Alphabet Soup hits Santa Fe

I was able to go and visit the Alphabet Soup tapestry show at the Santa Fe Public Library, Southside branch this morning. Although I wrote a blog post about this Alphabet Soup show HERE, I had not actually seen it in person until today. It is a joint venture between two weaving guilds in northern New Mexico, the Las Aranas Weavers and Spinners Guild and Las Tejadoras Fiber Arts Guild. They wove small tapestries with letters of the alphabet (really you should go look at that prior post as the photos of the group and some of the close-ups are great!).

I had not been to the Southside library before. The added benefit was that I came away with a library card and some Spanish language DVDs. All in a days work, I say.
Please keep in mind that these images are snapshots only. These are beautiful tapestries and these snapshots can only give you a general idea of what they look like. If you can possibly go and see the show, please do!

The spread of the small alphabet tapestries

Here are some closer shots of the panels.

I posted many pictures of the small tapestries in the earlier blog post. But here is one spider I really loved today.

"T is for tarantula", detail, Mary Colton

I was so pleased to see the other stunning pieces displayed in addition to the alphabet tapestries.

My World, Evelyn Campbell (top left) and Mary Colton (right). Memories of Mitla, Ann Shafer (bottom right)

Vision Quest, Sharon van de Velde; When the Ocean and Desert were One, (top) Elizabeth Buckley; Desert Memory, (bottom) Elizabeth Buckley; Red, Black, and Gold (Fractured Square Series), Donna Loraine Contractor; Broken Steps, Alex Lear; Once There Was a River II, Mary Colton

New Mexico Waits for Rain, (top) Janice Thomson Peters; Sagrado Familia Capilla Near Black Mesa, (bottom) Evelyn Campbell

Balloons, Cindy Dworzak; Navajo, Klagetoh Style, Lavonne Slusher; Morning Patio, Mary Cost; Edges and Ledges, Donna Loraine Contractor; School of Thought, Heather Gallegos-Rex; Revelation, Letty Roller

And a few closer looks.

Once There Was a River II, Mary Colton

I love this piece by Letitia Roller. I have seen it other places and I feel like it needs a large grand wall for display. It is simply gorgeous and unfortunately is partly hidden behind a shelf in the library.

Revelation, Letty Roller

Revelation, detail

As a tapestry weaver, I frequently find myself looking at the technique in a tapestry. I have always used Donna Loraine Contractor as an example of someone who uses dovetail joins very effectively. I had to really study this piece because I was convinced at first they were sewn slits. But I think they are expertly done dovetails. Pretty amazing.

Edges and Ledges, Donna Loraine Contractor

Edges and Ledges, detail

And I love Mary Cost's work. Here is a piece I hadn't seen before.

Morning Patio, Mary Cost

Morning Patio, detail

And someone near and dear to my heart partly because she was working on the concept for this piece in James Koehler's studio while I was struggling with my own tapestry demons, Evelyn Campbell.

Sagrado Familia Capilla Near Black Mesa, Evelyn Campbell

And since this is Balloon Fiesta week in Albuquerque, go see Cindy Dworzak's Balloons. It is so much fun!

Balloons, Cindy Dworzak

See my prior post about the Alphabet Soup tapestries with some great photos taken by Dan Klinglesmith on my blog at: /rebeccamezoff/2013/06/alphabet-soup.html.
And if you go and see the show, leave a comment below to tell me what you think! I will have to go and have another look before it comes down.

UPDATE 10/14/13: The Alphabet Soup show will be at the Southside Library in Santa Fe at 6599 Jaguar Drive through October 30th. It will hang at the Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos, NM January 31 to March 15th, 2014.

Taos Wool Festival 2013

I enjoy going to the Taos Wool Festival the first weekend in October every year.

 I like seeing all the critters.

Okay, this one wasn't exactly part of the festival. He was just down the street.

Navajo churro sheep waiting for her turn to be sheared

Alpaca are so adorable

I enjoy catching up with my fiber friends, acquaintances, and idols at the festival. I always visit the booths of Fred Black, Bettye Sullivan, and Taos Fiber Arts (aka Julie and Ashley Cloutman). This year I added Cat Mountain Fiber Arts to the list of booths to make sure to visit (see my blog post about Kimberly HERE).

Fred Black's booth--He also sells his work at Taos Fiber Arts and Tierra Wools

Bettye and Alex Sullivan's booth, Walking Rain Studio. Bettye also sells her work at Weaving Southwest.

Taos Fiber Arts booth--check out their shop in Taos!

Cat Mountain Fiber Arts--check out Kimberly's store in Alamosa, CO!

And of course there were some beautiful things for sale.

Here is a rug woven by Bettye Sullivan which won a first place ribbon.

The big news though is that I didn't buy any yarn. Not. One. Skein. 

Amazing, right? I'm not sure what came over me, but I didn't come away with any treasures. There were plenty there, but none called to me enough to add to the stash. I think, to be perfectly honest, I had my heart set on another skein of yarn from Brooks Farm Yarn in Lancaster, TX. And they weren't there. Nothing could fill the void in my heart (except perhaps a Fred Black rug which I didn't have the ready cash for).

