warpedart&design

SIDE BY SIDE. WEAVING 2 TAPESTRIES AT A TIME

2011-12-14T17:46:00.005-08:00

Green Piece

Pink Piece

I have started to weave two tapestries on the loom at the same time, side by side. I have done this before and although it seems to take longer while weaving them, it is always a bonus when the time comes to cut them from the warp to have not just one completed but two.

Although both tapestries are the same design, they are each being woven with very different yarns. The pink area in particular is a combination of threads, that includes a very textural rayon from The Little Wool Company. I will post close-ups of these as I weave them.

These 2 tapestries were woven for last years Traveling Suitcase Exhibition and are shown here being woven side by side sharing the warp. Note the unused warp threads between the pieces. These weavings were followed by another wider weaving on the same warp above them. It is not often that I warp up the loom for a single weaving, as less time warping up equates to more time actually weaving.

Paper Making Demo

2011-11-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Heirloom Hand-Made Papers

Last Saturday was the Auckland Area Creative Fibre A.G.M. and I was asked to set up a display table showing the basic process of how to make sheets of re-cycled paper. Making paper from scratch is always a fun activity, and the results look gorgeous. No matter that the ones that include a lot of fresh or dried organic material are more decorative than functional. They always seem so very Victorian and feminine, and are beautiful additions to any craft project that incorporates paper as a decorative element.

Sampler Booklet

For my paper-making workshops I like to spend the morning making the sheets with the students, stop for a shared lunch while the paper dries, and then spend the remaining time putting all our hard work together in the form of a keepsake record sampler book. It always makes for a day of great fun, good food and interesting people. Listening to the reasons why each person wants to learn this basic, environmentally sound technique I find it is usually to enhance or to support a completely different skill or hobby. Mainly envisaged as being used for presentation paper for anything from home preserving to hand-made cosmetic or soap products. Some just want to work with the pulp so that they can go away with the experience and explore the moulding or casting possibilities their art direction is leading them towards. It is this very broad end use aspect that makes basic paper-making such a very cool medium to explore.

It is fine to reconstitute waste paper for use as writing/drawing paper, however a good quality end paper is dependent on the initial materials used in the pulp mix.

Keep those photo-paper off cuts in mind next time you are trimming up the edges, and put them aside separately with other better quality papers if you are wanting to make acid-free sheets for exhibition quality drawing or painting.

Also, if you are looking for waste paper to re-cycle, a good source for raw materials are the offices of local law or architect businesses. Their shredded paper waste is usually made up of better quality papers and light card and they are usually o.k. with passing it on for paper-making purposes.

Work in Progress

2011-11-23T23:47:00.000-08:00

New work on the loom, just to keep interest going on what I have been up to. Little else to show you at this stage..... garden grows, years end screaming to the finish line, and not enough hours in the day.

1960's Modernist Cut Pile Carpet/Sampler

2011-11-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Measures approx. 30x37cm

This is is a sampler or small wall hanging I have had for several years and although it is not a Tapestry weaving, it is hand woven. I assume it was made in the 1960's, possibly for the tourist market, and probably originates from somewhere around Egypt or Morocco. The artist/weaver was well ahead of their time and this small hand-woven cut pile rug is a classic for those interested in the history of graphic design and its use in the 20th century textile arts movement.

Tapestry Weaving and Social Comment

2011-11-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Jeanette

This weaving measures approximately 30x38cm. The warp is set at 11 e.p.i. with the weft constructed from silk, cotton, wool and rayon.

I very much enjoy the process of naming my tapestry works. They often have two titles, one which is used while I weave it and a second that sometimes takes over once it is removed from the loom and the work is being tidied up and mounted for show. Long and explanatory titles are usually shortened to a single word or name, as the one shown here has been.

The title sometimes gives a hint of my own intention or social comment. Some titles are self explanatory while others may be very obscure. This particular weaving symbolizes the road we are taking towards a genetically engineered future.

I think what makes tapestry stand out so starkly from other forms of weaving, is that it has the ability to convey a story. Whether it is a large and complex set of images presented as a large and busy scene, or simply a small stark image, they both have the ability to convey very obvious subject matter, which is then open to interpretation.

As an artist/weaver I understand that the viewer may not completely understand my sense of humour, my intended comment or what my story is.

However I believe each and every individual interpretation of the image is as entirely valid as my own. For me, every different interpretation or perspective of what the piece may mean gives me a small glimpse into another persons life journey. It is this validation of the viewers interaction with the design that changes the piece from an internal expression to an external sharing of human experience.

The weaving that didn't want to be woven!!

2011-10-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about the wisdom of sharing my recent disaster on the loom. After all, this blog is a showcase of what should be varied and interesting hand-woven tapestries that are worked smoothly from woe to go. This time it has gone from woe to woes. Should I be sharing my failures as well as the pieces that I am happy with? Probably, as the planning and background that went into it were well developed and substantial. I like to think that those of you following this blog will be able to identify with the frustration of an idea not coming to fruition despite the best of intention and planning. So here is a tribute to all the learning curves, set-backs and oddities of those works that fought us and taught us along the way to perfection. May they be far and few between.

The warp, showing a good dozen or so warp threads broken at the other end of the loom.

Shown in the fore-ground is my first attempt at this weaving. You can see the initial heavier tan cotton warp I was using. I decided the warp spacing was too close and should have been set at about 8 epi so cut it off the loom. Because the warp was set at 12 epi, it created a bow/spread in the selvedge and slight ridging in the woven area.

I re-warped with a finer white cotton warp and started weaving again, but because of the slow progress in weaving, the warp wasn't constantly being wound through the heddles, and because of the constant changing of the shed using metal heddles, I slowly sliced through the warp. With every other loom I have ever bought, the first thing I have done is remove all the metal heddles and replaced them with handmade cotton ones. This is mainly because I have never liked the noise that the metal ones make when I'm constantly changing the shed as I weave. I also like to make sure that my home-made ones have a generous sized threading hole in them to allow for bulky yarns or knots created when tying on/extending a new length of warp. This is the first time I haven't bothered to do so, so it was a very unexpected and nasty surprise to have my warp slashed. Oh well, you live and learn.

