Designing for Tapestry

Getting unstuck when designing for tapestry

Getting unstuck when designing for tapestry

Last week Kathy^ asked a question in the Design Solutions class that has gotten me thinking more about the evolution of a tapestry design. After a week of thinking about it, I was still unable to answer Kathy’s question and I believe that is because the answer is different for every artist. She wanted to know where people get stuck in the design process and how do they manage to get unstuck.

Silvia Heyden is a wonderful example of someone who created her own system of weaving and managed to stay unstuck and prolific throughout her career.* Silvia took her inspiration largely from nature and her tapestry weaving style was informed by the structure of tapestry. Her work is abstract, colorful, and exciting.

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My sometimes annoying process of iteration. Some call it sampling.

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My sometimes annoying process of iteration. Some call it sampling.

I worked on several different making projects this week. I was struck by how much I approached two completely different sorts of projects in the same way. The first was the dye project I talked about last week. The red-orange yarn turned out quite well. I did 22 samples over four days of a color that I had dyed before. In the end, the dye formula I used was the first one—my old tried and true with only two dyes and a toner.*

The final answer was NOT one of those last skeins as I’d hoped in last week’s post, but it was a simple matter of changing the depth of shade slightly before I had it. Matching a color in yarn, including the feeling and depth of that color, isn’t a one-shot deal. Maybe if this had been the yarn I usually dye it could have been, but it was not my yarn. I started by dyeing 8 colors in jars from several different formulas. Some were sort of close, some were not remotely close. In one I inverted the proportion of colors when writing out the formula and ended up with hot pink.

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Tapestry diary: Agnes Martin

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Tapestry diary: Agnes Martin

While teaching in Taos, NM in January, I visited the Harwood Museum. I saw many marvelous things there, one of them being the Agnes Martin room. On my Tacoma trip this month, I wove a tapestry diary piece in tribute to Agnes Martin (1912-2004). . . .

I wanted to play with these feelings in a tapestry diary piece both to think more about how her paintings were constructed physically but also as a way to remember my reaction to the work. The tiny 2 x 2 inch tapestry is nothing like an Agnes Martin painting, but the experience of making it absolutely cemented something about the work in my mind and made me excited to learn more about her creative experience.

The making of this little tapestry diary piece was nothing special and indeed, did not take long to weave. But the experience and process of making it helped me revisit the art in my mind and think again about how and why it was made.

Designing for tapestry

Designing for tapestry

A tapestry weaver’s task is to weave an image at the same time they’re creating a stable fabric. As a creator of images, many tapestry weavers are challenged by the process of designing. And part of that challenge has to do with that fact that we’re creating the fabric as the same time as the image so the work has to be structurally sound.

Some of us want to make fine art-level tapestries that hang in galleries and eventually someone’s home or office. And some of us want to enjoy the practice of the craft and don’t care one bit if anyone even sees their work. I think what matters most is whether or not the creator’s needs from the medium are met by their practice.

The thing that is true for of both of those kinds of creator is that design plays a part in engaging with this medium. Because we are creating something based in image, how we design that image is important.

The new class opens Monday, Jan 13th!!! Design Solutions for the Artist/Weaver

The new class opens Monday, Jan 13th!!! Design Solutions for the Artist/Weaver

A new online experience starts on Monday. My new course, Design Solutions for the Artist/Weaver begins Monday, January 13, 2020. This class has been something I’ve been working on for about a year and a half and I’m so thrilled to say that it is ready.

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Fall in Colorado: weaving leaves

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Fall in Colorado: weaving leaves

The leaves are changing. In fact, after the snow we had last week, they’re probably mostly done. I’ve taken a few high-altitude hikes lately to enjoy them and found the colors inspiring for tapestry design. Of course the design process always starts with photos when it involves a place I’ve been though sometimes the final weaving looks nothing at all like the photo. I’m usually interested in the feeling of the place more than depicting it in woven form. These sorts of inspirations usually get approached first in my tapestry diary.

The end of September we went to Pingree Park (those of you who come to my CSU Mountain Campus retreats know it well). There is a broad swath of aspens surrounding the campus and they were brilliantly yellow and orange that week. I was still pretty tired from my east coast trip, so we only hiked about 6 miles through the leaves enjoying the sunshine.