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There are many tapestry weavers who make work that is very recognizable. Most of us have a style we work in for awhile as we explore an idea and some weavers use a particular way of filling space that helps identify the work as theirs.
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There are endless examples of this sort of thing. As you look at tapestries, think about what devices the weaver is using to express themselves and which of those are particularly weaverly in form.
Inspiration for tapestry design can come from an infinite number of sources. But actually recognizing something as a starting point for a design can be tricky! My experiences as artist-in-residence at Petrified Forest National Park last year have informed my design skills tremendously.
This experience of using a little loom and simple forms inspired by the environment was so powerful for creating meaningful tapestry designs, that I wanted to share it with all of you.
I thought I would put all the little tapestries I made at my artist-in-residence in one post. I have included links to prior posts at the end--some have more details about individual tapestries.
I wove one of these each day. Most of them took about 3 hours to complete. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it despite the amount of time it took to finish them and I ended up doing one every day of the residency. Here they are with their inspiration. Most of the tapestries were woven at 12 epi on a 6-dent Hokett loom. The warp was mostly cotton seine twine though there is some linen in there and the weft was mostly Weaver's Bazaar 18/2 wool though there are some wool singles and some handspun.
Color is amazing, isn't it? It has the ability to delight us and then, just when we think we know how to use it, kick us in the butt. I think I will be learning a lot about color for the rest of my life. (Fortunately!)
As I was answering questions for my online classes this morning, I came across two submissions of the same exercise in the Color Gradation Techniques class. This exercise is part of the transparency section of the class where we practice using this simple technique to create forms that appear to overlap. The technique works best on large-format pieces and with careful choice of value... and saturation!
