The importance of being open to continued learning... no matter what

I learned pretty much all of my foundational tapestry skills from James Koehler. He was a wonderful teacher in many ways. Many of you have also studied with him and you know what I mean when I say he was an exacting teacher. He had his way of doing things and he stuck to them. This method has value when you are a beginner. I didn't know what I didn't know. I followed his rules and I learned a great deal. I became a tapestry weaver who could produce a beautiful flat fabric which looks much like James' tapestries did. (I'm not saying I'm James, I'm saying he taught me well.)

But I firmly believe in the value of diversity. It is important to broaden your horizons throughout life. I had a therapist once who asked everything in terms of whether it made my world bigger. "That huge decision you're talking about, does it make your world bigger or does it box you in? Does it present an opportunity for growth or does it perpetuate the stagnation you are experiencing right now?" Actually I doubt she said stagnation. She probably just told me what I was doggedly worrying on for years and years was bullsh*t and I needed to pay attention to what was really important.

This perspective is important in relation to continued learning in tapestry and art. It took me awhile after James died to realize that I had to move forward with my art in my own way. He wasn't here anymore for me to follow, and in a lot of ways, this was a gift. I started paying much more attention to the wider tapestry community and was able to make my bubble bigger.

Here is a specific example. I took a workshop from Joan Baxter in September. She creates breathtakingly beautiful work which is very grounded in the land, narrative, and subtle color shifts. Her work is misty and questioning and full of depth, very different from mine, and I adore it. Changes in the foundations of what I've been doing for many years like the thickness of the warp, the style and bundling of the yarn, and design ideas were eye opening for me.

I am smack dab in the middle of a lot of change in my own process... wait, that is called being an artist, isn't it? I have been dyeing yarn for a week and loving almost every minute of it (the questions of the clerks at Walgreens when I go to get a propane tank refill at 10 pm are getting a little old... they always ask me if I'm grilling tonight as in, "Grilling in this snow?" or "Little late for a barbeque, isn't it?"). Piles of new colors are making their way through a sampling process. Soon I'll have some final picks and the big loom will be warped.

What changes do you experience in your process which are started by a new teacher or a new discovery? I'd love to hear about it! (Comments! They're below!)

Mary Cost, tapestry artist opening at the Contemporary Tapestry Gallery

LaDonna Mayer has embarked on an ambitious project in Santa Fe. She has opened a new gallery devoted to fiber art called The Contemporary Tapestry Gallery. LaDonna is the architect of the 51 American Cities project (read more about that HERE). Her vision for the gallery is a place to showcase contemporary tapestry art. I was able to see a wonderful show of Bengt Erikson's tapestries there in September and her upcoming line-up of shows should prove to be inspirational.

November's show features the work of Mary Cost in a series of pieces entitled Fractured Light. Knowing Mary's warm and inviting color palette and her ability to manipulate hue and value in her soft and inviting architectural forms, this show will be wonderful.

Mary Cost, Suddenly the Sun

Fractured Light: effects of sunlight and shadow on New Mexico's enduring adobe walls.

Mary says this about her work:

It was when I moved to New Mexico that I discovered tapestry. My earliest tapestries reflect the strong colors, bold contrasts and essentially straightforward approach to design acquired working in stained glass. Since then, my work has grown and developed to encompass both pure abstraction and figurative imagery, subtle gradations of shade and hue, and deliberate manipulation of the varied textures and techniques unique to the art of tapestry.

Mary hand-dyes all her own yarn and weaves on a Macomber floor loom from her Santa Fe studio.

Fractured Light will be showing at The Contemporary Tapestry Gallery from November 9 to December 6, 2014. There is an opening reception Sunday, November 9th from 3-5 pm.

Mary Cost, Rain Over the Mountains

Mary Cost's website:

http://mctapestry.com/

Online tapestry classes... a fun way of learning how to create your own weavings

My online tapestry classes have been running for about 8 months now. I started the frankly monumental project of creating these classes because I wanted another way for people to learn about tapestry. I love teaching in-person workshops and feel that a mix of learning face to face and online is a great way to go. The online classes give students a chance to practice and have instructor feedback over the long haul. I have had so much fun teaching in this way. I'd love to have you join my online tapestry community!

Below is a video of some of the student work over the last 6 months. (Psst: If you click the YouTube icon in the lower right corner, you can watch the video in a larger version and subscribe to my YouTube channel while you're there!)

Registration for the January class is open now. This class is all three parts in one class and is called All-Three-In-One. This allows you to access all of the material at once and work at whatever pace is right for you. The preliminary information about materials and tools for the class is available as soon as you register. The rest of the material is released on January 5th at 10am MST. Wouldn't a class like this be a great holiday gift? (NOT to rush the holiday season... but who needs more stuff when education is available?! ...of course you'll need a loom and some yarn which I'm sure Santa can squeeze in his sleigh.)

If you prefer to take the three parts of the course separately, there is a great Part 1 class running right now. Due to various mathematical errors made by yours truly, this class runs until June 30th. So there is still plenty of time to jump into it. Part 2 opens in January and Part 3 in February again with plenty of time to finish before the summer. It is snow time in Colorado and that makes me want to mess around with yarn. If you live in the southern hemisphere, consider bringing your loom to the beach.