I have now over-simplified the design and will try again to weave a smaller weaving using only one smaller section of the design. I'll keep you posted to see what happens with this third and final attempt!

Loving those Miniatures

2011-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Re. my previous blog about posting my progress as I weave my new piece. That was a bad omen.

I have Ssooooo had difficulty with this new loom. Should one share ones failures??? Of course.

So next time I WILL post up photos of the disaster/s that should have been humming along nicely by now.

I suspected the warp was all wrong to begin with and that it may cause some worry. However in the end I cut it off and re-warped with a nice light-weight but good quality cotton warp, only to find that the metal heddles were slowly, silently and maliciously slicing the warps as I was weaving down the other end of the loom. "Ggggrrrrrrr..." said I.

Dream State

Any way here are some miniatures for your perusal, the middle piece expresses very well the folly of continuing with weaving and documenting the piece I was going to do. I have totally simplified the design and will post that up at a later date, probably altered somewhat.

Pissing in the Wind

Chester...... With Spots

Tapestry in the Making

2011-09-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

These are the first couple of pics of the tapestry I will be documenting as I weave it. Full detail of the colour is going to be dictated by just how fussy I decide to be as time goes on. However it looks as though this left-hand panel will be following reasonably closely to the script.

The warp-up was a total pain as I haven't used this loom before. Although I won't go into detail here, the warp could prove to be a problem at a later date. I hope not!

Set at 12 e.p.i. on a coloured cotton warp. There is a small degree of fluting/corrugation in the warp, but I believe this is due to the warp-up rather than the weft materials being used as there is no actual splay in the warp spacing as I continue to weave at this stage. It will iron out fine once the spacing has been removed at cut-off time, which is hours and hours and weeks away. By that time I will have sorted it I hope!

Photo 1 The very beginning.

These three sections (the woman, the door and the teacup )will be woven as one complete panel.
I will keep a visual record of the left hand panel to share with you on the blog.

Photo 2 Introducing the splashes of colour that dominate this design.

Franklin Annual Art Awards

2011-09-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

My last post shows the sewing machine ready for action and the hand-made paper sheets drying on the cloths line outside, so best I up-date what they morphed into.

"A Day Well Spent"

This is the re-cycled tapa piece, that much to my surprise won a second placing in the Non-Functional Fibre category of the Franklin Arts Festival last month. A most unexpected surprise on the night. So a big thank you to all the sponsors and volunteers involved with this long-running event. It was most satisfying for me to feel that the judge recognised my attempt to push traditional boundaries of what Fibre Art can mean.

Recently I have been lamenting the fact that so few young/marginalised N.Z. women in particular are not well represented in the creative fibres. Why?

My latest series of work have been pondering this. As soon as I finish weaving the tapestries that go with these pieces I will hope to have purged this obsessive, youth oriented and simplistic design phase that has gripped me for the last few months.

As a child, comic books were very much frowned upon, so these pieces are part of a catch-up time for me as well as a salute to the often regarded "low-art" genre of the visual novel.

As an adult, street art is very much frowned upon, so I see this medium as a magnet for future comment......

Close-up showing detail.

Not A Loom In Sight....Other Fibre Stuff

2011-08-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have recently been making paper for a fibre based art-work that I have been putting together for the annual Franklin Arts Festival. I love making paper as it is a perfect balance for people like me who actually really enjoy instant gratification, but who choose to spend most of their creative time doing something as slow moving as tapestry weaving.

These sheets are going to be used in a multi-media piece, part of which is shown below.

Paper sheets hanging out to dry

Sewing the paper and tapa cloth. Note the very clunky but gorgeous old machine being used to work on the piece.

I have just spent another Saturday up at The Art Barn in Orua Bay attending a screen printing course. I have a screen sitting in a corner of the studio that hasn't been used for years, but having been on this latest Tastes Creative course, I would like to think that at some stage soon I will drag it out again and have a bit of a play.

We had the choice of printing either a T.shirt or a tea towel, so I thought I'd go with a cliche' and print "Home Is Where The Heart Is" on a tea towel. It came out a bit wonky but it was another great day surrounded by good people and good food, that had me refreshing my memory on the technique of screen printing. Thanks to the girls at Tastes once again for organizing another full and inspiring day.

Tea towel screen-print

Remembering Another Tapestry Weaver and Her Work

2011-08-07T01:27:00.000-07:00

Weaving from 2002/2003 N.Z. Traveling Suitcase Exhibition
20x20cm Hand-woven by Astrida Dahm

It's funny how things go around. I was stuck for things to post....I don't have much to show for myself that I can share at the moment due to exhibition commitments so I thought I would add some notes about how I came to acquire a loom that used to belong to a little recognised but very able tapestry weaver I used to know.

A few months ago I was given this loom by fellow spinner/weaver Rowena, who is a member of my local Spinners and Weavers group. It is a Leclerc, Nilart, 8 shed, 10-treddle jack floor loom with a 45" weavable width. This loom is totally unsuitable/overpowered for my tapestry weaving, apart from weaving the occasional rug. Weaving smaller tapestries on it would be like using a steam roller to crack a nut.

Anyway, she had bought the loom from a person who had got it from the estate of a tapestry weaver called Astrida, who used to live and weave in Coromandel during the 1990's to early 2000's. She had told our group leader she was off to pick up her new loom....

Well Glenys knew that I had spent several years living in Coromandel and that if there was a fellow tapestry weaver living in that tiny township, I would know who that weaver was.

And I did. Astrida was born in Germany in 1950. I believe sometime after leaving school she went on to train as a weaver for quite some while under a master weaver in a studio that I do not know the name of, but that she seemed pleased to have received her training from.

She travelled a lot during the late 1960's and 1970's, until she reached N.Z.'s East Coast north of Gisborne. It was here she met the potter Helen Mason (an extraordinary and beautiful older wise woman with adventurous tales of her own I might add). Astrida settled down on the coast and was soon invited to learn how to weave flax/harakeke, attending regular flax-weaving wananga with the local Ngati Porou women.

