Tapestry Diary

Cameron Peak Fire revisited

Cameron Peak Fire revisited

The Cameron Peak Fire burned 326 square miles near my home in 2020.* It started August 13th and was finally declared controlled in January of 2021. All four of the trails I backpacked prior to August 13th in 2020 burned in the fire as did every other trail near home on my hiking bucket list. The forest is closed in most of the burn area and likely will remain so for a very long time as the dangers to people, the land, and the watershed are many. Regeneration will happen but the fire burned very hot in places and the soil was destroyed. That means things won’t grow back there any time soon and that soil will erode and negatively impact our water supply and the habitat of everything that lives near this zone.

If you followed me during the worst months of the fire, you know how much grief the loss of these places in the form I knew them brought up for me. I wove four small tapestries about the fire and will probably weave more in the series. These are small 3 x 3 inch tapestry diary pieces. All four are woven as if I’m standing in the same place looking at the same mountain in the Rawah Wilderness. But they could represent any of the hundreds of miles of trail that existed in the burn area.

The first two I wove on the same warp. The initial weaving was from an image I took on a hike just north of where the fire started. I took this image on my birthday which was August 5th. As I left the wilderness the next day, I distinctly remember thinking, 4 days in this wilderness wasn’t long enough, but I’ll be back soon. Less than a week later, the Cameron Peak Fire started in a place I could have seen from where I took this image. (Not all of the Rawah burned. The beginning of the trail to get to this place burned but I don’t believe the spot where this photo was taken did. This tree may still be standing and since it is probably many hundreds of years old, I hope it is. One day when it is safe, I will go and check.)

Weaving about the Cameron Peak Fire, Part 2

Weaving about the Cameron Peak Fire, Part 2

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about the start of the Cameron Peak Fire in northern Colorado. This fire has brought up some challenging emotions for me and I’m sure I’m not done dealing with all of them.

This fire started August 13th high up near the Continental Divide near Chambers Lake. It was started by a person though the details have not been publicly released yet. It was a bluebird day. The fire sat at around 25,000 acres for a long time—weeks, and I was lulled into some sense of hope that it wouldn’t grow much more before the snows came. But fire is fickle and a beast waiting for just the right weather conditions. Last weekend the fire more than tripled with one run of 10 miles.

All the little tapestry diary pieces: a roundup

All the little tapestry diary pieces: a roundup

I’ve been weaving what I call my tapestry diary since November of 2016 when I did an artist residency at Petrified Forest National Park. I’ve had many posts about this practice over the last almost four years and I wanted to gather them all together here. I’ve also added category tags to many posts and these are tagged and can be found from the list on the blog. That list is on the right side on a computer and larger mobile devices (iPad) and is at the bottom of the blog list on a mobile phone. The tapestry diary posts are categorized Tapestry Diary and if you’re looking for something in another category, say, Looms or Yarn, that will help you out!

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The tapestry diary has been a place for me to play, work through events, remember places, and mostly just mess around with small looms. These pieces have all been small because that is part of the point. I sometimes call the practice sketch tapestry and have taught workshops about it. But you don’t need a workshop to quickly understand the concept. Weave something from an idea or a quick sketch that is simple and aims to evoke a place, something simple you saw, or an emotion. I like to keep these very small so they are finished quickly and I don’t get hung up on making them perfect. Ditch the perfectionism with this practice. It helps let go when things matter more.

Tapestry diary: Weaving about the Cameron Peak Fire

Tapestry diary: Weaving about the Cameron Peak Fire

Thursday, August 13th, the Cameron Peak Fire started near Chambers Lake way up the Poudre Canyon. This area is about 50 miles west of Fort Collins and is most definitely the outdoor playground of this city. In a year full of grief, this fire was a big personal hit. I know all the rational things: that there are far bigger problems in the world than wildfire, that the forest absolutely has to and would have eventually burned in this location, and that some of my grief stems from the loss of the privilege of actually enjoying such places on a regular basis. Still, it is a deep personal grief and I have done a lot of crying over the last week. . . .

I think the hardest thing is thinking about all the places I love and how they will be forever changed. As I left the Rawah on my birthday last week, I thought, “I can come back soon. This place will still be here.” But I was wrong. That place will not be the same in my lifetime. It will be years or decades before trails can be rebuilt if they are at all.

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Making tapestry designs from nature

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Making tapestry designs from nature

I have a t-shirt that says “Weaving saved my life.” I’m not sure that is actually true, however, the amazing Sarah Neubert gave it to me and when I put it on I think of her courage and work in the world of weaving and it makes me smile. What I do feel this year is that backpacking has saved my life or at least my sanity over the last couple months. I was feeling mighty anxious and a bit frantic last weekend for reasons I can not pin down, and three days in the woods made an incredible difference. Sleeping outside, watching moose through my binoculars, seeing osprey and marmots, and watching the full moon rise over my tent in the middle of the night* provided space, perspective, and calm. . . .

My backpacking kit includes a small loom and there is nothing I love more than sitting somewhere high in the mountains weaving or spinning. I’ve talked about my “tapestry diary” many times on this blog. I weave these little pieces as a way to keep myself working and processing ideas in tapestry but also as a way to remember places and events. It is quite effective actually. Spend a couple hours weaving a tiny tapestry about something and that memory comes back when I see the piece months or years later.

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Weaving in the wilderness (nearby)

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Weaving in the wilderness (nearby)

With the possibility of travel largely gone for the foreseeable future, exploring the places where we live seems like something to settle into. I’ve become more interested in details. In watching and understanding what is happening in my back yard. And in spending the time to watch what happens overnight on the trails I have loved for decades. I’ll keep weaving and spinning while outside and that will prompt me to weave more while I’m in my own studio.