Protest the Hero Concert Bangle Inspiration

We were at the Protest the Hero show at the beginning of August. Sometimes I knit to keep my hands busy at shows but I've noticed the knitting comes out less and less. I've just been totally mesmerized by the music, the crowd, the flashy lights.  At this show in the basement of St. Andrews Hall the headlining band had these light panels that were programmed to go along with the music. They were simple but totally fascinating to me. Sorry I couldn't find any good photos or video of the lights from that show, I didn't have my phone out much.

I hadn't felt like beading for a while, but these very simple patterns along the light strips made me want to get the peyote graph paper out and create some bangle designs. This is the first set. I have some other ideas but admittedly the inspiration from this has faded a bit. I need to grab it, or is floats along. I might tap the well later.

For this design I didn't choose the colors that matched the light panels, I took the design and moved it into the blues and tans I've been wanting to work with lately.  I think hanging out with Sydney at Convergence drew me to blues. She does blues really well in her weavings and she was wearing one of her own pieces in blues a few of the days. Since then I keep going back to blues. It's a bit of a change from my green and purple defaults.

This set will be available to check out and purchase at the Ann Arbor Fiber Arts Guild Holiday Sale this Saturday, November 9th from 10am-4pm at Zal Gaz Grotto.

6 years sober; I Can Still Tap the Well

 

“But I have come to believe that you can escape your demons and still tap the well.”                                                                                    -David Byrne in "How Music Works"

I celebrate 6 years sober today. The improvements in my life keep coming year by year.  I've become a regular audiobook listener. I alternate between self-help/learning and just entertaining. Currently I'm finishing David Byrne's "How Music Works." I've been scribbling down a lot of inspiring quotes from this book but the above one really struck me. 

I had finally found my artistic voice by dumping my emotions into my work, consciously or unconsciously, I had a stride. And then I got sober. I have been weeding out the drama in my life making for less extreme emotional responses. I worried that without drinking I may not be as "inspired" or be able to respond to the world with my artwork the same way. 

It's the exact opposite. I have just as many emotions, I'm just handling them differently and I'm much more self-aware. It still gets dumped into my artwork and I'm far more productive to boot. I'm still "tapping the well" and that has actually shown this year with 2 of my pieces, one I finished and the other is on my loom. "Playing with Fire" started with a sketch of matches I had drawn when I was going through my divorce. I recall sitting at the bar and doodling. I liked this particular doodle of matches. I had scanned it into my computer files so I could easily track it down later, instead of digging through pages of sketchbooks. I found it and used it one of the sample warps for "Yes, And" and it turned out to be a nice little finished piece. I may revisit these matches in a larger work later. The divorce is coming up on it's 10 year anniversary and some similar themes in other personal relationships are arising so I tapped that old well. Luckily it's nothing I have to pour a drink over anymore, I just set sturdier boundaries. 

The current weaving I'm working on also comes from that era of divorce drama. What was real and not real was really spinning out of control, how things were perceived from various parties had completely different stories and recollections. I had never been sure how to tackle the design for this piece because I didn't want to hand draw it, I wanted to play with various fonts like I usually do, but I didn't have the computer skills to do so. Well, when I started working on "Yes, And" it was requested by the church's art board that the words have more movement than my usual designs. So I taught myself what I needed on Inkscape, a vector based program, and was able to move the words for "Yes, And" and then was able to manipulate words for this new weaving. I needed a real, paying, reason to learn that program, and the Universe handed it to me.

This year has been ups and downs but as I'm looking back on it today, mostly ups. This year so far we have taken 2 trips out of state to see concerts (Madness in Seattle and Riot Fest in Chicago), I took a solo trip to see a reunion concert (I Voted for Kodos!) and I also taught again at the Handweavers Guild of America Convergence Conference in Wichita ....so that's 2 trips flying, 1 train and one road trip. I still love my day job, I have a support system in place like I've never experienced before, I have an amazing, kind, understanding huband/partner in a relationship that keeps getting better as we grow together (rather than how they always used to get worse the longer I was stuck with someone). Life is so good, here's to 6 years and one more day....one day at a time.

Yes, And; Stacey Honorarium Commission

On Thursday, October 28th the First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor held an intimate service for the piece that they commissioned me to create in memorial of their pastor, Stacey Simpson Duke.  It's hard to put into words how honored I am to have gotten to create this piece for them. Being hired to design and weave a piece with this level of emotional and personal intention, yet, still have the freedom to create in the way that works best for me was truly a wonderful experience. 

I made it through the service without crying too much and was invited to speak.  A big thing for me with this piece it's the first of my word-based weaving that is not only a commission but will hang in a permanent home.  So far these types of pieces are publicly exhibited but then come back to me. Which has made sense as they relate directly to me and my emotions or how I'm handling (or not handling) something at that time in my life. This was a different level of emotional learning for me. The internet deep dive that I fell into researching Stacey's voice of hope and inclusivity made me feel connected to her without ever having the opportunity to meet her. Once I started learning about her, the ideas and inspiration for this piece came in droves. 

They presented this weaving in the church sanctuary at first and towards the end it was taken to be hung so we could witness it's initial hanging as a group. I was so surprised when I walked into the hallway and they had chosen to hang it from the ceiling in the center of the stairwell. Initially we had discussed hanging it against the wall, but when I had spoken about how my double weavings are visible from both sides at a church meeting back in February the way it was to hang changed, I just didn't realize that it had been confirmed. 

I stayed and answered questions and we spoke about Stacey, a number of people told me that she would have loved it and the other popular comment was that I reminded the attendees of Stacey, with my curly hair and large fuchsia cat eye glasses.

The other exciting thing (to me) about the way this weaving is hung is that the time of day will show off the two sides differently. In the evening the side facing the upstairs hall was in full color and the light shining on it lit lit it up but that light also shines through it. So from the back side, with the light shining through you don't see the colors as vibrantly but you do get the outlines of the words and shapes. I had just given a program about my work and was trying to explain that I weave a bit more open than most and when the light comes through my weavings the colors and often designs disappear making it look more like plain fabric.  This piece doesn't look "plain" by any means, but that effect was lovely to see in-person.  I usually end up with a favorite side of my weavings, but this one is really balanced and I like them both equally, so I'm glad it ended up being hung this way. 

The Service Handout

As much as I always say I don't take commissions, lately when I do they really are worth it, I feel confident that I've done a good job for the group the commission is for and I get a lot of joy out of doing it. And that's how they should feel. This piece actually pushed me to put the most amount of color I've ever included in a weaving before and also learn a vector based design program so I could add movement to the words. I'd never have thought when I was in art school that I would ever end up creating pieces that would be hanging in places of worship (or that I would need to use Illustrator/Inkscape). I didn't think it was out of the question either, I just...didn't know where I or my work was going back then.  

This weaving has so much going on with it that I did my best to narrow down all the detail shots, I hope whoever likes to look at my blog out there enjoys them at much as I do. 

Coffee Filters and a Drop Spindle

I remember being very young and standing in Jeanne's living room trying to spin something on a drop spindle. I hated it. I couldn't tell you what fiber I was trying to spin, or the type of wood spindle, but I do remember the warmth and eclectic collection of knits, quilts and lovely textiles that cradled me in her living room. The feeling that I learned to expect when in a knitter or weaver's home. I recall standing near the bay window and probably wanting to do anything but trying to spin yarn on an overcast day.

I can buy yarn that's already spun, why would I want to spin it? And thus was my attitude for the next 20-odd years until I saw Sarah C. Swett spinning coffee filters into yarn, weaving them and posting it to Instagram. (More on her spinning fun things HERE).

Last summer I started rinsing and drying my used coffee filters. My husband woke up to coffee filters drying on the back porch and around the kitchen and didn't say a word, he probably thought "well, Jenny's up to something" and moved along with his morning. I didn't have a plan at this point, but I figured if I was going to spin coffee filters, I'd need more than a few. I don't know what it is about being able to make something that is already used up into yarn, but when I feel like playing, I just go for it.

