Impressions
vacation
Wednesday Group Tapestry Retreat
The Wednesday Group held a 3-day tapestry retreat with Susan Martin Maffei and Archie Brennan at the end of April. It was a wonderful workshop, an escape into the Catskills just outside Woodstock, NY, where we lived together at the secluded house of one of our members, sharing meals , working hard each day and sleeping ‘slumber party style’ each night. We brought food to share, tapestries to critique, and lots of materials for weaving. Our hostess took great care of us with her fabulous cooking and generous hospitality.
Betty Vera, who lives nearby, came to visit for lunch on the first day. She is half way down the table on the right side of photo. Susan and Archie are at the far end.
We spent the three days reviewing tapestry techniques, mostly how to create smooth angles and revisiting the ‘stealing’ technique. By the end we were all creating smooth curves with stealing. I hope to write more on this shortly! As a finale to the workshop, at our last dinner together we each brought a coin with our name taped to it and tossed it on to the generously full table of food. Now we will each create a small tapestry depicting whatever was within a short radius of our coin. We spent the end of the workshop creating and practicing ideas for these small tapestries which might someday hang together as “Helen’s Buffet” or “Helen’s Feast” in honor of our hostess!
The highlight of the retreat was being able to buy the first copies of the long awaited DVD on tapestry techniques! It is an 8-disc set that comes with a booklet. Gary Benson and Wed. Grouper Sarah Doyle have worked hard to complete this project. The DVD is in production now and should be available to everyone soon!
>Scrapbook of Maine
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The weeks are passing, in some ways quickly, in others rather slowly, and I’ve now been on board our boat Pandora for a full month as of yesterday! This is the longest I’ve ever been on a boat. Here are some images from my month in Maine.
Day schooner that sails out of Camden
Along the Fox Island Thoroughfare, between North Haven and Vinalhaven.
Herreschoff 12 1/2 (means the water line is 12.5 feet), well known wooden gaff rigged sloop from the early 20th c. designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff, “the wizard of Bristol” (RI).
Bass Island lighthouse, southern most tip of Mt. Desert Island. This is the most photographed lighthouse in Maine!
Our boat, Pandora, is in the center of this photo, taken from the lookout on the way up to Thuya Gardens in Northeast Harbor, on Mt. Desert Island.
Thuya Gardens, designed by Charles K. Savage.
Thuya Gardens
The reflecting pond at Thuya Gardens
Bee house at Thuya Gardens. Bob took this photo for me so I could remind him to make one for our garden!
The fog bank rolling into Southwest Harbor on Mt. Desert Island.
The fog bank coming into the harbor and boats rapidly disappearing!
The rapidly ebbing tide near Blue Hill. This type of rushing tidal current is called a reversing waterfall. This is supposedly the biggest reversing falls in Maine.
Reversing falls near Blue Hill.
Morning mist on our friend’s 100 yr. old lobster boat in Oven’s Mouth on the Sheepscot River.
Osprey nest.
>Maine Fiber Artists’ Open Studios
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Well, it’s another beautiful summer in Maine, and I’m so lucky to visit other amazing fiber farmers and fiber artists’ studios!
This year’s plan was a bit more involved than previous years, and it was a fun adventure! My husband wanted to attend a rendevous for the Seven Seas Cruising Association on Islesboro so we worked out a plan to take the ferry to Lincolnville on two of the weekend mornings. The first morning we hitchhiked partway and got a cab partway to get back to our car in Rockland. Then, at the end of the day, I left the car at the ferry terminal so it would be handy for our second day of sightseeing.
This is the eating area of the snack bar at the ferry terminal on Islesboro. It’s about 7am, and the fog bank is rolling away to reveal the Camden Hills and the beautiful day ahead!
It took two hours from the time the ferry left ‘til we had our car, although the ferry ride was only 20 minutes! We also got picked up hitchhiking a lot faster than when we waited for the cab in downtown Camden!
Day one of fiber sightseeing included Eolian Farm where no one was home, too bad for me!
These photos were taken outside Swans Island Blankets on Rte. 1, just outside of Lincolnville. What a stunning 18th century farmhouse they use for their showroom! 
We saw the looms as well as the dyeing room.
