Tapestry weaving by Rebecca Mezoff woven during Change the Shed
I've always felt fairly private about my tapestry designs as I'm working on them. Since my apprenticeship ended 14 years ago, I rarely ask anyone for feedback on my designs unless it is a commission. Designs are fragile little beings that can be crushed by other people so easily and they need time for me to be sure enough about them to let others see them.* It is both a protective instinct that makes me guard my ideas to give them space to grow and also a fear of being criticized. No one wants their beautiful butterfly of an idea crushed by a careless comment from another human.
But it is also possible that protecting ideas around my art so fiercely keeps me from fully engaging with them and allowing them to actually be made. I was reminded of the way other artists can be helpful yesterday during Change the Shed.
This particular piece is one that I don't have a lot of emotional attachment to and so I was willing to ask people watching for their opinion about a design change. The addition was minor but the initial suggestion and feedback about various options was really helpful. And because I view this tapestry as one grand experiment, it was fun to play with new ideas live and with a relatively large audience.
You can watch the episode on YouTube HERE if you get the blog via email or in the player below.
Four years of Change the Shed!
Yesterday was also four full years since my first episode of Change the Shed on March 27, 2020. It was my response to the pandemic lockdown and for awhile I did it every single day. I’m still inviting people into my studio via the internet about every other week and many tapestries have been woven in that time. It seems I’m not ready to stop doing it, so I’ll see you online for the next episode on April 10th. I’ll have an answer about the crowdsourced design change on this piece by then!
If you’d like to browse the past episodes of Change the Shed, there are a lot of gems in there! You can find thumbnails and links to all of them on my website from HERE or go to the playlist on YouTube HERE.
*On the subject of being crushed, I’ll once again link a favorite blog post, Crushing the Butterfly, in which I quote Ann Patchett on the subject of making art.