heyden’s The Making of Modern Tapestry. I admire her work for the sense of movement of color across dynamic spaces. While I don’t want to “weave like Sylivia” (I still want to weave like me - whatever that turns out to mean), I do want to study how she came to her style of weaving. This Winter/Spring I have set out to really study her book. I am doing small sample tapestries of each of her elements, as presented in the book. The first element is the Triangle. The second part of my quest is to document in some way my lake. Maybe to document how the lake makes me feel. The way I see my lake is a little different, and I hope that comes through.

I just finished my first small tapestry in this series. I think I’ll call it Ice Triangles.

Ice Triangles

Tapestry

7.5 inches by 7.5 inches

Journal Entry

An artist friend sent me a message this morning about having lost (temporarily) her thread. This prompted a journal entry on my part, I will share this with you here.

I have quite a to do list. I need to write a blog post today. Send out a newsletter. Finish two tapestries. Prepare them for mounting and framing. Warp a small loom for a series I have in mind. I want to combine ideas from Sylvia Heyden with images of water. The first image will be frozen water - as that is what I see outside now. This water based series will not include any sailboats, docks or happy splashing children. Just 8 by 8 inch tapestries showing some of the many different moods of the lake. Lots of eccentric weave, some wedge weave. I can’t wait to get started, Maybe this series of small moody lake pieces will lead me to a bigger one.

It is very cold. Weather warning level cold. Cover all the skin before you go outside cold. Don’t leave the dogs outside for very long cold. We don’t really need to get the mail today cold.

I want to paint some.

I am lucky that I am not searching for something to do. I have a long list of things I feel compelled to do. In fact my problem is much the opposite. My list of desires, things to start right now, is so big I have trouble getting started each day. Then once I get going, I have trouble with stamina. I need to take breaks and I am easily distracted. Who isn’t these days!

Its like I am searching for something, and my excavation tools are paint, pencil, fiber, looms and my journal. i’m an archeologist, painstakingly dusting away layers of dirt to find only glimpses of treasures. What is this dirt comprised of? Mostly self doubt. Some lack of understanding from others. I am blessed with family and friends that are very supportive and seem to understand that it is important to me to do this work. But I get a sense that they don’t understand why that is so - and to be fair, neither do I. Another element of dirt I need to whisk away is the very brokenness of our country, our world. It worries me. I feel I should be doing something about it. My inner voice insists that I should do my work. But, the top level of dirt derides that as not enough, not effective. Its hard to shake the feeling that I should spend my days writing my senators, marching for causes, volunteering for organizations that promote justice and healing.

Or, I can do the work that forges my soul’s connection to my creator, and hopefully bring those who engage with my work another step closer to themselves as well. What do I want people to get from engaging with my work? I want to bring them into closer alignment with themselves.

Thank you for reading.

December Doodle

I like to have some small tapestries going to facilitate trying out new techniques or ideas. I am calling this one December Doodle. I may set a goal of continuing this practice as a monthly exercise.

In December Doodle I was experimenting with different ways of doing wedge weave. I also wanted to see if I could create cross hatch lines, as in drawing. I think I had good results with thin twining over a wedge section with contrasting colors - I think it is called feather stitch. I also wanted to take on oval or lozenge shapes. Not sure that was successful - but it reminds me of a fallen snowman. The wild hair is also twined.

The colors are influenced by the holiday season. I hope this finds you merry and bright!

New Tapestry in Progress

New Tapestry in Progress

Ghost tree and Rust Cirlces

I have been working with this image of three birch trees on my street for a couple of years now. You can see the finished Double Weave pick up in previous posts.

I am planing to weaving this whole image in Double Weave pick up again, but with some differences. But Ive been thinking for awhile about taking just portions of this drawing - for tapestry. I isolated a portion of the  whole for a cartoon, and then pondered what to put in the background.

While I pondered, I made a rust print from my studio burners. Someone, somewhere made a comment about rust printing. There was an old napkin, and some very rusty burners. I had to try it out.

