Nursery rhymes and fairy tales & legends are all part of the artists way as they connect the past and present. I know all about Rapunzel, and the story of Nanook will always be over-shadowed by lines from Frank Zappa. 

In Search of Nanook

Woven at 11 e.p.i. on a cotton warp, using hemp, cotton, wool and rayon. These two weavings were woven as a twin-set pair, reminiscent of my 1960's childhood where fact and fantasy were forever blurred

Rapunzel Gets a Life

Rugs on the home front.

I know its been ages but life for me has been neither routine, nor too structured recently. I need to get a hair cut and a real job I know. However I am doing lots of mental arithmetic around new concepts and ideas, 3d possibilities and a particularly unconventional warp idea. It is already ANZAC week and that gives me less than a year to complete some art for next years centennial commemorations. I haven't been totally away from the studio but days there have been lean. I think it's because I have been weaving the commission piece for my brother, and don't need to have it ready till I go to Queensland in June. I want to get to Melbourne while I'm over there and call into the Tapestry Workshop, ever hopeful I may sell an art work between now and then to make it happen. 

Working in some VERY small kitchen space, with rug

on loom in foreground. It's a ratty old Nilart 10 shaft 

which is total over-kill for plain/tapestry rugs, but it used 

to belong to someone dear to my heart and I can't fit it

in the studio.

Recently woven, one of quite a few distractions from the
serious art-work. 

I'm actually really enjoying the simplicity of weaving the rugs at the moment and my crappy hands are mostly being quite staunch about all the bashing and pulling through of shuttles. The carpet wool which was bought from the over-runs sale room of Cavalier Carpet Mills is a pleasure to weave with. Can never get enough black though. 

Tapestry Weaving/Mixed Media

Gaias' New Skivvy. Hand-woven tapestry on pen & paper.

Function and Form

Below is a photo of the three cushions I made using re-cycled tapa, and shaped woven panels. Obvious inspiration for them came from traditional Papuan ceremonial masks. I have been unable to get much work done for several weeks now, which is so frustrating. However I am able to use my 3 end fingers, so have managed to spin clumsily in the mean while. Will attempt silk later today. 

3 Cushions
Constructed from a variety of materials and techniques.
Hand and machine stitching, hand-spun dog hair,
wool and silk. Hair-wrap technique.

Simplification through circumstance shall be my next learning curve I think. Remaining positive is helped by using this down time to re-assess where I want to go with my fibre/tapestry. Lots of ideas and combinations swirling around at the moment so when this cast is off in 3-4 weeks time I will be working with my physiotherapy person towards a practical solution for using my own actual art practice as therapy.  Really looking forward to a summer of serious play and high productivity. 

Polworth fleece and limb of limitations

AuNz Tapestry Group 2013 20x20cmTapestry Project

The 20x20cm format for tapestry weavings is great for weavers who have not been practicing tapestry technique for long. Although the size allows for enough detail to be incorporated into the design for experienced weavers, 20x20 is small enough for new tapestry artists to experiment with and complete a work within a manageable time frame. 

Simply creating a square that actually is 20x20 once it is woven, cut from the loom and finished off can be a major challenge in itself as a beginner. If it weren't for the good old 20x20, some of us may never have got as far into tapestry weaving as we have.

Original oil on board over wood-cut print.
This is the painting I based my first ever 20x20 on. 

The format leaves the warp set open for individual comfort, logistics and interpretation. Experienced weavers tend to submit finer work, beginners present more chunky simplistic pieces as a rule when fitting the requirements of the exhibition brief into the weavers final chosen design. 

Generally these 20x20 exhibitions are open to all levels of weaving experience, and so always reflect this unique culture of sharing and trust in the concept as a professional and legitimate form of encouragement for new artists presenting their first few attempts at tapestry design. 

My first ever 20x20. Woven in 1997 for the
NZ Traveling Suitcase Exhibition. It was the 3rd
tapestry design I had attempted  to weave.
E.p.i. looks set at about 6 per inch.

As a new weaver there is pride and an enormous sense of achievement in seeing your experience of participation coming to fruition as art on the wall beside the work of tapestry artists you admire. It is an empowering and encouraging experience.

Shaped Tapestry Weavings

The other day I was rummaging through the studio looking for something when I came across a large folder stuffed with a handful of some of the old cartoons I have used over the years. I thought they may be worthy of a post. 

Many years ago I was walking along a beach where I lived and came across the most amazing piece of driftwood. As soon as I saw this strangely formed piece, I knew that I wanted to weave two shaped tapestries to fill in the obvious gaps that were almost a perfect half round and triangle. It was so big that it was hanging out of the back of the hatchback car I had at the time. Being NZ Native hard-wood it was also extremely dense and heavy, with a deep rich golden/red  grain. I knew it would polish up beautifully.

Eye & I
Shaped tapestry weaving on canvas and Pohutukawa frame.

It took a bit of planning and thought to nut out how I would best be able to  present it as a completed work. Because Coromandel, where I was living, was surrounded by sea, I finally decided on a look that was indicative of sailing, and I also wanted it to be both pre and post European in appearance. The hardest part about incorporating driftwood into a design is to have the resulting work remain rustic in appearance, but not too clumsy and kitsch.  

Cartoons for weavings

Cartoon was woven from bottom straight edge, up. This is a really good simple 
shape to start experimenting with.  

I have used shaped edges on my tapestries from time to time, usually along the beginning and end edges of the weaving, such as the weaving below, which was obviously woven side-ways.

Rapunzel Gets A Life

It was one of two weavings that had a dark nursery theme. They were both framed behind glass, mounted onto and surrounded by a generous sized matt-gold  board, with quite a heavy gold frame which gave them an even more surreal presence on the wall. 

In Search Of Nanook

Of course things get a little trickier when both ends of the weaving need to be shaped. Diane Ammar is a NZ tapestry weaver who has self-published at least two books on her particular technique for shaped weaving. Some are delightfully fine and intriguing works. This is the link to the American Tapestry Alliance site review. http://www.americantapestryalliance.org/Members/NLv31n4/NLv31n4p8.html

Window 2 -  Part of installation at Franklin Steel Gallery.

Therapy Scroll/Sampler

I have begun weaving my therapy scroll and it is proving to be a good way for me to play with ideas for my next series of planned works. As a therapy it is working well. It is a good way to encourage me to weave on days when my hands don't feel up to the job. It will be interesting to see how this woven scroll will work as an art-work in its final entirety. The warp is about 25cm wide, and from memory I think it is about 3 metres long, so whether I decide to make one long weaving or two shorter ones will be determined by how it looks as I fill the warp up. 

 I had a sudden flash of an idea to stop at this point as the piece thus far works reasonably well as a complete and balanced design in its own right. As I am weaving free-form without a cartoon, my lazy, chaotic and ill-disciplined streak was screaming to be content with this idea. It would have been easy to leave a gap in the warp and begin a second piece. However my more disciplined and methodical self figured it could be a dangerous precedent to set. Ultimately these unplanned pieces never have the same strength and depth that well planned and re-worked designs have.

My next series of designs are based on two specific NZ coins.  At the same time I also have ideas for the ANZAC centennial in 3 years time nudging in on my scribbles and scrawls vying for attention. I have also been looking at traditional tapa cloth and Maori and Samoan tattoo designs.