Intermountain Creations

The non-juried show at Intermountain Weavers Conference is called Intermountain Creations.  This year the instructor's show Intermountain Spirit was intermixed with the Creations show.

I thought there were many wonderful pieces in this show and I shot a few photos of some of them.  There were, of course many pieces I didn't include here, some due to impossible lighting and some because I was focusing on what struck me at the moment.

Evelyn Campbell lives near me and was a student of James Koehler's.  She is something of a hero to me perhaps just due to her her vitality, ability to engage vibrantly with the world, and the hope that I can maintain those things in my own life as I get older.

Kandinsky Slalom Evelyn Campbell wool tapestry

Sagrado Familia near Black Mesa Evelyn Campbell wool tapestry

Nancy took my Color Gradation for Tapestry class this year and had two delightful tapestries in the show.  I loved the effect of the floating bars in the dark brown parts of this tapestry as well as her use of demi-duites and pick and pick.  (Great piece to study for the class Nancy!)

Chiapas Windows II Nancy Wohlenberg

This piece was one of my favorites.  I loved her use of a doubled warp so that she could go from 6 to 12 ends per inch in different parts of the tapestry.  She was experimenting with pearl cotton as weft here and it worked extremely well in this small-size tapestry.  She did a great job of color gradation also even using pick and pick to grade some of the background imperceptibly.

Earth and Sky Pot Nancy Wohlenberg

Cindy also took my class (and was another student of James').  This tapestry was my favorite in this show.  The flatness of the color effects were really attractive as well as the black outlining of the sailboat.  

Serendipity Cindy Dworzak

Serendipity, detail Cindy Dworzak

There were many pieces in techniques other than tapestry in this show.  This woven shawl caught my eye.

Night Sea Scarf Gaylene Garlitz tencel warp, cotton weft, 16 harness weave

I enjoyed the detail of this mixed media piece.

Mycelial Matrix, detail Rain Klepper

And I was happy that Emergence IV got to hang out in a show for a few days before heading to Weaving Southwest for the summer sale season.

Emergence IV Rebecca Mezoff

Fiber Celebrated 2011

I had two pieces in Fiber Celebrated 2011 which opened at the Intermountain Weaver's Conference at Fort Lewis College in Durango this past weekend.  The show is at the Center of Southwest Studies main gallery.  Juanita Girardin was the juror for this show.  She actually lives in the same small New Mexico town that I do.  Her comments at the opening convocation of the conference resonated with me as she spoke at length about using good craftsmanship.

Both pieces have a great deal of subtle color gradation.  Here are the two that were accepted to the show:

Emergence III; 9 x 44 inches; hand-dyed wool tapestry

(Barn burned down) Now I can see the moon; 5.75 x 16.75 inches; hand-dyed wool tapestry

And here they are as displayed at the Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College:

Yep, that is what they really looked like.  They might as well have been in a closet the light was so bad.  I asked.  They said they couldn't do anything about it.  Two years ago this show was in another part of the gallery and it was very well lit.  It didn't fare so well this year, though some things looked better than others.


So I pulled my pieces off the wall to show to my class.  We were learning about color gradation and it was impossible to see the color changes where the pieces were hanging.













Despite my disappointment with the hanging of my own pieces, there were other tapestries in the show which were better lit.

Canyon Sunset Carolyn Van Sant cotton

left to right: Asa III by Buff Palm; Turquoise Study by Bettye Sullivan; Midnight by Alex G. Sullivan; Lights by Buff Palm

Asa III by Buff Palm, detail

Mary Cost's piece suffered from the same lack of lighting that mine did.

Grand Slam Mary Cost

Kathy Spoering's piece was wonderful and the class spent a fair bit of time discussing her color mixing techniques as well as how the eye perceives something like the bright red under the dog's neck (which does not look bright red unless your face is right in the tapestry).  An enchanting piece for which she received the Northern Colorado Weaver's Guild award.

August or "The Dog Days of Summer" Kathy Spoering wool and cotton

Elizabeth Buckley's piece, Dialogues Through the Veil is beautiful and it was an important center of discussion for the tapestry class on hatching and color use techniques I was teaching at the conference.  This piece won the American Tapestry Alliance award which is definitely deserved.

Dialogues Through the Veil Elizabeth Buckley wool, cotton, embroidery floss, silk, cotton seine

I love the use of hatching and the shiny effect from the silk and embroidery floss as well as the implied figures throughout the piece and the leaps of imagination it inspires.

Dialogues Through the Veil, detail

Dialogues Through the Veil, detail

I felt like the show was much smaller than it was last year.  I focused on the tapestry pieces, but there were many other fantastic fiber works in this show including some amazing three-dimensional pieces.  If you get a chance to see it, definitely stop by.

