Always Rooted Tapestry 2010

I was playing a lot with tapestry back when I had my loom set up at Grove Gallery.  Sometimes when I'm stumped on pattern or inspiration but I just need to keep making, I default to checks.  I like even numbers, multiples of 4, there's a certain ease of organization to it that I need.  Hence referring to this piece as "Always Rooted" going back to that root equation for me.

Checks or "two-tone" also represents one of my favorite music styles, ska.  So it's another level of a reminder of what I default to.  I never go completely black and white though, as you can see in the above detail I mixed some variegated yarn in that had black in it, but I always need some color.

This piece is currently showing at the Haslett Library (in the Bookend) through the end of the month.  I thought it was only going to the end of last month but when I contacted them as to when to take it down they were happy to leave it up and I'm happy to have one less thing to do as I prep for Halloween and get jewelry together for galleries and upcoming shows!

There and Back Again, 2006

There and Back Again.  This weaving is my very first tapestry (aside from a tiny purple flames piece I didn't know was tapestry I wove in high school).  I had watched other students weave tapestry in college and decided it looked like it took too long.  I laugh now at that because everything I did and that I currently create takes a really really long time anyway.   

When I moved from Colorado to Wisconsin there was a feeling of homecoming.  Colorado wasn't quite for me and moving back to the Midwest was a breath of fresh air. One of the things I missed most living in Colorado was the fall. There was a lack of crispness to the air and little or no leaf color change in Colorado.  It was a really strange feeling when we jumped right from summer to snow in Colorado, so I enjoyed every second Fall in Wisconsin.  I needed to make a piece about my little jaunt to go chase the mountains, but then ending back in the Midwest.  

I worked on this piece in my tiny studio apartment in Madison.  It took me almost the whole year I was there to weave this.  I used as many different types and textures of yarn I saw fit and played with striping along the way. There and Back Again is one of my larger pieces measuring 45.5 inches long by 28 inches wide.

It is currently on display at the Haslett Library resale book shop, The Bookend, through the end of September 2019.

Artist Residency at the Porcupine Mountains: Part 2

I'm just posting some photos in chronological order at this point....

Bear den program (that's a black bear skull).

Tapestry Weaving progress.

Black bear eating leftovers at Konteka.

Trappers Falls

It was rainy yesterday so I took the opportunity to go to Calumet. I love the Paige Ward Gallery there. Paige invited me to show my work....we'll see what I can do after we get back from Japan.

Lake Superior sunset last night.

Front side of my weaving (you can start to see the transparencies)

Back side this morning... 3.75 inches done.

My shelf of insect repellent...the middle one has the DEET...and it actually works!

Convergence 2014: Rebecca's Seminar, Tear Down and a Very Late dinner

I began my last day at Convergence Conference with Rebecca Mezoff's seminar on "Creating Without Pain."  I've had some aches and weird things going on with the increasing number of hours I spend beading/weaving/dyeing.  She had some great examples of how to fix things that weavers are doing wrong, and the big take-away for me is to remember to get up and stretch every 25 minutes. I can sit and bead for hours.  I get so wrapped up in my work, I need to break and stretch, it'd probably help with a number of things.  She has some great stretches for hands, arms and upper body!

I then had a quick lunch with Inga Marie and she introduced me to Suzi Ballenger from the eTextiles Lounge.

I really wanted to see both the Complex Weaver's Exhibit and also the tapestry exhibits that were part of the American Tapestry Alliance conference which overlapped Convergence.  When I looked at the map, the Complex Weaver's was a bit of a walk, had I realized that I was over there the day before I would have made it, but really, my feet were killing me by now (I did not bring substantial shoes, packing my hiking sandals next time!)  The ATA exhibit were closer so I headed that way.

I really enjoyed their small-format unjuried show, I really enjoy tapestry and weaving it, so the small-format was inspiring with the broad spectrum that artists work with tapestry.

(I couldn't help but fall in love with the tarantula)

(I had to photograph the text weavings for sure! Since text is a focus for me right now)

(The first I've seen of a small weaving of Rebecca's, I love how she utilized text for this)

This is the Best of Show for the juried tapestry exhibit and it is stunning.  Rebecca has much better photos and if you want to see more tapestry, check out THIS blog post of her's.

Vendor hall tear down

I had been trying to catch up to Elaine all week, and when I finally nailed her down I ended up helping HGA tear down and box their booth.  I, myself, wasn't there all week, but thank you thank you thank you to all the ladies that I met at tear down for all the hard work you do to make Convergence happen.  I held off to have a very late dinner with them until they were done with the rest of the office-type stuff and I packed my own box for the hotel to Fed-Ex home for me.

A drink was in order.

(This one wasn't mine, 

but I loved how the lemon peel was ribboned into the glass.)

Summary: I love Convergence, but I'm now on fiber art overload, I want to create more and more things, but I need to try to stay focused.  Last week and this week are about packing to teach at the Michigan League of Handweaver's 3-Day Workshops, and my Porcupine Mountains Residency and our trip to Japan.  I literally have 3 piles started.  I'm still somewhat distracted though, I wanted to have my dining room back, so I finished the last sanding and finishing of the craigslist table: 

My dad managed to surprise my mom for her birthday:

(Happy Belated Birthday Mom!)

We went on our annual tubing trip with friends....and got back to work on Sunday when we got home.  I've started boxing up my tapestry yarn for the Porkies and wondering what to pack as far as food since I'll have no electricity or running water.  I mean, I will, but not at the cabin I get to stay in for two weeks.

I'm glad to be getting the last of Convergence posting off my plate before I forget what I did there! 