I did check out my local yarn shop for drop spindles, and they have some, just the basic Turkish spindle, and it just wasn't that...pretty. I've found with my textile tools, I'm more apt to enjoy to process when the tool I'm using is beautiful. I decided that the Convergence Conference Marketplace would probably be the place to find a pretty drop spindle. 

Eugene Textiles Center's booth had a collection of used drop spindles. A number of the ones I was eyeing on the first day were already gone by the time I decided to purchase on the second day. Clara and I were meeting for lunch at the Marketplace and she had just taken a class around creating roving and I thought she might know what "whorl" or weight of drop spindle I may need. Ultimately we decided it probably didn't matter at this point and I picked out a pretty top whirl burl wood spindle. 

It's a tool I've never used before (except the one, maybe a few attempts as a child) and I am now captivated at the beauty in it's simplicity. I had packed some coffee filters just in case I found a drop spindle and the time...so when I did find the time I started cutting the filters into strips. I knew I had found the description of how to cut coffee filters to get a long continuous piece, Sarah C. Swett again to the rescue! Her coffee filter cutting blog post is HERE.

"Did Jenny pack garbage for her trip? Yes, yes she did." -Bryan told me this passed through his mind after I had come home and showed him the coffee filter yarn I was starting to make. I love that he told me this.

My spindle started feeling full so I just wound it off into a skein with the niddy-noddy I have in my collection of fiber tools yesterday. This first skein is single ply, 1.4 oz, approx 102 yards. What am I going to do with it? I'm not sure yet. I feel like knitting it, but it's fairly stiff and needs to be damp to be a little more pliable. It seems like most of what I'm seeing paper yarn used for is weaving. I'm not quite there yet, just enjoying this coffee filter yarn spinning process for the time being.

Jesse Maed's Totally Tank Top (Racerback) in Turquoise

I love Jesse Maed's designs, they're really fun to knit. I was hooked with the first one that I knit thanks to Sarah's suggestion of "My Secret Little Crop" (which I have knit 3 of) and then I got into Jesse's other designs. This Totally Tank Top took me forever (see it's tag), for a crop top anyway...longer than I'm used to...ok, I was learning. I ripped this out and restarted at least once (twice?) and then it took me 3 tries to get the neck edging right (for me). 

I knit the Medium size. I extended the arm opening (at least 2 inches, it was 70 rows total) which also created more of a scoop neck that I like better. The first time I had enough of this knit up to try it on I was following the suggested strap length and the arms holes were tight and the neck much too high for me.  

I love Jesse's designs because they're super easy to make adjustments on. I chose the "ribbed" arm and neck finish which I seemed to be picking up the stitches weird and this yarn blend wasn't "ribbing" it just wanted to lay flat on this needle size so it decided to be a "design choice" a pattern at the end of the day. I ended up knitting a lot less stitches (58 ish on the sides) than called for in the pattern (75 on the sides) for the neck.

I put my first tag in a hand knit piece :)

I've worn this a few times and I'm finding it really versatile and summery, which is what I was going for. 

Convergence Conference 2024, Wichita Rundown

Sunset view from the Riverwalk my first night in town.

Convergence 2024, where to even start?  This year became all about the people for me. I want to meet more weavers that I feel like I clique with, but I get shy. Last Convergence I took a chance when I saw Elizabeth (weaverbee.ca) in the gym and introduced myself because I follow her on Instagram and love her posts. That turned into us hanging out together in Knoxville, catching up on the phone over the last 2 years and then being roommates this year! You can find her too on Instagram as @WeaverBee.

Elizabeth/WeaverBee, I had a great time being roommates!