For more information about all of these classes, a trailer video, a FAQ page, and student testimonials, visit my website at http://www.rebeccamezoff.com/online-learning/. I can't wait to meet you all!

The importance of Skill... knowing what you're doing instinctively and nailing it in a critical moment

I suppose we all have moments that we wish hadn't happened. We wish we had taken a different turn or decided to do something else that day. A Friday a few weeks ago was one of those days for me. It was, all in all, a brilliant afternoon. Beautiful fall weather, a nice hike in the high country, a drive through the Colorado mountains to a weekend family retreat. But then that one thing happened. We came around a corner on a two-lane mountain highway and saw a couple cars pulled haphazardly to the shoulder, several people running fast toward a person lying face down at the edge of the road, an SUV on the shoulder, and a motorcycle in the ditch... debris spread for a 100 yards along the road.

First on the scene of an accident is not on the list of happy events in any day, especially when you have medical training and know you can't just drive by and feel okay about it. That moment when I was running toward the guy on the shoulder and 5 people stood over him asking who had medical training and I heard that there were two paramedics and an RN there, I was very very thankful. I would have done my best, but in this situation, paramedic and RN trump OT every single day of the week.

Skill is something that takes a long time to acquire. The off-duty medical personnel at the accident had tremendous skill. It isn't just knowing what to do, it is having the experience to be able to do it. This also true in tapestry weaving. Creation of a tapestry involves a learned knowing in the muscles of your body. That doesn't come just through intellectual understanding. It comes through years of manipulating warp and weft and through the doing of it, gaining understanding about the material, the color, and the form.

My tapestry students frequently are people who want things to be correct. I find that many weavers are like this. They want order and they want it to happen quickly. I struggle with communicating to them how long it takes to learn the nuance. It takes repetition over years and years to make the skill flow from your fingers and perhaps even bypass your brain. This is important and the only way to get to it is practice.

Sam's injuries were extensive. I don't think any of us who have medical training and faced each other over his body in that first moment thought he had a chance of leaving that road alive. He was pronounced at the scene. He was 50. That RN in her purple print scrub top and white white pants had skill. She was a bad-ass who called the shots and did everything exactly right. Those pants were so white even while everything else was covered in blood.

Silk scarves and wild ladies...

I recently joined the Handweavers Guild of Boulder. I know that this breaks my long-standing rule of not joining fiber guilds, but a good friend brought me to a tapestry group meeting and I couldn't resist. (I'm not against fiber guilds. They're great! I just don't currently have time. And I do have one beef. They almost all meet during the week in the middle of the day. If guilds really want to increase the participation of younger members, this has to change.)

I didn't realize that the big thing in this guild is the annual Sale. Apparently people join this guild just to be in THE Sale. I do have to say, it was impressive.

I greatly enjoyed seeing the tapestry studio group challenge from last year.

The project was a tapestry collage of Sonia Delaunay's 1914 painting, Electric Prisms. You can't tell from this photo, but many of the pieces are not done in tapestry technique. Some are knitted and at least one was embroidered. But they all fit together nicely.

I also enjoyed the work of Suzzanne McGuirk. She makes art dolls and they were completely engaging. Just the variety of materials she uses was impressive. I definitely would have taken one of them home except Emily has a thing about dolls and this one would have had to live in my closet.

This guy sold while I was standing there.

If you need something fun to do this weekend, go see the sale. It is at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. More information can be found HERE. Make sure to see the juried show as you come into the exhibit hall and don't miss Suzzanne's dolls!

It is possible that I came home with a silk scarf. But I didn't buy any yarn!

Designing a tapestry

I have been working on a cartoon for awhile. I finally had it ready to go to the printer for enlargement today. Since I have moved since the last time I had an enlargement made, I had to find a new print shop. Technigraph in Santa Fe is a great place and I certainly missed them for awhile this morning. I got some quotes, one of which was way over $100 and would have taken the rest of the week. I have a 6 x 18 inch drawing that I need blown up to 24 x 72 inches which is 400%. Technigraph would have done this in 10 minutes for $12.

Turns out FedEx Office will do the job for $8.55 in 5 minutes. Here they are! To be honest, that 72 inches looks fairly daunting.

I design in a lot of different ways. Ideas accumulate over time and eventually some of them come together into some preliminary sketches. I also take a lot of photographs of patterns and colors I see and carry a little sketch book with me to jot down ideas when they hit. I know that I'll never remember them later. My design tools include a camera, tracing paper, pencils, colored pencils, collage, Photoshop Elements, collected images, and time.

Once I have a design I am happy with, I copy the whole thing onto one sheet of paper.

And then you go hunting for someone who has a large format printer.
I am going to weave this piece on my Macomber. I weave all my big pieces on my Harrisville Rug Loom, but for several reasons, this piece gets booted to the Mac. I know she can do it, but I also know I am going to miss that warp extender on the Harrisville.

With yarn still to be dyed and warping to do, it will be awhile before weaving commences.

If you'd like more information, here is an old post with photos of what I do from here. /rebeccamezoff/2010/12/tapestry-cartoons.html

And a video I made about attaching a cartoon when weaving on a floor loom: