Tapestry Translations: Stories from around the world

Tapestry Translations: Stories from around the world

The American Tapestry Alliance (ATA) puts on an unjuried small format show every two years. It is always displayed alongside the Handweavers Guild of America’s big event, Convergence. In 2020, Convergence will be in Knoxville.

ATA has announced this year’s show. The title is Renditions 2020 and all the information about it can be found HERE.

This is my favorite ATA show just because the diversity of submissions is so outstanding. It is a really fun show to see in person, so make sure if you’re at Convergence in Knoxville in the summer of 2020 that you go and see it! And if you live close enough, it is worth the drive to see this show. You can see some photos I took of the show in Providence, RI in 2016 in THIS blog post.

Returning to beginners status

Returning to beginners status

I have some dear friends who made the monumental decision to have a baby. There were medical complications but eventually, the little tyke was conceived and he arrived in the world a month and a half ago now. I love to make things for babies. Cute, soft things that I usually knit. I know that they’re mostly impractical and I assume, though I’m not a mom myself, that frazzled parents really like stuff they can throw in the washing machine.

I was going to knit a beautiful blanket for this kid. I could imagine myself choosing the yarn, casting on, working away. And then I looked at my fall schedule and thought about how I was going to disappoint myself because there was no way I was going to finish the blanket I had in my head before the kid was born.

Then it occurred to me. “I’m a weaver! I could absolutely weave a blanket. I’m sure it would go faster and it would be more baby-friendly.”

I’m not sure why it took me so long to think of that. And in a moment of serendipity, my friends at GIST Yarn happened to send an email about a kit for a baby blanket that same day saving me the trouble of researching yarns and patterns. Bingo, it was ordered in a heartbeat. It arrived a few days later and my head was filled with visions of what a gorgeous blanket I was going to turn out. Because, after all, I’m a weaver and how hard could a plain weave blanket be?. (It is the Echo baby blanket kit and the yarn is lovely.)

Travels of one tapestry postcard

Travels of one tapestry postcard

The postcard I wove for the Here and There project did make it to Michigan. I wrote about the adventures of making it HERE.

I love sending real mail. Cards or letters with stamps on them and maybe some artwork. Perhaps tapestry postcards are something I’ll do again.

Here and There online exhibit

The postcard exchange was through the American Tapestry Alliance and you can see the whole online show on the ATA website HERE.

Dorothy Clews (hopefully with a team of helpers!) did a tremendous amount of work to make this postcard exchange happen. In her curators intro she talked about subverting the postal system by sending these pieces of art naked through the mail—sometimes around the world.

Archie Brennan: builder of a worldwide tapestry community

Archie Brennan: builder of a worldwide tapestry community

Archie Brennan passed away on October 31, 2019. He was an artist, a teacher, and someone who had a significant impact on the face of tapestry today. Archie began his weaving career at 16 years of age with a seven-year apprenticeship at the Dovecot in Scotland. He was eventually became director of the tapestry workshop and also established the tapestry department at Edinburgh College of Art.

Please take some time to get to know a bit about his life, his work, and his thoughts about tapestry weaving. I believe it is important and helps those of us who are contemporary tapestry weavers place our practice in the broader historical context of this art form. Archie, perhaps more than anyone else in recent history, was able to express the shift that happened in the early 1900s from reproductive tapestry where paintings were copied in great detail to an artist/weaver approach where the weaver also designs the work. He was instrumental in creating this shift first through his work at the Dovecot Studios as a weaver and their director, then in other parts of the world.

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Yarn experiments and more little weavings

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Yarn experiments and more little weavings

I grew up in New Mexico so it always feels like coming home when we decide to come south for a little vacation. We’re back for the week spending some time with family and friends and watching the snow storms roll across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I packed the car with a small selection of little looms, fleece, yarn, and a couple spindles for a week in northern New Mexico. Thus far I’ve finished a piece I started in Georgia and have warped a few more looms with some vague ideas what the next tapestry diary piece will be on one of them. I thought I’d share a few things I’m messing around with for fun this week.

Because of Memory

Because of Memory

You may have seen Tommye Scanlin’s tapestry titled “Because of Memory” or heard her talk about the Lillian E. Smith Center in Clayton, GA. It is because of Tommye that I did a two-week residency there a few weeks ago. It is ultimately because of Lillian Smith herself that I could enjoy this time in an artist residency away from the push of running a business at home.

Lillian E. Smith was a formidable woman from what I can tell. She is the author of the novel, Strange Fruit, which was banned for it’s statement about segregation and civil rights of people of color in the US. It was first published in 1944.

I had two weeks in the north Georgia woods at my artist residency. Lillian E. Smith Center is now owned by Piedmont College. But it used to be owned by the Smith family.

North Georgia and North Carolina adventures in tapestry weaving

North Georgia and North Carolina adventures in tapestry weaving

I’m home from my two week residency at the Lillian E. Smith Center near Clayton, Georgia. I learned a lot about an amazing author and civil rights activist (Lillian herself, author of Strange Fruit) and I learned some things about myself. I also had some fun adventures. Let’s stick to the adventure part of the story for today.

I had some yarn adventures while in this part of the country. They include:

  • a stop at Penland School of Crafts

  • a visit to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) in Asheville

  • two interviews with tapestry weavers from the area

  • exploring Black Rock Mountain State Park

  • my own work during the residency.