In the early 1980's her son Mingus was born, and they both moved up to Coromandel in the footsteps of Helen Mason who was by then living in the Old Tram at Driving Creek Railway and Potteries.

By the time I moved to Coromandel in 1991, she and Helen had well and truly set up and established the Coromandel Spinners and Weavers in the Pink House over the road from the D.C.R.P. The Pink House was an inspirational hive of activity for fibre artists. It was through this group that Astrida learnt I was looking for a house to rent for me and my 2 children. After a daunting personality check, she gave me cheap rent on her run down old miners cottage over the road from her house, and where we stayed for several years while the kids grew up around us as our tapestry ideas bounced and banged off each other.

Her tapestries always included her hand-spun, often hand-dyed silks and fine wool. The images were organic, feminine, gentle and beautiful. She became quite the mentor for me as far as technical issues were concerned. She was incredibly funny in all ways, often abrupt, and very down to earth. I often wonder whether flax or tapestry weaving would have won the battle for her attention, as it must be getting close to a decade since she passed away.

However I think she would be pleased to see that as her beautiful, much loved loom has been battered and picked over, bereft of reed and other little bits and pieces, that I should now have it taking up a large portion of my very limited kitchen/dining space.

I have inherited a monster that I love just because it belonged to my fellow tapestry weaver, neighbour and friend Astrida, and I like to think she would find that very fine indeed.

Tapestry Weaver, Astrida Ritchie-Dahm

New Design And Work In Progress

2011-07-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

"Time for Tea" The original working drawing/artwork before it has been modified for weaving.

Made from tapa cloth, hand-made paper, black ribbon, artist canvas, acrylic paint and machine embroidery detail.

(Click on image to enlarge)

This is one of the 4 pieces I exhibited recently that I thought you might want to follow the progress of as I weave it. From earlier postings you can see how I use various design techniques and ideas to form the basis of my tapestries. In this case I was playing around on the sewing machine to make comic book inspired story boxes that I hoped would translate well into weavable pieces.

I need to have three of these completed by February next year and inspiration for sticking to my deadline might well come from sharing the progress on a semi-regular basis with those of you out there that pop in to see what I have been up to from time to time. I will be setting up the warp for this piece in the next week or so and I will keep a visual record of this particular piece to share on the blog.

The final adjusted design ready for printing and tracing onto the working cartoon, which is then pinned up behind the warp as a guide for the weaving process.

So here it is, the final piece I will be weaving for the blog. Still retaining elements of the original fibre work at the top of this posting. Hopefully this gives you some insight into the background stuff that goes on between the day I took the drive home, the sketchbook, and the final tapestry weaving you see at the exhibition.

I love this process of where the piece comes from, and it is probably the weak link in the chain for those who do not understand the importance of having at least some form of design process as part of their creative endeavour.

Creating The Tapestries I Want To Weave And Pricing The End Result.

2011-07-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

THE ORIGINAL PAINTING
This is the original small oil painting which was used as the inspiration for the weaving shown below.

CREATING THE DESIGN
It was cropped to produce a width and height that I was happy with.

THE CARTOON

The image was then adjusted to create a weavable design. This is the most exciting and experimental phase in the design process for me. It is the time where the commitment to weaving time and detail is determined. How much do I want to deviate from the original painting? Do I want to pretty much retain the colour palette or do I want to change it completely? At this stage the warp count and all proposed materials need to taken into consideration as do the limitations of the actual loom it will be woven on.

THE COMPLETED WEAVING

This is the end result, and as you can see the weaving detail has been ever more simplified and altered as I have woven the piece. This is where the sub-conscious decision making processes of the artist-weaver takes control. It is where the auto-pilot kicks in and intuition takes over. You just go with where it takes you almost, and it is this some-what meditative state that becomes the tapestry weavers spell or magic that attracts different viewers to connect with each different weavers style of work, some more so than others.

Because I use my own images, during the weaving process there is often a certain amount of slimming down the details as can be seen in the finished weaving above “Beyond The Wall Of Melancholy”. If the tapestry were say 4 times larger than it is, obviously more fine detail could have been achieved also. As this weaving was a non-commissioned work that I was weaving to enter into an exhibition with a deadline to meet it was more a case of...Can I finish the tapestry weaving within the designated time frame I have allowed for.

I think possibly over the years another reason I have tended to over simplify during the design/weaving process has been because I have tried to cut down on the time factor. I have always had a problem with the end pricing and in the past thought the price I ask for my work as very high for the size and complexity of the end weaving. The reality is that the prices reflect an hourly wage that sits somewhere between the minimum wage and the cost of hiring an average trades person.

I think this constant endeavour to fine-tune and minimize the weaving time ultimately and quite unintentionally has led to the creation of a very distinctive personal style which can be readily attributed to my weavings. As my own particular genre and style has developed I have finally become comfortable with the prices I have to ask for my work.

I believe other artisans working with knitting, weaving, felting etc. who are practicing their art through fibre are beginning to value their own specialist work abilities by pricing the time they have taken to produce it, including their design and planning time. I also feel the appreciation of these craft based art forms are becoming more and more valued as tomorrows fine-arts and hand crafted treasures.

Craft And Quilt Fair- Hamilton

2011-06-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Running from Thursday 08 Sep 2011 to Sunday 11 Sep 2011, this event is open to the public for a reasonably small entry fee, and has craft related sales as well as the Quilt Exhibition which features quilts from Australia and New Zealand.

Running in conjunction with this is the Creative Fibre Experience exhibition. This is a good opportunity to see some of New Zealand's finest hand spun, woven, felted or fibre based exhibits in one large exhibiting arena.

It is also an opportunity to network and catch up with friends for the day.

Where:

Claudelands Events Centre

Cnr Heaphy Terrace & Brooklyn Road

Claudelands, Hamilton

Creative Fibre Festival 2012 Marlborough

2011-06-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here are the dates for the National Creative Fibre Festival 2012 in Marlborough. The team down there has set up a blog site that you can visit. Go to http://fibrefestival2012.blogspot.com/ to find out all you need to know about their planning and activities thus far. The blog also has a link to their face book page if you would rather follow what they are doing that way.