Two Sons Alpaca Farm in Damariscotta was the farm highlight of the weekend for me! Owner Ricki Waltz was very happy to talk about her animals to us, a fascinating blend of alpaca husbandry and tales of the various personalities in her herd. The babies were adorable and had quite distinct personalities right from the start!
Timberdoodle 2 (alas! no website!) is a lovely studio overlooking the water near Cushing. It’s a tiny, perfectly appointed showcase of Kathryn Woodstock-Lynn’s lace spinning and knitting! Using traditional Shetland techniques, learned from such venerated knitters as Gladys Almedro, Sharon Miller and others, she knits lace shawls and wraps of her own design. Her spinning is exquisite and so is her dyeing! There were two large hatboxes of yarns for sale, each with enough to make either a shawl or a scarf. One box held natural colored yarn, the other was full of her hand dyed creations. She blends acid dyes into a stunning array of colors. I dearly wanted a ‘red’ but did not have the pocketbook for it this summer. I did buy a Shetland/Oxford mix dyed an indescribable mix of pink/lavender/tan ….just a small ball that will make a lovely scarf.
Katharine Cobey. When I entered this studio I instinctively knew that I was in the presence of an artist, and that her studio was probably going to be the highlight of all our travels this summer! Her studio and its setting along the water is as artistic as Katharine herself. The wall of glass that faces the water must provide an ever changing inspiration to her spinning and knitting. When I entered Katharine was reclining in an overstuffed chair with ottoman, knitting away on a current project. Her large Rio Grande ‘sitting great wheel’ was nearby, and one of the first things she did was give me a demonstration on how it works! I’ve always wondered how one could sit and spin at a great wheel, and after seeing Rachel Brown’s simple technique which Katherine does so well, I am awestruck by what a simple feat it is to change from spinning off the spindle to winding on without stopping the wheel. Thank heaven for Rachel Brown! Katharine made it look utterly simple, but when she encouraged me to try it I quickly learned that I’d need several hours (or days!) to get the hang of it!
Part of Katharine’s studio is a showcase for some of her work. There was a display of knitted mantles arranged in a circle and exquisitely lighted called Ritual against Homelessness. They were beautifully moving. There was also a wire-knitted form on the wall that was wonderful. The form itself was interesting and was greatly enhanced by its shadow. The combination of real form and shadow were terrific together.
On leaving, Katharine handed me one of her postcards which is when I realized I knew of her! I had seen Boat with Four Figures at the Portland Museum a few years back, but didn’t realize she was the artist! I’m thrilled to have met her!
>The Price of Eggs in China, aka Talking Pears
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I did finally take an afternoon to weave while we were anchored in Hadley Harbor, on the Island of Naushon just across from Wood’s Hole.
I’m working on a small tapestry that was an assignment from a workshop that Archie and Susan gave to the Wednesday Group several months ago. They called the workshop “Talking Pears.” For the workshop we were to bring two Bosc pears, our sketchbooks and pencils, and a variety of colored papers.
For the morning, we arranged and drew our two pears several times. After our lunch break, we took the sketches we liked best and used them as ideas for making several paper collage designs. The nature of the paper collage designs being so graphic led to other ideas.
At the end of class we lined up our paper collages and discussed shapes, arrangements, and color choices.
This may be more than you want to know about the “price of eggs in China,” but I’m certain that Archie and Susan carefully chose this workshop as a clever way to make us start thinking in the language of tapestry rather than in the language of pure image. Many of us are often intrigued by an image first and foremost, and we attempt to make a cartoon that will be weaverly.
Here, the relationship of our pears as two shapes coming together, along with the relationship of the surrounding area, and the colors we chose to use took precedence over the image itself. The simple paper collages we made prevented us from creating shading and contours.
This simple exercise has allowed each of us to focus on how to create the shapes of the pears and the surrounding areas. I’ve never paid so much attention to my curves and slopes! I’m usually too busy also trying to create light and shadow. I had a lot of fun choosing the colors for this little project, and with only six colors I really concentrated on the relationship between them.
Here you can see the frame that Bob made for me to hold my copper pipe looms. This frame allows me to adjust the loom up and down so I’ll always be weaving at a comfortable height.
One Wednesday Grouper has already woven eight small tapestries! Several others have already woven two. This is my first one, and I do hope to weave another. I’m so slow that two will probably be my limit!