So when I saw @SydsThread (SydneySogol.com) in the Convergence Marketplace wandering around by herself I got up the guts to tell her I love her posts and am a fan, same with @ComfortCloth (comfortclothweaving.com) who I caught at breakfast the next morning. I now know them and Sydney and Tegan instead of just their Instagram handles. They were both leaders this year for conference and through them I also got to meet Denise Kovnat. We all ended up piling into an Uber when I found the three of them waiting for in the lobby and I had some free time to go see the Complex Weaver's Exhibit.

Outside of Elizabeth/WeaverBee these are the ladies 

I ended up spending the most time with; Denise, Tegan and Sydney!

John Mullarkey (malarkycrafts.com) was shopping when I got to catch up with him and he joined the group that Elizabeth had already compiled for dinner before we all headed to the fashion show. Karen Donde (karendondehandwovens.com) was part of that dinner group who is the outgoing President of Complex Weavers, passing the torch on to Elizabeth at their conference which was just before HGA's. I also seem to have started to make a point to have an afternoon catch up with Clara at Convergence Conferences who I know from our years together at the Lansing Weaver's Guild, she lives in Florida now and we overlap a little between her time there for Complex Weavers and mine at Convergence. 

John and I

Clara and I

I got to meet a bunch of the interns and talk about fiddly weaving things with Andrea! Getting to join this Conference would have been a dream for me at their stage in the Fiber Conferences realm and I'm glad to have them joining us (they have REALLY LONG days as interns so thank you thank you thank you for all of their hard work.)  Check them out on Instagram: @AndreaAlexanderArt @AnneXavierHeide @Arghavan_Booyeh.Art @LesMaillesSerrees

Group Photo with some of the interns and Sydney! (Check out Andrea's scarf!)

I've generally been terrible at taking photos and I'm impressed that I remembered to take some selfies as I connected and reconnected with other weavers.  When I go to a multiple day weavers conference I tell people it's not a vacation as much as I'm going to "commune with my people" because the energy at these is just wonderful.  I wish it didn't trickle away so fast as I settle back into my normal day-to-day at home...this year I'm going to make myself make sure to reconnect, text and zoom to keep it going.  Also, there were so many others, these were the people I hung out with the most and linked up with on Instagram. 

Selfie with "Is there a thing..."

I'm sure there are plenty of other's posting about their time at Convergence so I'll focus on my stuff. I was excited that I had 2 of my pieces accepted into the Mixed Media exhibit this year (it's the first time I've had two!) "Is There a Thing to Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time" and "Playing With Fire." Both of these pieces are woven in Double Weave Pick Up and I hand dyed the warp and weft. "Is there a Thing..." has it's own beaded edging.

Is There a Thing To Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time

Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire selfie

I also submitted my Klingon Light Bangle to the Leader's Exhibit because it hadn't been accepted to anything with HGA and has aged out....and it's a piece that I love and wanted to show here.

Klingon Light Bangle

I had 2 seminars this year. Two! It's the first time I've had more than one of my proposals accepted. I was feeling down after the whole proposal processes and thought that I just might not do a seminar at all if only one was accepted again this year. It's costly to go to Convergence and not much is covered with a 90 minute seminar. I decided to move forward with the accepted proposals since I had more than one this year. They both filled just enough to be a go which I was happy about, and yet, at the same time, I had a lot of anxiety and stress (I do this to myself) with the preparation and leading up to the Conference. I'm glad I did it though. Most of my class for "Hands on Finishing your work" brought in things to play with and get ideas as to how to finish pieces, and I learned a lot from teaching the "Keep Track of Your Digital Art Life" which I'm providing video to my students to reference since I know it's hard to retain things that I'm learning on the computer without doing it over and over. I'll be submitting these proposals again and I have more to add and along with some cleanup in my PowerPoints.