The emphasis of this festival is to Interest, Educate and Inspire no matter what area of the fibre arts your particular interest is in.

The National Festival runs from 12pm Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th April 2012 and will be held at the Marlborough Convention Centre in Blenheim, with the Exhibition on display at the Millennium Public Art Gallery.

Where do the ideas for tapestry designs come from?

2011-06-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

WORKING DRAWINGS/MACHINE EMBROIDERIED WORKS

Time 4 Tea

I decided that this exhibition was going to be used as an opportunity for the viewers to see where my future work was heading from a design series point of view. It is all very well to show the woven end result, but some people don't understand that there is so much going on behind the piece.

These machine embroidered working drawings are part of the design process I have used for creating a future mini series of weavable designs. I have used tapa cloth, artist canvas, acrylic paint, cotton thread and my hand-made paper to produce fibre works that were fantastically playful to produce while at the same time are reasonably resolved fibre artworks in their own right.

Male on Friday?

These stitched works have been photographed and then adjusted in Photoshop until a satisfactory colour and contrast has been achieved.

Me standing next to the machine embroidered works, showing the proposed cartoons I will be weaving from them on the right hand side.

Keeping in mind that they will become weavings is an integral part of decision making during this procedure. What yarns, colours and textures will best be able to be replicated with the new image I am creating? How will changing them add artistic value to the end weaving? How much will I be able to deviate from the exact image without losing the integrity of the design details?

Tapestry Exhibition Photo's

2011-06-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Taking it all in my stride.....NOT!!!
Friday putting up the tapestry weavings.

It is actually quite nerve wracking posting up the pics of the exhibition when you are not sure who is out there keeping an eye on what you've been up to.

You really do have to be brave to do this kinda stuff, Ta da... it's me.... and this is what I do. I don't know that I will ever have a solo show again as I am hopeless at promoting myself and always fail in this area of my professional responsibilities.

This is a retrospective exhibition of my past works rather than a showing of the new. However I am o.k. with that, as this show has been cathartic in getting a grip on what I can do rather than what I can't do and it has led to a very positive need to get myself up and running again. Illness certainly works in mysterious ways and I thank you for bearing with me over the last nine months of reasonable inactivity on the loom.

I put this in the exhibition because unless you have visited my studio and seen this piece on the wall, you probably won't have seen it. It was woven during the anti-G.E rallies down Queen Street, Auckland in 2000.

My focus has been on my drawings and design strengths and I know this has been a VERY important process that will now produce a flurry of activity back on the loom.

Sketchbook drawing

Allowing the design aspect of my process to take precedent over the last few months has been the right thing to do to allow me to move forward from this point and between now and February 2012 I will be sharing some of the making of five larger works I have to complete within this time-frame on the blog from time to time. Taking time to design has been inspirational in allowing me to come to the conclusion that I actually only need to produce 4 or 5 larger and better weavings each year anyway.

Woven shaped Tapestry panels, sewn on canvas and laced onto pohutukawa branch.
This sculpture is an idea that has evolved into the designing of a piece I am working on to submit for the NZ Professional Weavers exhibition next year.

This posting is a peep into the gallery during the set-up on Friday and at the opening on Saturday. To those who got there on the day a very BIG thanks to you all.

Waiuku Spinners and Weavers

I was less than enthusiastic during the build-up to this show for strange and varied reasons, but of course the whole point of exhibitions is to see your work through the eyes of others to help you move forward with your work, to identify any weaknesses, to ponder on what was perfect and what could have been improved upon. And exhibiting is the final stage, a reflection as a grouping of work that allows you to move forward from that defining point. It is a place to share with others where you are at with your work so that they have a comparison point from which they can mark future work you create.

Max at the opening, appreciating the fact that his Granky Steph appears to be as much into titties as he is.

Exhibition of Drawings, Sculpture, Hand-Woven and Embroidered Works. Franklin Community Gallery - Next door to the Library and Steel Gallery, Pukekohe.

2011-05-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

To everyone who is interested in fibre-art. I would like to invite you to come and see my new exhibition. Join me at the opening for morning tea and cup-cakes and help me to celebrate my 50th birthday with good company, art and fibre.

Retrospective Works

These two weavings were two of the first tapestry weavings I ever sold. I remember both of these tapestries had a 3 dimensional quality about them as the advice I received on the warp count was a bit high for the weight of the weft I was planning to use, and my weaving skills were still very much being worked on! The result of this combination of novice beginnings meant that the darker areas which were of a thicker quality yarn, spread the warp slightly as I wove it, creating a puffed out effect around the eye area. As an artist it is often strange to think of these earlier attempts at creating art-works being bought in the first place yet alone still being enjoyed by the purchaser, however I do hope they are still in existence purely for the fact that it is part of the record of tapestry weaving in New Zealand. as there are so few of us involved with this specific weaving genre.

Looking back at these images now, I still like the theme but do not so much like the darkness they now appear to conjure up for me. So I am going to have a go at re-doing them by playing around in a different/faster medium to see if I can come up with a lighter feeling image. There are also separate elements within each weaving that I really do like so I have decided to weave a therapy scroll, a long narrow width of weaving that can incorporate different fragments of ideas, colours and designs.

Freda Brierley -Machine Embroidery

2011-05-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

On The Edge 48x38cm

This image is the work of textile artist Freda Brierley whose work I saw in an exhibition with Aillie Snow at NorthArt Gallery on the North Shore in 2002. I found her art a wonderful inspiration of subtle and somewhat dark images, and recognized it as a possible medium I might one day want to explore. I have played around with sewing images onto stiffened organza with reasonable success in the past.

The need for me to experiment further with machine and hand embroidery has now arisen again because of illness. As my hands have limited movement at the moment I am being very selective about how I spend my time on the loom, and machine embroidery gives me the opportunity to make pictorial works off-loom.

