Author name: ozweaver

On the right hand side of this blog page I keep a list of the exhibitions where my tapestries have been shown.  Yesterday was the opening of a show in a venue I’ve never participated in before.  The focus was all kinds of fiber work, and when I dropped my pieces off for the jurying I was quite intrigued with a number of pieces already there.  There were quilts of course, and different kinds of felting from felted landscapes to nuno felted vests and jackets.  There was a beautiful double weave scarf displayed on an acrylic rod in a deep black frame that enhanced the glowing colors of the fabric.  There were a set of free form coiled baskets made from linen and coiled with waxed linen.  There was a bit of knitting and a bit of handmade paper forms.  It was the most diverse exhibition I’ve ever been part of, and I was looking forward to meeting some of the artists who made these works at the opening.

I do not have any photos from the opening because I was too shocked to actually think of taking any.  Perhaps they just accepted too many items into this show…. some walls were beautifully displayed and others had too many things jammed together.  So the crowded walls had things displayed salon style, and the sense of the whole was just a mish-mash because the pieces had nothing to tie them together…..in fairness maybe color, not technique, and not with a sense of cohesion.  It was just painful to look at.  I couldn’t help thinking that the pieces that were well displayed were the pieces that were valued by the judges–the award winning pieces.  But this was not the case.  Some of the beautifully arranged walls had no awarded pieces on them at all.

Bob took two photos of my works at the opening.  “Hudson River Idyll” got an honorable mention.  It was hung quite high above a quilted piece , and our two pieces are quite jarring together.  I’m trying to put a happy face on it!

And “Sunset on Wilson Cove” was hung in a place that was not even part of the show.  There were three gallery rooms and a long hallway that had works on display.  Then the very back of the long hallway was separated with some architectural molding and this is where  there was the coat room, the bathrooms, and an exit to the stairway that leads to the lower level.  THAT is where “Sunset on Wilson Cover” was hanging–the only piece that is not in the actually gallery area.  Frankly, I think it should have been rejected from the show entirely rather than put it in such a disrespected location.  I was quite embarrassed by this….  and I don’t understand it.

The walls that were carefully chosen were stunning.  The walls that were over-filled just made everyone’s work look bad…..even cheap.  And having one piece of work off in a different place entirely was just mind boggling to me.  There comes a point when accepting more pieces into a show than the space can handle just deters from seeing anything well.  The other shocking thing is that some pieces still had stickers on them–stuck right to works themselves, not on the sides or backs–with the entry numbers written on them.  Luckily I can say the volunteers who checked me in at the drop off put stickers on the stretched fabric of my frames, not directly on my tapestries.  But the pieces hanging on the walls for the opening had stickers stuck right to the pieces themselves.

On the other hand, I did meet some of the very interesting artists!  I was happy to see that some works were made by men.  The most interesting person at the opening –to me– was a felt artist.  She had done a wonderful nuno felted jacket as well as a hand felted mandala (for which she also got an honorable mention–and I have to say it–there was a sticker on this piece) and she had made a large quilted wall hanging.  She happened to be wearing the most interesting top of all the interesting garments that fiber artists can dream up to wear to openings, and by the end of the opening I just had to approach her and ask about her garment.  She had made it herself, from a commercial pattern to which she added some handpainted designs and a very funky set of closures to the assymetrical line of the front opening.  I wish I had asked to photograph her…..but the upside is that I have her contact information and she has offered to help me learn fitting techniques so I can possibly have better success at sewing!  So, all in all I enjoyed meeting the other artists as the highlight of the event.

There is one other positive feature about this gallery that I should mention.  The windows are very tall and they have been covered with balck venetian blinds.  For this exhibit the blinds are closed, keeping the textiles from too much UV exposure over the next few weeks.  Of course the halogen spotlights are screamers, but the the gallery is only open from Thursdays to Sundays in the afternoons each week, so not full time.

