TAPS and Ceclia Blomberg

After the opening for Small Tapestry International 3: Outside the Line on Saturday (American Tapestry Alliance's small format international juried show), there was an opening a few blocks away for the Tapestry Artists of Puget Sound, TAPS, show at The Brickhouse Gallery. The gallery website has much better photos than mine, so make sure to visit it HERE. These photos are snapshots intended to give you a flavor for the show. Please visit the artists websites for better images or go visit the show yourself.

Let me just say that the TAPS members are an extremely talented group of weavers. I recommend visiting their website and browsing through the images.

The Brickhouse Gallery, 1123 Fawcett Ave, Tacoma, WA

One of my favorite pieces in this show was Cecilia Blomberg's Birch Rolls. I love the concept and they were very fun to examine. She also had a rolled up version in the Small Tapestry International 3 show which was equally engaging in a very different way.

Birch Roll #2, 3M is pictured here at Small Tapestry International 3 next to Message by Borjana Maevszka-Koncz. (Notice Audrey Moore through the plexiglass. I've wanted to meet her for quite awhile and I got to on Saturday! She runs Damascus Fiber Arts School in Damascus, OR with Terry Olson who was the coordinator for this show.)

I also love Ellen Ramsey's Awakening 2012. I am an Ellen Ramsey fan. I love another big tapestry she did called Rift which is pictured below. The movement in the black mark in Awakening 2012 is wonderful and I love the movement it gives on top of the static white images. This is a gorgeous tapestry. (And another big thanks to Ellen for ferrying me from Seattle to Tacoma so I could attend these events!)

Rift detail

The Pacific Rim tapestry The Labryinth was on display. I have never seen this tapestry in person and it was wonderful to be able to study it. It was woven by Cecilia Blomberg, Margo MacDonald, and Mary Lane. They have collaborated on many tapestries, some of which are in this TAPS show.

The Labyrinth detail

Here are some more shots from the show.

Ellen Ramsey, Rift detail

Inge Norgaard, Nesting #3

Margo MacDonald, Skokomish at Staircase and Ellen Ramsey, Rift

Julie Rapinoe, River Canyon

I wish I had a better photo of this small piece by Mary Lane. I loved it.

Mary Lane, Untitled #140

Did you ever play that game, Button Button, Who's Got the Button when you were a kid? I will give you only one guess as to who wove this last photo.

Joanne Sanburg, Button Button

A Trip to Cecilia Blomberg's studio

I took a class from Shelley Socolofsky after the openings (more to come about that) and we all were invited to Cecilia Blomberg's studio on Sunday night to see a huge commission she is weaving for the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel in Colorado Springs, CO. I found Cecilia to be generous and excited about her work and it was inspiring to hear her talk about her process and her many years of weaving.

Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, Colorado Springs

I don't think I can show you photos of the commission in process (unfortunately because it was mighty cool!), but I can tell you that the work was stunning. Cecilia works with a lot of realism and her work seems to be in a very mural-like style. She has done many public commissions (I didn't ask her how many, but she talked about 3 or 4 in the recent past). It was interesting to see her cartoons and hear about the process she goes through to propose a project and carry it through to the end. The Air Force Chapel project involves multiple (I think 8 or 9) tapestries 9 feet long that will hang on pillars in the chapel. The tapestries are of saints and Cecilia is clearly very skilled at researching her subject matter and incorporating it into the work.

She also showed us many finished tapestries and shared her process with weaving many of them.

Here is a video of Cecilia working on another large commission which gives you some idea about her process and her working environment.

If you want to see it bigger, either click the YouTube icon at the bottom of the video window which will send you to YouTube to watch or click the square to the right of the YouTube button for full screen.

I am very glad I made this trip... and I haven't even told you about the amazing workshop yet! Seeing the two shows and visiting Cecilia's studio were wonderful.