Rust print on old napkin

I put the rust circle behind the cartoon of a section of tress, and decided that would be my composition. Now I am weaving circles within circles, behind trees.

Looking back at my work over many years, I realize that Birch Trees and Water are recurrent themes. Maybe someday I will figure out why that is.

Procreate drawing of Miami Beach Birch

New project begun

Working title: Ghost

 About a year ago, while thinking about what my next project should be, a set of three birch trees on my street offered themselves for consideration. I took several pictures, drew a close copy in Procreate, and finally wove this 9 foot by 3 foot piece. 

Miami Beach Birch

Rayon of bamboo and cotton, hand dyed, double weave pick up

84” by 33”

Seen here at The Lowell Art Center, Lowell MI September to October 2021

I still really like the image of the three birch trees. I want to do another double weave pick up- yet I want to take this one to a new level.  Ghost will be 30% smaller - so still pretty big - 30 by 65.  I want to single out the tree that fell down in a big storm last August. I have dyed a portion of the bottom warp a much darker blue gray.  The top layer is in large color blocks, navy blue on the left side, orange on the right. I want to indicate a time of day: dusk. 

Bottom Layer of warp

Top layer of warp

 As I weave the piece, I may use tapestry techniques or inlay to delineate the branches from the ghost tree. I want to emphasize its absence, and simultaneous presence through my memory. Indeed I think about that tree every time I walk past the little grouping. As I reflect on this work in progress, I find myself thinking about loss and memory.

A brief description of Double Weave Pick up

Generally speaking, in double weave pickup there are two layers of warp, in contrasting colors. Each warp layer interacts with its own set of weft threads. You can make two completely separate lengths of fabric. Or you can interchange them for a composition. With the use of pick up sticks, the image is picked up from the bottom layer warp threads and exchanged with the top layer warp threads. A very cool thing about this Is the reverse image on the other side. All is done in plain weave. I have made this warp a full yard longer than it needs to be so that I can practice including tapestry and/or inlay techniques, as well as test out some colors.

There are some really good books about this technique. My favorites are Double Weave by  Palmy Weigle and Double Weave by Jennifer Moore. 

Two remaining trees

It will take awhile to thread and begin the weaving, but I plan to post progress pictures and thoughts here. In the meantime, I also plan to post other projects as well. I have a new tapestry started, based on the same set of trees to share with you next week.

Flow: A body of work

Flow: River Panels

I love maps. I especially love gas station maps. I think about the dots that represent whole towns of people, and their lives. I think about how the roads relate to natural features such as hills, forests and rivers. These panels are meant to represent a standard 8 panel fold out road map, featuring the Hydrological map of Northern Michigan.  Though there is no dot to represent me - I am located here.

Flow: Blood/Breath

While the River Panels indicate how I am located within this wonderland of water, this tapestry represents how this region is embedded within me. The very same lakes and river system is depicted inside the area of my lungs. The enclosing shape can be read as “body” or as “Earth”. But, as I wove this, I realized over and over that this image is highly personal and autobiographical. How I am fractured and how I am mended is all here.

Flow: Branches

In the process of developing the ideas for the River Panels and for Blood/Breath, I was thinking endlessly about branching. Veins and arteries branch to bring oxygen and nourishment to all regions of the body. Rivers branch to bring water and nourishment to areas of land.  I was taking a walk one day - and suddenly saw tree branches. I mean, really saw them, as if for the first time.  Eventually I played with the idea of weaving tree branches, and these are the result of that. I am also  interested in the notion that trees communicate with each other, through root systems and possibly other ways. They warn each other of danger. If you look closely enough you’ll see these branches have messages for you. 

This year plus body of work will be seen for the first time at the Jordan River Arts Council in East Jordan from October 11 - November 7.

Current mood

With more available studio time I am trying new things. I have two on-going long term, time intensive, projects. Sometimes (everyday) I need to take a break from them and play around. I am very good at keeping my expectations low - the whole point is to stretch a bit - outside of my comfort zone. I hope this helps to keep my art fresh.

