Weaving Letters Of The Alphabet

Weaving letters is always a bit of a challenge and has been the subject of many tapestry weaving workshops. However it is more time consuming than it is difficult to do. As long as you follow the lines on the cartoon behind the work and ensure the warp count is high enough to avoid obvious jumps across the warp threads, it is no more difficult than blending or hatching techniques can be. The speech bubble shown below here is part of a portrait weaving I will be exhibiting in the Four Directions show.

Anime/Manga Design Influence

As a child I was discouraged from reading comic books, they were seen as very inferior reading material in our house. But I do remember small stacks of second hand comics being in the house from time to time after visits to friends and cousins who were willing to part with some of their old unwanted ones. Since the 1980's the street art movement has been gaining kudos in the mainstream art scene, and  I have remained fascinated with this definitive graphic style of art. Some of the tapestries I will be putting into the Four Directions In Tapestry exhibition will reflect on this continued somewhat taboo art influence. With its defined areas of block colour and solid lines the anima/manga style lends itself to tapestry weaving.

Elizabeth Arnold, Patricia Armour, Marilyn Rea-Menzies and I are having an exhibition of our tapestry weavings at Clear Water and Clear Skies Galleries, 204 High Street, Blenheim. 

As the title suggests, this exhibition will reflect where each of us are heading with our work. This is a great opportunity for visiting tapestry weavers to view how four established weavers approach different aspects of design, and the visual diversity that contemporary images in tapestry has to offer. 

The exhibition runs from the 20th April to the 6th May. As the annual Creative Fibre Festival opens on the 26th in Blenheim we will be having a meet the weavers morning tea from 11am-12.30pm on Thursday 26th April to coincide with the opening of this event. 

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to explore viewer reaction to this ancient craft presented as modern art. It is this aspect of tapestry weaving that I find the most exciting and I am loving this opportunity to have my work out there in the same arena as these other three very able and professional craft artists. I will be popping into the gallery most days between the 19th and 29th April so if you want to meet up with me I'm sure the gallery staff will be able to let me know if you would like to arrange a time to meet and talk about my weavings.