I have an exhibition of these new works as well as a retrospective selection of older drawings and tapestry weavings that will be on show at the Franklin Steel Gallery, in the small Community Gallery space. You are invited to join me for morning tea on Saturday 11th June, 10.30am, where I will be discussing the work on display, share where I glean my inspiration for my art, and talk about the technical side of producing my images.

Five small framed works measure approx. 6x6cm

I bought these five small framed Freda Brierley works which I selected from about 30, possibly more (if my memory serves me well) which she was selling at the time her exhibition was running. I am so very pleased that I bit the bullet and did.

Often it is these smaller more affordable works that give you a very real and tangible connection with the artist. Although these are usually not as complicated or meaningful as larger pieces, they are still enticing and charming to have if you are a collector of fbre art, and purchasing these always helps the artist re-coup some of the expense involved in putting on an exhibition. It is this mutual benefit of inter-play between the artist and the viewer that really makes an exhibition successful and enduring, long after the exhibits have left the gallery.

50 Top Tapestry Weaving Blog Sites

2011-04-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

I have just been advised that my blog has been added to a list of tapestry weaving sites that are considered the 50 top Blogs on tapestry weaving. The list includes many other weavers whose work you may want to know more about. The link is

http://www.liberalartsdegree.com/sewn-together-by-a-thread-top-50-tapestry-blogs/

TWIST IN THAMES

2011-03-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

"Twist in Thames" is the title of this National Creative Fibre Festival, offering a feast of activities for fibre fans. Based in Te Puru along the Thames Coast Road heading towards Coromandel Township, this is a beautiful area to spend a few days, or just a great opportunity to take a road trip with a couple of friends for the day.

Although it is not a full festival as it has a smaller theme based exhibition instead of the usual large Exhibition format, there will be plenty to see and do with guest speakers, fibre related sales and spinning, knitting and weaving action competitions.

It runs over the last weekend of April, from Thursday the 28th April until Sunday the 1st May. The creative fibre website is your point of contact.
Go to www.creativefibre.org.nz for more details about the festival or to join a Creative Fibre group near you.

Tapestry Weaving from Drawn or Painted Design to the Finished Woven Image.

2011-02-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

Above is a cartoon I have documented as it is being woven in the photos below. The original painting has been adjusted in Photoshop to produce a workable cartoon. This process helps to clarify and select clear boundaries within the painting. By simplifying the original painting with Photoshop or a similar program I was able to create an image that still retained the integrity of the original painting, while at the same time creating a weavable cartoon which better suited the technical restraints of the low warp count I was working on.

Note that in this instance the weaving has well and truly deviated from the exactness of the detail, especialy in the dogs main body area. There are 3 reasons for this. The first is that the warp count was too low (there should have been more vertical threads). The second is because the size of the weaving space is too small (it would need to be a much bigger weaving to allow for the detail to be included). And thirdly, it was a play piece of my own, which enabled me to have the freedom of extreme artistic license. It now belongs to Su anyway, who lives near the dingo isle of Fraser, and who also happens to have been born in the year of the Dog.

THE MAIN BODY AREA OF THE DOG HAS BEEN WOVEN USING HAND-SPUN DOG HAIR. OTHER YARNS USED ARE RAYON, WOOL, COTTON AND SILK.

TRAVELING SUITCASE EXHIBITION CLOSES

2011-02-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

Temperature Rising

This tapestry and the one below are the 2 entries I submitted to the 2010 Suitcase Exhibition. This and the one below are the finished works that I wove in response to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

Temperature Rising is a comment on our desire for consuming goods and how our desires have a suspected influence on global warming.

Summit Inertia

Summit Inertia shows our Heads of State discussing important matters concerning all of humanity and how they propose to plan for the future state of the planet.

CONSTRUCTION OF TAPESTRIES ON THE LOOM SHOWING WORK IN PROGRESS.

2011-02-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

The two tapestries were woven side by side. Numbered 1-3 above and below, you can follow the works progression and clearly see the cartoon behind the weaving indicating the design lines which need to be followed. With these smaller pieces I usually avoid marking the actual warp threads as the cartoon is small enough to flip up and down into view to use as an adequate enough guide.

DESIGN IDEAS FOR TAPESTRIES FROM THE IMAGINATION

2010-10-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few weeks looking at my old work/sketch books.
Several years ago I began weaving tapestries that were based on the unreal subject matter from my dreams or imagination.

Wyuna Bay 1999

I still have a tendency to create weavings that have a certain surreal or abstract element to them. By moving away from a realistic representation of an image towards the unreal aspect was probably my way of getting around that dreaded and usually unjustified statement .... "I am not very good at drawing".... I am actually quite good at drawing so don't tend to use this as an excuse anymore, however I do remember a time when I did, and it was really another way of saying I don't spend enough time drawing!!

Using a more abstract or surrealistic approach to tapestry design for producing a weavable image is one I use to remind myself that it is not so much about being able to draw a perfect representation of an object, landscape, animal, etc but more about conveying a connection on an emotional level with the viewer.

Although I rely heavily on the technical wonders of Photoshop to assist me with my portrait weavings, I prefer as much as possible to use only my own hand-drawn images to create most my other design work.

WEAVING AND WELL-BEING

2010-10-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

"The Forgotten Fruit Years." My last Exhibition
held in Devonport at The Depot, March 2008.

For the last 5 weeks I have been unable to weave at all due to some hideous un-diagnosed muscle pain problem. I will be seeing my doctor again this week to say that I am very grateful for the 800!!!! odd pain relief tablets prescribed, and will agree the advice that I was over-doing things was a good excuse to do NOTHING for a fortnight, but I really would like to get back onto the loom... THANKYOU.

I have so much to get up and going for various exhibitions, including my own. The last exhibition took a years weaving and planning and I am now down to 6 months weaving for the next one I am having in June next year in the Communnity Gallery of the Franklin Arts & Cultural Learning Trust .

Luckily the pieces are all very small and are being woven with the title of the exhibition..... Woven Tapestry Fragments... in mind.

So to all you weavers who have had a forced absence from the loom through lack of health at any time in your career, I now know the horror and frustration that our own frailties can have on our art practice.
The wonderful flip side of this of course, is that the drawing and planning activities involved with creating our hand woven work gets extra special attention, forcing/allowing us much more time for planning and re-working our ideas and designs. This in turn can only mean a much more resolved and therefore stronger end design.