 

There are two reasons I try not to miss a Taos Wool Festival:

Number One...

 And Number Two...  Because I am a:

(which quite frankly leads to all kinds of issues and odd behavior including hiding your stash in the piano bench and feeling an irresistible urge to touch the angora bunny fiber even though I don't spin at all).

The festival continues tomorrow in Kit Carson Park. Go and pet some angora bunnies.

My grandmothers tapestry bobbins

I am wondering if any of you are familiar with these bobbins?

They belonged to my grandmother and she isn't in any shape to answer questions about them any more. I think they are beautiful, but I really don't have a use for them. I am hoping someone knows their origin and whether they are really used for tapestry weaving on high warp looms. They are quite large so I imagine they were used with large weft bundles.

I am also curious about these shuttles. Does anyone have working models of them? How do the bobbins fit into them to actually hold the yarn? They have metal tips and I imagine would take quite a beating. With the metal loops sticking up they must go through a huge shed! These also belonged to my grandmother.

Happy weaving!

Luke, dig your heels in and pull back toward summer with me!

My annual protest that fall is coming way too fast is below. Brace yourselves. I feel like digging my heels in, pulling back, and shouting, "Noooooooooooo!!!!" (My brother-in-law is always a few weeks ahead of me on this reaction. Thanks for taking the reigns Luke!)

September 15th, Santa Fe Ski Valley. Orange and Gold... the first feelings of panic set in. (These feelings are based in the very real dismay that I haven't hiked nearly enough since the snow last melted.)

See last year's protest in a similar vein HERE. And another from 2008 is HERE. Looks like both of those years (2012 and 2008) I was living in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Fall hits especially hard there. Luke knows.

Now it is the beginning of October and I can't deny that fall is here with winter soon on its heels. The colors are changing up high.

Santa Fe Ski Valley, June 23rd and September 29th, 2013.

There is that moment in September every year when I step outside early in the morning while the dog pees and look up to see snow on the mountains. The inevitable freight train of winter. That moment when your jaw drops to see the snow you didn't expect yet again is also the moment when you know that you don't have to shave your legs again for at least 6 months. At least winter has that much going for it. I don't know how it catches me every year. September in New Mexico feels so warm and happy. The snow always blindsides me.

On the up side, the aspens are changing and they are beautiful. There is always the hope that I'll convince Emily this year to go snowshoeing and that the winter adventures can be just as fun as the summer ones.

I try to remember that I can head west when the snow flies. Peternal needs to be hiked again ("O'Keeffe's mountain" seen below from the side). Chaco Canyon waits for winter. I will be okay.

Successful Design for Tapestry and Cornelia Theimer Gardella

I am so grateful to have a wonderful studio-mate, Cornelia Theimer Gardella. She is an outstanding artist and honestly, just a really great person. She is the kind of colleague who will not complain (out loud) about the boxes of yarn you have stacked in the corner of the studio for 4 months even though you KNOW it probably irks her just a little bit. She is also the kind of person who will talk through a concept for a piece with you or brainstorm some problem or other. She is quick to share a funny story and her enthusiasm for tapestry is infectious.

We were able to teach a class together this week and it was a great deal of fun (well, it would have been more fun for me if I hadn't been hacking up a lung the whole time--thanks to the kids at the hospital bringing me their special viral presents). We had four excellent students and I learned a great deal from the interaction of everyone. Ideas are certainly generated when you get six people together who are interested in tapestry and design. Conni is a master of color and design and I always learn something great from her. Thanks for a great class everyone!

Discussing various tapestries

Work in progress. Cornelia's tapestries on wall behind.

Work in progress. Rebecca's tapestries on wall behind.

The Whitney's thoughts on contemporary tapestry: "decorative arts"

I recently joined twitter. I have always thought anything where you did something called "tweeting" frequently had to be a complete waste of time (which might still be true), but it seems that some people actually follow it and I thought it couldn't hurt to put some love out there in a short, quick format. So I took the plunge... and quite frankly don't really understand how it works yet.

But this post tweet by the Whitney Museum caught my eye. I definitely did want to ask the curator a question. I had a sneaking suspicion I wouldn't like the response, and I was right.

To be fair, there was a follow-up tweet with this response, so perhaps all is not lost... or is it?

I did some quick research and the "tapestry" from the 2012 Whitney Biennial by Elaine Reichek was"woven on a computerized loom, to the artist's specifications, in a commercial mill" (From Whitney Museum of Art's website HERE). That, folks, says jacquard to me. (And no, I don't want to have the jacquard "tapestry" debate today. It is a different art form. It is fine, it just isn't the same thing as what I do and I'd really rather it wasn't called tapestry.) And if you're curious, there is a photo of the tapestry HERE on the artist's website.

I'm afraid decorative arts is not what I am going for. Add your thoughts in the comments!

P.S. If you are on twitter, my handle is @RMezoff. And if you know what those little hashtag things are all about, can you let me in on the secret? It seems so cool to talk in hashtags, but quite frankly all I really know is that it is a bunch of words squished together with a number sign at the beginning.