Looking back at my admittedly narrow experience in showing fiber works in public spaces, I’ve been quite fortunate to be part of exhibitions in large spaces that allowed such very different techniques to be seen to good advantage.  I guess it takes a bad experience to better appreciate the good ones.  Meanwhile, for the next month my tapestry of the sunset on my son’s face can greet people as they retrieve their coats and visit the ladies’ or the men’s….. (snark)…

It’s quite hard for me to believe that I have not written a post in more than six weeks now.  I have been working like a woman with her hair on fire….and that usually goes hand in hand with having a LOT to say–or write.  For some reason I’ve been strangely mute.

Finally I have turned my attention to a project that has been lingering on my big Toika loom for several years.  I managed to move that loom with the warp on it when we relocated here in Connecticut, and I’ve managed to play with it for short bursts over the past few years while we’ve lived here.  Suddenly I want it off the loom and on the wall!  That’s always a good motivation!

I’m chronicling the 40+ years that Bob and I have known each other.  The piece starts with a row of autumn trees to represent our first outing together: a walk in the woods, in the nature preserve called Devil’s Den in Weston–back in 1972!  What do you think of my boundweave loom?  I can’t take credit for drawing that gem.  It is Karen in the Woods’ design which she posted on Weavolution.  I learned to weave in 1976.

The past couple of days I’ve worked on wedding rings, sailboats and kitties.–wish you could see their green eyes.  I’m now in the early 80s.

When I settled down to weave this project I could not concentrate until I completely picked up and reorganized my studio.  There was way too much clutter everywhere I looked.  Now that I’m in the thick of boundweave my studio has become messier than it was when I couldn’t stand it any longer.  Funny how that happens.  Now I cringe a bit when I enter the room, but I really had to pull out all that yarn out for picking the colors and the softness I need for my little boundweave figures.

It was a beautiful summer although, aside from the linen tote bag, I did not knuckle down to any floor loom weaving until August.  There was SO much I wanted to do–I won’t bore you with the list….

We had more hummingbirds than we’ve had in previous years.  One of the females would sit on top of the iron plant hanger and chase away all other birds who came to feed.  I grow lots of red flowers on the deck to keep everyone happy.  The hummingbirds were constant companions for us.

In September I was invited to give a presentation on tapestry weaving to the Rhode Island weavers’ guild.  There are several women in that guild who are also in the CT guild so I already knew a few members.  They are a dynamic group who do some amazing work.  You can find articles that various members have written in back issues of Handwoven.  There are some well known weavers in Rhode Island:  Antonia Kormos, Norma Smayda, Jan Doyle…. I could certainly learn more from any one of them than I could possibly teach them!

For the presentation I collected images from all the tapestry weavers whose work inspires me.  I was impressed how willingly each of these weavers shared their photos with me so I could share them with the RI guild.  Such beautiful work!–Joan Baxter, Tommye Scanlin, Jon Eric Riis,  members of the Wednesday Group, of course!–along with Archie and Susan.

And in the afternoon an adventurous group of guild members tried their hands at weaving on chopstick looms.  Sally’s husband made the looms, and he did such a stellar job that it made all our Wednesday Group looms look pathetic!  I’m not going to give out Henry’s last name or he might be inundated with requests for these beauties!

Here are some of the portraits, all well woven!

In August, after the wedding,  Bob and I spent a week sailing on our new Pandora, all the way to Nantucket and back during the most mild and beautiful week of the summer.  I’ve got a new stash of window box and front door photos from all the pretty houses there.

Maybe I’ll post more of these another time, as a ‘postcards from summer’ type entry. I can’t help myself when it comes to gardens, and there were a lot of wonderful gardens on Nantucket….and I visited the oldest house on the island for the first time.

I’ve got warp ideas filling my head, and hope to get at least two of them on looms before we leave for the winter.  Lucienne Coifman is in my guild and has just published an intriguing book on Rep weave.  I bought it after also borrowing it from my guild library.

 This is the project that is calling me!  I think it would make wonderful placemats and runners (in a different colorwary) for my son and his wife’s new dining room.  Naturally, I don’t have any 5/2 cotton which is the weight I’d like to try for a rep project.  So it looks like a big order is looming….ha ha!  I hope I can get it all together before I leave.  I know from experience that it is a wonderful thing to come home to a loom just waiting for me to sit down and weave!