Portriat weaving "Evad" hangs between "Matariki Through Window Arches"
Invitation by Gallery to exhibit at Franklin Arts & Cultural LearningTrust 2010.

Close-up of weaving and hand-stitched detail in Window Arches shown above.

WEAVING AS ART... EXHIBITIONS, DESIGN AND RECOGNITION.

2010-10-02T00:39:00.000-07:00

I have always loved exhibiting my work and have decided that I am now at the stage of my weaving career where I probably need to produce less but larger works. Once I get my next Solo Exhibition out of the way in June 2011 I will be making a concerted effort to do larger works for a while.

The next 18 months or so for me are mainly being committed to four major exhibiting opportunities producing large works. It has been nice to get back my focus on the planning and design of fewer, but more important works. These working drawings and concepts are what carry the final piece, giving the underlying strength to simple designs, the x-factor that makes a tapestry weaving gel with the viewer, drawing them back for a second look maybe. Where did the weaver get their idea to weave that particular image? These are the types of questions that once answered, help the viewer to better relate to each individual tapestry weavers work.

I am available for several types of tapestry workshops, particularly design focused sessions should a group of you wish to get together. If you have a particular area of interest I am able to customize a learning workshop to meet your needs. For details and costs e.mail: warpedartanddesign@gmail.com

Living by Tapestry Weaving in NZ

2010-10-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about the time-wasting element of my day to day endeavours. Setting up my studio 18 months ago started with such enthusiasim and an absolute art focus. I believed as a proffessional weaver, an absolute income sourced from weaving related activities was not only desirable, but was expected from me. I have no spouse or possible family inheritance to help support me on my artistic quest, and apart from a sturdy Certificate in Adult Teaching, designed and tutored by the wonderful Penny Brownlee, my qualifications on paper are sparse, so it was always going to be a big ask.

Bad Mood Arising

Overtaken by an obsession to be financially strong, a flurry of production weaving took over the sacred space, scarves, baby buggy blankets, travel and floor rugs were woven, in the process destroying the very thing I enjoyed most about my weaving..... THE ART.

Despite being on the Creative Fibre Tutors List, I have not had any viable interest in my tutoring work. Self importance led me to imagine that being on that list would field at least a couple of workshops from this end of the country to help spread the technique of tapestry weaving and as a bonus, help this struggling artist financially. In particular I hoped it would give me the opportunity to share what I have learnt about tapestry design over the 20 odd years I have been weaving. Tapestries that I feel are uniquely my style in this small country of ours, Aotearoa - N.Z.

Tastes Creative- an Awhitu Arts initiative recently gave me the opportunity to tutor a paper-making!!! workshop at their very workable Art Barn space..... and it is good to know a good tutor never turns bad, we had a ball.

I do get people to teach and share with though, but it is such hard work having to chase this sometimes. It is always a joy to be asked.

CREATIVE FIBRE EXPERIENCE 2010

2010-09-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

The Creative Fibre Experience 2010 exhibition runs in conjunction with The Craft & Quilt Fair at the Claudlands Event Centre in Hamilton from the 9th-12th September.

This is a highly competitive, selected show of quality weavings and other fibre art works from members of The N.Z. Spinners, Weavers & Woolcraft Society.

To Glass or Not To Glass- That is the question.

2010-09-05T03:42:00.000-07:00

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker - The Crown Wants a Piece Of it All

Tapestry weaving is arguably the most obvious technique that readily lends itself to being shown as fine art. I recently discussed exhibiting practices and the presentation of tapestry weavings with another tapestry weaver. We queried whether our work should always be shown in a way that allowed the tactile element of the work to over-ride all other considerations. Does unprotected framing remain the best way to present contemporary, smaller, non-functional works?

Should the most important element of the work even be the weaving?

From a traditional and purists point of view, tapestry weavings should not be shown behind glass. In many circles and obviously at the judged national exhibition level, there is a continued expectation that tapestry weavings should be presented in a manner that best connects veiwers to the the fibre/craft element of the work.

I have always struggled with this as a hard and fast rule especially if conveying the message of the piece is more important to me than the fact that I happened to chose tapestry weaving as the medium to convey that message.

As a hand-woven tapestry work that is made special by "Please Do Not Touch" signs, does the weaver take the initiative to present the work from behind glass, in a manner that acheives the same result.
Is it a matter of educating veiwers/judges to accept the work as it is intended to be viewed as a whole by its creator or should the creators still be striving to educate viewers of their fibre art through the traditional and accepted manner of presenting the work open to the elements and inquisitive fingers?

At the end of our discussion we rightly or wrongly concluded that the craft artist would probably argue in favour of the status quo, i.e that to present a tapestry weaving behind glass deminishes the work. Whereas the artist/weaver would probably be more inclined to want the piece protected and presented to the viewer framed behind glass if that was how the piece worked best in relation to their intended artistic statement or concept.

TRAVELLING SUITCASE - Dates & Galleries

2010-08-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

TITIRANGI 9 September - 3 October 2010

TCAC Upstairs Gallery, Level 1, Lopdell House, 418 Titirangi Road, Titirangi, Auckland

TAURANGA 12-26 October 2010

Creative Tauranga Community Gallery, 112 Willow Street, Tauranga

KERIKERI 7-21 November 2010

Origin Art and Craft, 128 Kerikeri Road, Kerikeri

WHANGAREI 28 November - 10 December 2010

Reyburn House, Reyburn House Lane, Town Basin, Whangarei

PALMERSTON NORTH 17-31 December 2010

Van Uﬀelen Gallery, 88-90 Princes Street, Palmerston North

ELTHAM 7 January - 4 February 2011

The Village Gallery, 166 High Street, Eltham

Recent portrait work

2010-07-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

The photo on the right is a close-up image of a portrait being woven on the loom. This close encounter with the weaving as you progress is quite intense and engrossing. When sitting up close to the work as you weave, your sense of perspective is constantly being altered and challenged. It is only when you take a step back from the loom that you appreciate the image as a whole.