I voted my tripod out of the luggage for weight reasons 

and refusal to have more than one checked bag...

bring the tripod next time (I had to stack my luggage to get a good height)

I mentioned I was feeling down after submitting proposals and I learned why that was as I talked to other Leaders while I was there. Part of the submission process is submitting what you have taught in the past 2 years. Outside of the occasional conference I don't do much teaching. I've found a day job that I love and I've realized over the past 8 years that I hate the artist's hustle. My general well being is so much better knowing I have a consistent paycheck and security (like medical insurance and such). That being said, I have a lot of pride in the fact that I have had the opportunity to be a Leader at this conference for the last few conferences. It's beyond my wildest dreams that I'd ever have artwork accepted to these exhibits on the regular and then the fact that other fiber artist's value what I have to share?!  It's a dream and I feel very fortunate to be where I'm at today. I don't have to keep the momentum that I used to have, but I do have to keep some, otherwise I think I'd be a bit disappointed in myself. So, I'll plan on some new proposals and old ones will be submitted again....we'll see how it goes. This year threw me a curveball and there are a few different paths life could take and I'm learning that I struggle with that kind of uncertainty. 

Weaving and Life Update

I'm close to the end of my "Yes And" weaving commission. I can see the end of the cartoon and the warp. I was on a roll weaving a little bit every day but life has thrown off my groove. By my tracking I'm weaving about every 4 or 5 days lately.  I've been to the doctor and the vet more in the past three and a half months than I ever have in my life. There's also change, joy and grief floating around our home.

I've had some medical stuff, most recently what I thought was a cold was bronchitis for like 2 months. I finally went in and my doctor got it under control (I'm so thankful we found one we like, who's helpful! and listens!)  I've always hated bugging anyone with something that will probably just go away on it's own, but this year is full of things that aren't that simple. 

On the happy end of things the universal cat distribution system moved a sweet black stray cat who's paws were torn up and bloody under our porch. He was immediately our outdoor lap cat and we started feeding him and named him. We spent much of our Seattle trip to see Madness worried about him (his paws getting infected, him having to fight the other strays) but we couldn't get an earlier vet appointment and we couldn't chance him bringing anything in the house and possibly getting our other 3 cats sick. Once he was clear to come in we kept him separated while we were at work or sleeping for a few days but it's been a pretty easy introduction into the family. Bruce is the only one who's dramatic, Morgan, Lois and Clark just look at him like "what's with all the hissing and growling."  They just thump him when he gets annoying or too aggressive. He's starting to chill out. 

On the heartbreaking end...Morgan was looking rough about 3 years ago, he's 21 this year and we found out back then that he has hyperthyroidism. So he bounced back with his pills, but then things took a turn a few weeks ago and we go an official diagnosis that he has lymphoma. He's not eating, not excited about treats, is a little wobbly on his back legs and losing weight quickly. I'm taking this harder than I thought I would and I'm realizing it's the first time in my life I've really had to deal with end of life choices for an animal I am close to. Danielle's death was abrupt and animal death on the hobby farm i grew up on was a little different. Morgan and Bryan have been together the whole time so half of Bryan's life he's had Morgan.  There's a lot of hanging out with Morgan and making sure he's still happy and comfortable. 

My anxiety about handouts and PowerPoints for my seminars at the Handweaver's Guild of America Convergence Conference has subsided as the time I have left with Morgan has taken priority.  I know what I want to talk about in my seminars, I think I have it organized in a way that makes sense, the handouts are simple and I'm printing them today. I can tweak PowerPoints on the flight to Wichita if need be, but those came together easier than I suspected they would once I got going.  So Morgan and I have watched all of Season 3 of Bridgerton together and are on to Queen Charlotte. He also enjoys laying on the cat cube in my studio while I weave so when I've had the mental space to do that, I make sure he knows that's what I'm up to. Our vet has assured us 21 is a good long life for a cat, but its still hard to watch him stop eating and laying around in odd areas. 

Lois and Clark are "helping" me pack for Convergence.  I'm looking forward to my yearly communing with my people. Teaching can feel like a lot (I don't know why, I'm fine when I get there) but being around so many creative in the fiber world is always invigorating and inspiring. Of course, when I have things I need to finish, inspiration to start new projects is extremely enticing. I have a lot in my head and on paper, I did start pinning up one idea...we'll see where that goes. 

pinning up an idea I've had for 10ish years...