I have found weavers to be the most wonderful people. I suppose there are exceptions, but generally they are curious and able to ask questions. Sure, weavers also tend to like structure and can be slow to see around the rules they’ve made for themselves, but in general, the love of material and creating usually wins.
Weavers can generally also locate themselves in space. You have to have some spatial skills to figure out how to make weave structures, so the fact that they can also find their way to Taos, New Mexico from all over the Northern hemisphere doesn’t really surprise me.
Enjoying the fire in Mabel’s living room. photo: Renee Margossian
I just came back from the third retreat I’ve taught in Taos in four months. It was another group of friendly, open-hearted people who took my challenge on willingly and ran with it in their own directions.
I love these retreats where I challenge people to come with a problem they’re working through and then find a pathway to creation. I offer whatever thoughts might be useful, but I think mostly the benefit of these gatherings is being able to focus on something for a whole week. Stepping away from our usual patterns can also help us see other options we might not see in our own studios.*
Everyone in the workshop was working on different personal projects and that led to a lot of discussion about various ways to do a whole lot of things in tapestry weaving! For example, there were a couple people who were working on very painterly approaches to color. Lynne also works in watercolor and she had just done this painting that she was then interpreting in tapestry.
Lynne Gehling, tapestry work in progress plus painting
And Jane was mixing a fantastic selection of yarns to create this wonderful textured beach/water/sky scene.
Jane O’Riordan tapestry
Quite a few people spent the week doing samples of their ideas with the intention of weaving the tapestry at home. This is a fantastic use of time and I saw many revelations come out of those sample weavings. Gwen was doing a piece that I think she considered a “sample” as well, but honestly, this is going to be a fully finished tapestry when it is done.
Gwen Steege and her Klee-inspired “sample” tapestry
I did not take nearly as many photos as I have in the past of what people were working on, but every single person had a project that was personal and progressed in interesting ways over the course of the week. Sometimes the answer was, that idea isn’t going to work and new directions were considered. Sometimes accidents happened that led to new revelations to try. And sometimes the weaving went along as envisioned (though in general I’d say that rarely happens!).
We did take a trip to Taos Wools one day and enjoyed the marvelous wool and tapestries for sale.
Jane and Gwen up to their normal shenanigans!
Donna checks out while Renee waits to pay for her stash. Joe Barry is the owner of this wonderful shop and gallery. He has sold my tapestries for years now and the yarn he sells is hand-dyed by him. I recommend a visit to Taos Wools!
This retreat was held at Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico again. It is a wonderful historic house steeped in the history of the artists who came to Taos during Mabel’s lifetime and afterwards. Dennis Hopper actually owned the house for awhile in the 70s.
The food is always fantastic. In the photo below, I’m thrilled to have gluten free sopapillas. Renee is celebrating with me.
Here is the group!
The group is, front half L —> R: Sandi, Donna, Rebecca, Vivé, Connie, Lynne. Back half L—> R: Sally, Cathy, Renee, Paulette, Gwen, Jane. Not pictured, Mary.
And just like that, a week was over, tapestries were cut off the loom or packed up to finish at home, and we all said goodbye. We went home with ideas to work on and tapestry friendships solidified and created.
*If you need some time away for a similar exploration, I have some residency openings in southwestern Colorado this year. It is very possible that I won’t be teaching a workshop in person again for the rest of 2026 so if you’d like some personal input from me and time to figure out your own path forward, take a look at the residency information on my website under Fortnight.