Because of this altered perspective, it is important to have a smaller image of the portrait design handy to remind you of the bigger picture you are creating.

Detail of work in progress.

2010-07-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

Close-up of work on the loom. Note the built up areas of weaving already done where the hair and jersey portions of the portrait have been started. In this photo you can clearly see the warp threads that are yet to be woven onto. The cartoon can be seen behind the work, which is used as a guide in the weaving process.

Stepping back from the work on the loom, allows you to see the woven built-up area as a whole. A small photo is pinned to the loom above the working area and used as a constant point of reference to ensure the work in progress is as true to the original design as possible. In this photo you can also see the cartoon guide pinned up behind the un-filled warp threads. With my portraits these cartoons are simply an enlarged copy of the original photograph.

The Selection Process

2010-07-13T03:24:00.001-07:00

The selection process for portrait design is reasonably straight forward. The original photos are sorted through to determine which one has captured that special quality that best describes the essence of the sitter.

The photo is then adjusted to give the aesthetic that the client would want to live with within the context of other interior design requirements. No matter how good the image or how well mastered the weaving is, if it fails to represent the interior space it will be hung in, then the whole excercise will have been futile from a design perspective.

There is always a change in detail and intensity when the image moves from one medium to another as seen here when comparing the photo top left, and the woven portrait at right.

The size of the weaving is usually associated with cost, however it is best to predermine what the client is prepared to pay before the photo is adjusted. At that stage the image can be striped back further to simplify the image and thus require less weaving time. Other cost reduction considerations could be the cropping of the image. One should never under-estimate how much of the person is held in the image of say just the eyes or a partial profile.

Update for TSE "Within the Square" Tapestry weavings by members of The N.Z. Tapestry Network

2010-07-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

The Travelling Suitcase Exhibition is now travelling the country and having visited Christchurh and Dunedin, is off to Gore from 10th July to 8th August. Other dates and provinces are as listed below....

Titirangi: 9 Sept to 3 Oct

Tauranga: 12-26 Oct

Keri Keri: 7-21 Nov

Whangarei: 28 Nov to 31 Dec

Eltham 7 Jan to 4 Feb 2011

Tapestry shows "Summit Inertia" 20x20cm

Woven at 10epi with cottons, wool and rayons.

If you are travelling to Auckland to see the exhibition and would like to spend a day in the studio with me or if you just want to drop in for a visit, you can call the studio on 09 235 2699, Tuesday to Friday between 9am-4pm. For details on how to join the Tapestry Network simply send me an e.mail. The address is... warpedartanddesign@gmail.com and I will let you know the details.

If you wish to veiw the blog as one page, scroll to the bottom of the page and in the BLOG ARCHIVE section click the first option... 2010

2010-07-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

DESIGNER RUGS & HALL RUNNERS.

2010-06-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

HAND MADE DESIGNER RUGS FOR YOUR HOME.

2010-06-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

All Warped Art & Design rugs are woven using N.Z. milled commercial pure wool carpet yarn and set on a cotton warp. Durable and purpose made, the designs are original one-off pieces. Commission works can be made to suit your own specific interior design needs.

The hall runner at left was a commission piece made for a client in Tonga, and took approximately 80 hours to complete. Prices range from $350-$1800 depending on length and complexity of design.

Feel free to E.mail me for a virtual catalogue of current rugs I have in stock.

FREE-STYLE DESIGN

2010-06-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Weaving plain, striped rugs that are balanced and attractive is not as easy as it looks. However anyone with a trained eye will manage, through trial and error or intuition, to create a rug they will be happy with. Usually striped rugs are pre-sketched, coloured and well planned out with designated measurements and proportions set out. However most weavers would not bother to draw up a cartoon for weaving stripes but would weave free-style while following the sketched guide.

This tapa inspired rug is a variation on the striped theme and was also woven free-style (i.e. without the use of a cartoon).

2010-06-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

When weaving free-style you are unable to truly predict how successful the final design will be.

As the rug grows it takes on a life of its own so the use of working drawings and a solid understanding of what you are trying to achieve are essential.

While weaving this rug I had several small drawings clipped to the loom. These were constantly used as a point of reference to ensure the end design retained a sense of balance and proportion.

Light, airy and warm in winter, the studio sits out in the back yard waiting for the garden to grow.

2010-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

2010-03-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

This photo shows the the work corner of the downstairs studio and gallery area. The looms show from left to right, a rug in the making, a portrait weaving at rear and the smaller un-dressed loom. This small loom is a great size for beginners, and with 4 heddles, could be used for many different types of weaving styles. It is reasonably portable, and fits comfortably into the back of a larger hatch-back car. Looms like these can be bought for between $50-$150 through on-line auction or through those involved with local weaving groups.

Upstairs Workspace & Storage

2010-03-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

The upstairs area accomodates two looms with plenty of working space to spare. There are two spinning wheels available for those who want to try their hand at making their own yarns. The wheel shown at right in this picture is a Colthart Wheel, and is very smooth and even to spin on.

(Jenny - if you are wondering where the Waiuku Spinners & Weavers took off to with your wheel when they bought it, here it is)

Note the tapestry weavings on the loom. Wound onto the the bottom beam and therefore unseen is one of four weavings. This hidden weaving has been followed by the bottom grey spacing, then 2 tapestries have been woven side by side. Above these two works is more grey spacing followed by a tapestry weaving of a sylized dog, which is still in the process of being woven and included hand-spun dog-hair. I subsequently entered it into the Whangarei 2010 National Creative Fibre Exhibition Festival being held over the Easter break at the Kensington Stadium. Do get along to see it if you are in the district over the long weekend. This judged exhibition features fibre works from our top artists and craft workers, and there are trade stands open for you to buy quality fibre related must haves. However - don't bother looking for the above mentioned tapestry as it was rejected by the astute judge. Even the relative experts like myself don't get it right everytime!!! If you are looking for a good starting point to show others your fibre work at a national level, visit the N.Z. Creative Fibre website and consider membership, they are tough but fair and it's a good way to monitor your own levels of quality control.