Tapestry Workshop with Rebecca Mezoff (Michigan League of Handweavers Workshops 2012)

Thursday evening, August 9th through Sunday, August 12th I spent in Holland, MI at Hope College's campus with some of my favorite people: Weavers and Fiber Artists!

I had chosen to take Rebecca Mezoff's "Color Gradation Techniques for Tapestry."  I was dropping something off at Millie Danielson's house and she brought up that I should look into taking this workshop.  I'm not a "workshop junkie" (a term I learned this weekend and liked) because I have so many things that I have to get done with my artwork that I hate to distract myself with ideas and new techniques. However, I do want to support MLH and the learning opportunities that they have right at our back door.  I have zero formal training in weaving wool tapestry at a tecnical level or how to color gradate. So I applied for an MLH Learning Grant and signed up for Rebecca's class.  Along the way, the Arts Council of Greater Lansing announced a new grant that is for individual artists.  It's the Chris Clark Fellowship Grant.  I decided to apply for it and see if I could get the other portion of my workshop weekend paid for.  I recently found out that I was awarded this grant also, along with a number of other artists.  The 2012 Chris Clark grantees can be found HERE.

What a class!

Day 1:

I learned how to splice so that I have no funny knots and smooth transitions.

Back of my piece/sample.  Please excuse the stray yarns...

Front of the piece, looking through the back of my loom so there's warp in the way.

Rebecca was very organized and had a wonderful power point to show up exactly how some of these techniques are used and how to do them.  She had samples all lined up for us to work on, but what I loved about her teaching style is that there were no hard and fast rules as to how you had to weave your piece.

Day 2:

I decided to try using a cartoon (line drawing behind the weaving) to follow an idea that I had.  I am using pick and pick, transparancy and gradation in the teal/black/grey piece.

Day 3:

On to serious gradation!  The yellow is the yarn we had been using (2 ply), and I started in with a purple block of single ply yarn that you use 3 strands at a time.

And then I got home, set it down in my loom room, and it sat like this until last week.  Nearly done, but after 3 full days of over 30 hours of weaving (my choice, they weren't 10 hours days!) my fingers were ready for a break.

Last week I sat down ad finished my gradation in the purple and yellow.  I remembered it feeling overwhelming because of the counting of single yarns and getting just the right mixture for a smooth transition, but it was't when I got back to it.

#1 "Stream of Consciousness"

#2 "Wing It"

#3 Gradation Block

This is the first workshop weekend that I have taken with the Michigan League of Handweavers. Since these were such new techniques in tapestry for me, I was really driven over the 3 days to get as much information out of the thress days as possible.  The last piece that I did, with the gradation block has potential for me to weave my beaded sculptures through it because the side of the purple block are completely open.  I'm playing with design ideas now.

Chekc out Rebecca Mezoff's Blog about her weekend with our class HERE (there's some good photos of me!)

I thought for a moment that it was the first 3-day workshop I had taken ever, but I'm wrong, Briony Foy did 3 days with the Greater Lansing Weavers Guild in Spring 2011 (Blog post here).

Thank you so much to both the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and the Michigan League of Handweavers for providing me with this opportunity!  I will be blocking these pieces and will soon hang them at Grove Gallery!

This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing.

"Looking Back" Tapestry

So I did finally finish my barn-themed tapestry.  I'm still getting used to it, sometimes it takes me a while to decide how much I like a piece after I have pulled it off-loom.  I had been looking at the back of it for so long!  It is inspiring me to take some of the design elements into my next tapestry weaving, mainly the circular areas.  Any feedback would be great!  You can see it in person at the Technology Innovation Center in downtown East Lansing, MI right now, through May 21st, 2010.   The opening reception for the show will be this Sunday, 12-4pm.

Back on the Loom!

Do not leave yarn to run rampant on your loom, as it may jump into your nearby wine!

The next Technology Innovation Center showing has the theme of "Where the Heart is" and I got inspired.  I'm taking a look at my shift from being raised on the farm and being a home body to loving living in a city (or multiple cities) and being close to everything.  It has to start with the barn I grew up playing in.  It stands alone as the place to escape to when you wanted to get away and feel the warmth of old wood and dry alfalfa flakes.  I guess it represents the me that never wanted to go anywhere or do anything, I remember saying that I had no need to travel or want to go anywhere because it was expensive and if I never saw it, then I never knew what I was missing.  I guess I've grown since then and am so excited to go to Europe for the first time in March.  Yay!  Below is my cartoon sketch that I pin to my tapestry as I weave.  I love to make my work become it's own thing, so the colors are not necessarily going to be what it ends up looking like.  I do the same with beadwork.  It's the lines that are most important to me in my sketches.

The shifting colored spirals have been with me and within my artwork for as long as I can remember.  I think they're the one this that will always exist in my work.  They not only represent my love of natural forms, but of movement and lack of control.  Spirals and vines fly out of my drawing utensils while I'm not even looking, it's my constant daydream.

I have also been enjoying tapestry weaving because it is so easy to use up my stash. I love picking up yarns and remembering the trip I was on when I found a particular one.  This piece will have hints of Mendocino and Oakland California, living in Madison Wisconsin, the stockings I knitted this Christmas, and the warp on the loom is the leftover from the wraps I wove my bridesmaids in March of 2009.  And yes, this is my first weaving since!

I know it doesn't look like a lot right now, and we won't know exactly what it looks like until I pull it completely off the loom.  It's much quicker to work from the back of a tapestry than the front.  Plus it helps push me along to finish  because I really want to know what the end-product will look like.  Each of my pieces have a bit of a mind of their own.

Hopefully I'll be able to get this tapestry off loom and ready to hang by its due date for TIC!