Stay safe my friends, and stay fresh. Try something new, something slightly uncomfortable. I would love to see what you do.

Everything is different now

My upcoming classes have been canceled. Shows and exhibits I have been accepted to have been postponed or canceled. I am very pleased to say that my work has been accepted to some very fine exhibits this year. One is a Fiber Art show at the Scarab Club in Detroit. That has been postponed until July. Another is “Manufactured Narratives” at UICA in Grand Rapids. That has been rescheduled for October - and potentially conflicts with “Elemental” at Jordan River Arts council.

It has been shaping up to be a very good year - and then you know what happened. Like everyone else, I am taking this one slow, distracted and unproductive day at a time.

This is not entirely true. I weave everyday. I am also playing around with painting, oils, acrylics and pastels. Trying to keep the art flowing. And I have cast on for a knitted project. It might become a scarf designed to cover my face, made of bamboo cotton. I don’t really know what shape it will be as I am making it up as I go. I do know that the yarn and needles are tiny and it will take forever. Thats just fine. Knitting through the newshour helps calm me. I have been sewing masks with fabric I created in a surface design class with Shanna Robinson, and mailing them off to loved ones. I think wearing masks is a good idea, but I also want everyone to keep their mitts off the N95s.

I don’t mind a slower pace, and I have always enjoyed time alone. But is is disturbing to wonder if it is safe to go to the post office, it is weird to talk to my neighbors from so far away. Also weird is that I actually see some friends and family more than ever -but through my computer screen.

Flow: Blood/Breath is a tapestry that I hope to show in October at Jordan River Arts Council. It is 3/4 to the finish line. Here is a picture of it in progress.

Be well, stay safe.

A bit about Flow

A student asked about how I made Flow: River Panel 1. It is a double weave pick up. The image is taken from a black and white poster of the State of Michigan Hydrology Map, purchased from Muir Way. I took photos of sections of the map, and then enlarged again by hand using a grid. This panel is the first. I intend for there to be a total of 8 panels - hung together like an old fashioned road map.

The warps and wefts are hand dyed. I dyed enough for the first set of four panels - and need to dye again for the second set. While I kept careful notes, I am sure that I will not be able to exactly reproduce the colors.

I am noticing on the fourth panel, the shapes are nonsensical to my eyes. They are fluid and beautiful, and remind me of text I cannot read. The technique is exacting, but not exact. Liberties are taken in the transposition from photo to drawn grid, and again from gird to woven form. These steps of removal enrich and make more personal the overall statement. What is seen is the result of an intersection between my eyes, hand, head, and someone else’s documentation of a river map. Rivers and lakes are also fluid, and change shapes as they expand and contract, and find new pathways.

I am planning to show three of the panels together at the Crooked Tree Guild show in February. let me know if you go see them!

Fiber without Boundaries at the Glen Arbor Art Center, now - November 7

Several months ago I was invited to participate in a group project with some fiber artists who live in the Petoskey Area of Northern Michigan. Our task was to each adopt one invasive species and make a portrait of it, in a 12 by 12 inch space.

They met several times in person, alas I live about an hour and a half away, so couldn’t go to the in person meetings. I kept in touch through social media. I didn’t get a chance to see works in progress, and had to wait for their debut at the art center.

My critter was the Red Swamp Crawfish. This dude is about 8 inches long, mostly red with raised red bumps and looks like a little lobster. These crawfish are native to lakes and river in the American South, some think they are good eating - of not for people then for game fish, which is how they are making their way into our waters. They come in fishermen bait boxes and are dumped. Or they are let loose from school aquariums. Once a few of these have settled into a friendly lake, they compete with native crayfish and other aquatic species for food. They can cause an algae bloom, and they burrow into the shore line, creating an erosion problem.

He is one of 8 species featured at the above mentioned show. Feedback from the gallery is that people who look at this series do read the text that is with it, and learn a bit.