Wrap on a raised warp...

James always told me, "advancing color wraps on a raised warp"...  (Frequently followed by, "why aren't you doing that?").

I am teaching a class at Intermountain Weaver's Conference next weekend (if you're interested there is an unexpected opening or two) and in preparation for this class (Color Gradation for Tapestry) I did a sampler in the hope that my explanations about hatching and hachure would be a little clearer than mud.  Since I chose two very contrasting colors to illustrate the hachures we are going to be learning, the results of not wrapping on the correctly oriented warp thread were extremely obvious.  I just wanted to share this graphic illustration...  And yes, I do realize that you're only going to get a charge out of this if you're a tapestry weaver... and possibly not even then.

This photo is from the back of the weaving (the side facing me as I was weaving).  I weave all my tapestries from the back.  I don't want to get into why right this moment.  I just do.  Wrapping an advancing color on a raised warp yields this bumpy hachure.

But magically when you look at the other ("right") side of the tapestry, it looks like I drew those angles with a straight edge.  Cool, eh?

Yep, I'm a bit of a weaving nerd.

(Ref at last night's Taos Whiplash bout--"Official Lee Hated" and his NERD socks)

Light from the forest fire...

I live on a south-east facing flank of a mesa north of Espanola, NM.  This mesa blocks my view of the Jemez mountains almost completely.  Thursday, Jun 30th at about 10 pm I drove to the top of the mesa and was shocked to see the entire top of the Jemez glowing or with active fires (Las Conchas fire).  The bright red-orange flames about 20 miles away in the dark night stopped me cold.  Fire is an immensely powerful force.

The play of light with the smoke swirling around my home is dramatic and mesmerizing.  I have learned that if I glance up from the loom and see that the sunlight on the ground is reddish I need to check for smoke (and open windows)... but also to go out and look up at the color of the sky.

  The smoke makes for exceptionally dramatic sunsets.  I did a piece a few years ago in a gradation of these exact colors.

Sunset June 29th from Velarde, NM over the mesa where I live.

I was grateful that I could escape the smoke and heat for a few days this weekend to head to Colorado to spend some time with my family.  As of Thursday June 30th, most of New Mexico was under stage III fire restrictions which indicates a complete closing of the forests (and a hopefully temporary end to my NM hiking escapades).  As I drove north along Hwy 285 I noticed that every forest service road was gated and signed as closed.  Some roads that didn't have gates had newly hung barbed wire across the cattle guards.  I pulled over at San Antonio mountain on a road I hoped to go down later this summer for some hiking in the Cruces Basin Wilderness... 

San Antonio mountain partially obscured by smoke.

As I was driving home today after enjoying 4 days of relatively smoke-free breathing in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado (which did have visible smoke, but I couldn't smell it), I was shocked to see the Jemez.  The fire has wrapped around the north side of the Polvadera and I fear that the entire Jemez Mtn complex is in danger at this point (that is just my supposition)... on the google earth maps it looks like about a third of it has burned already.  I just couldn't believe that the fire was so close to Espanola.  (We are not in danger from this fire, but many people live in the area where this fire seems to be moving.)

Las Conchas fire from Highway 285 July 5th, 2011

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend of hiking, family, and hummingbird watching.  Tomorrow it is back to the loom and hopefully little smoke.

Colorways

I saw the advertisements recently for the new online magazine (emag) Colorways.  I was immediately skeptical as I really love my paper books and magazines.  But after seeing several advertisements and investigating the videos about it, I decided to see what it was all about.  I have to say that I am really impressed.  I suppose this is the wave of the future--online magazines.  The interface is really engaging and I loved having videos to go with the articles.  The little pop-outs and extra informational boxes that come up when you click on certain prompts are slick and seductive!  After playing with it for awhile I realized that not only are there videos, but there are slide shows so you can see many more photographs than you would in a paper magazine.  I found the whole thing engaging, easy to navigate, and a lot of fun.  Way to go Interweave!  (By the way, I don't work for them and am extremely disappointed in the death of Fiber Arts magazine.)

The content of the emag (Colorways: Artisan hues in fiber and fabric), by the way, is natural dyeing and its use all over the world.  I loved the pictures of harvesting cochineal and learning about dye techniques such as kakishibu (with video!) was great.

Here is the link, check it out!
http://www.interweavestore.com/Spinning/Magazines/Colorways-Summer-2011-eMag-for-PC.html

And here is a photo I shot heading north out of Santa Fe Saturday afternoon of the Pacheco fire near SF ski basin.  Since then a much more dangerous fire has caused the evacuation of Los Alamos, NM.

Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center: keeping the doors open...

Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) is an important place.  In this northern New Mexico valley, it represents a place where people can go to learn a craft, buy supplies, or teach.  They have been there for me in warp emergencies, knitting needle situations, a spinning wheel crisis, and yarn-supply predicaments.  They have offered up their reference library and evening lecture series, free spinning Saturdays and knitting get-togethers... And in this recession they are struggling to keep the doors open.  It is an organization that has served this community for many years and has managed to expand significantly in the last decade.

EVFAC has a large collection of looms and weaving equipment they use for teaching classes, or you can rent them to do your own project.  They have a wide variety of teachers including people like Jason Collingwood, Jennifer Moore, Karen Martinez, Beatrice Maestas Sandoval, Irene Smith, Robin Reider, James Koehler, Connie Enzmann-Forneris, Diane Bowman, Lisa Trujillo, Ted Hallman, and many many more.  They also have a dye studio and offer other kinds of fiber and artistic classes (see their class schedule on their website).  They support a kids fiber camp in the summer and are teaming up with Northern New Mexico College to offer traditional Rio Grande weaving classes this fall.

They have a great library for members.

And offer frequent lectures and informational events.

Cornelia Theimer Gardella talking about one of her tapestries at EVFAC, April 2011: L to R--Janet Austin, Pamela Topham, Terry Olson, Conni Gardella, Karen Chiu, Joyce Hayes

They showcase work of their members including this wall which was hung for a contemporary tapestry tour of the area in April 2011.

Contemporary tapestry work of Cindy Dworzak and Evelyn Campbell

I didn't really know how I could help the center survive until my partner suggested I teach a class there and donate the proceeds to EVFAC.  So now it is scheduled.  I'll be teaching Color Gradation for Tapestry September 16-18.  See the link with class description HERE.  All of the class fees will go to the center.  I'll also be showing some slide presentations including one about the Bauhaus project I completed with the late James Koehler and Cornelia Theimer Gardella in 2010.

They have shows of members work.  The current show is by Andrea Ortiz.

Traditional tapestry by Andrea Ortiz

There are quilts and clothing as well as felted pieces and baskets.

Here is the magnificent naturally dyed yarn of Liesel Orend (which you can buy!)

And they have a studio space in the back where you can rent space for your loom (or rent a loom too!) and have your own spot to work.

EVFAC has a great newsletter.  You can view it HERE.  In it you'll find all the scheduled events as well as equipment for sale and information about shows and other happenings.  And if you live in some other part of the country, consider a trip to beautiful New Mexico to take a fiber class.  Espanola is at the heart of a rich tradition of fiber art and within striking distance of both Taos and Santa Fe.

It is summer!  

Go and take a class (consider taking mine! September is beautiful in New Mexico)

or stop by with your knitting and sit on the couch and meet some new fiber friends

or go to one of Jen's spinning Saturdays and pick up some new tips from a master

order some yarn for a project or buy some they have in stock

check out their gallery or enter your own piece to show there

participate in their Ghost Ranch shows

above all, become a member.

A very busy bunch of dye days...

Three full days of dyeing wool is great exercise.  I'm glad I get a break for a few days though as I wait for a dye I don't have to come in.  I love experimenting with new colors and found myself warming to the task as the days went along.  I started off with some basic colors (actually they look kind of like a candy store to me) and then started pulling out old dye formulas I haven't used in years and giving those a go.  It is amazing how many colors you can make--I think the combinations might be infinite.

Candy store colors

I still have a large pile of yarn to turn into balls so it can be used in workshops. I've never seen an electric ball winder, but wish I had such a thing!

I used an emerald green dye I found in my dye stash and ended up with a yarn that looked like it was intentionally variegated it was so uneven.  I believe some dyes are more prone to this than others and if I use this dye again I'll have to experiment with another leveling agent.  All I used on this skein was glauber's salt.  I considered overdyeing it, but decided that it would probably look interesting in a weaving and I'd see what happened.

And I was reading Debbie Herd's blog and pondering her question about whether posting photos of tapestries online before they are exhibited is a good idea.  I do think this is a good question.  It goes along with my questioning of whether blogging is a good idea in general. I think that the internet can be a benefit to us as artists... but consideration of how we use it is always important.  I agree that going to an exhibition and seeing work that hasn't been shown anywhere is exciting.  Sometimes I follow this little rule about not posting photos on my blog or website until the show has gone up, and sometimes I don't.  It all depends.  I think if I were doing a solo show I would wait to post photos until after the opening.