THE GREAT COROMANDEL ARTS TOUR... THREE WEEKENDS OF ART

2010-03-16T20:15:00.001-07:00

For 3 weekends in a row Coromandel township hosts its annual arts tour. The opening weekend is Friday 30th April, and begins with an evening art auction. Twenty five artists will open their studios for public viewing each consecutive Fri-Sun from 10am-4pm, and tickets cost around $13.00 per person to do the weekend trail.

Although I am not an official participant, I will be minding the studio of local glass artist Mike Barton. The organizers have generously permitted me to join them as a guest exhibiter while I mind his studio on that first weekend, so if you happen to be up that way, call in to his studio on Tiki Rd to see the loom at work and be part of an informative and exciting cocktail of art in action.

If you do happen to be in Coromandel, the Driving Creek Railway & Pottery is a must do visitor treat. The railway winds up through the bush to the viewing platform and it is an experience children will well remember for a very long time....If you are quick, you might just catch a glimpse of these two panels set in the brickwork above one of the tunnels. I made them in 1998, as part of a design process I was using at the time. Initial pastel sketches and drawings were used to form the basis for these two large tiles, which in turn were used to create the final weaving design.

Postcards From The Mother Ship.

2010-03-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

This weaving and the clay works above were based on a road trip I made through Tokoroa in 1997. I had seen this area of man-made forest growing ever since I was a child.

With the forestry cleared up to the roadside only a few metres either side of State Highway 1, and the clear-felling finally revealing the contours of the land, it all seemed very violent.

The visual effect was raw and profound. The steep hills were completely stripped bare to finally reveal the starkness of emaciated land.

It is little wonder the people of Coromandel are so precious about their natural heritage.

It appears there is renewed interest in providing government support for mining this area.

Grass Roots

2010-03-16T01:29:00.000-07:00

I have recently enjoyed two weekends of inspiration and support. The first was attending the N.Z. Professional Weavers Seminar at the St Francis Retreat Centre in Auckland, where my work and professional attitudes were acknowledged by the very fact that I was there. The second was spent relaxing with my local small group of Spinners & Weavers at Orua Bay near the southern entrance to the Manukau Harbour. I enjoyed a rare opportunity to play with dye pots and managed to felt a small handmade gift without too much purpose.

For anyone working with fibre, I highly recommend both. There is a genuine passion at both ends of the spectrum to encourage and share knowledge and wisdom, blended with a natural wish to acheive a high level of craftsmanship.

This special psyche extends across countries and borders, and was proven during a recent trip I took to visit family living in Australia last November. With a little bit of forward planning, I was able to visit the Hervey Bay Spinners & Weavers, where I gave an inpromptu presentation of my work during the show and tell session. I was received with much interest, despite their own business and routine being interrupted... and they insisted the spectacular afternoon tea was not in my honour. For me, keeping in touch with the grass roots craft-artists movement is most comforting.

T.S.E. "Within The Square" Travelling Suitcase Update....Dates & Locations

2010-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

MADONNA

Work from previous T.S.E.

The 20x20cm tapestry weavings in this show are scheduled to be travelling through the following areas so make a note in your diary:

Christchurch 4 - 17 May 2010 #

Dunedin 10 - 20 June #

Gore 10 July - 8 August #

Wellington 15 - 29 August

Titirangi 9 September - 3 October #

Tauranga 12 - 26 October #

Keri Keri 7 - 21 November

Whangarei 28 November - 10 December

Palmerston North 17 - 31 December #

Eltham 7 January - 4 February 2011 #

(Hash denotes comfirmed gallery booking as at Dec. 2009)

I will post a list of the actual galleries and venues as they become available to me. This years show should have some interesting pieces in it as it is the first time the shape of the work has not been restricted to a squared piece of weaving. As long as the work is able to fit within the designated space of 20x20cm, it will conform with the breif.

I have two booklets written by N.Z. tapestry weaver Diane Ammar that describe how to weave non-traditional shapes. She has run many workshops on the subject, teaching her method, and this exhibition may prove to be an opportunity to view the results of her enthusiasm and encouragement for this weaving technique.

2010-02-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

And that's the great thing about the Travelling Suitcase, it's a wonderful opportunity for quiet unknown weavers or students who have attended specific workshops to have their work up on the wall beside some of the countries better known tapestry weavers.

This is my first ever entry into The Travelling Suitcase Exhibition from around 1997/98.

The idea for the design was taken from a wood print I had previously been working on a few years earlier.

SNAPS FROM THE ARCHIVE 1990-2000

2010-02-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

RAPUNZEL GETS A LIFE

One of a pair from an exhibition held at Hauraki House Gallery. Although the weavings were obviously referenced from Nusery Tales, they were fantastically dark little pieces. Simplicity sometimes works strong magic and these were sold during the exhibition.

I have mis-placed your name but thanks to the buyer for your support, and I hope you are still enjoying the work.

2010-02-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

Some time during the mid/late nineties a Keith Haring Exhibition was shown in Wellington if I remember rightly. His simplicity of line and movement was incredibly inspiring for me.

Social comment in an abstract or sparse art work, subtle or otherwise, has the ability to show time and place in a multi layered type of way. This weaving from Inquision/Supperstition is one of a pair.

I have been interested in working collaboratively with someone on a larger mural-type weaving for quite a while now. If there are any community mined artists out there with roots in the street art movement and who have a mature and focused desire to work on a joint project involving tapestry weaving, get in touch.

2010-02-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

Ahhh.... The beautiful Coromandel. What better place to have gathered up the kids and moved to.

With quartz crystals in the foothills towering over you and the sea surrounding you, always in the background, where ever you go.

If you have never been to Coromandel it is one of the most beautiful places north of Taupo to visit. Take an adventure up the Thames Coast road to visit a community packed to the rafters with fellow artisans. Check out the Annual Arts Trail if you can, which runs Fri-Sun over 4 consecutive weekends during late summer. Participating artists have their studios open, and it is a fantastic way for children to see and learn about art in the making.

2010-02-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

K. ROAD KENNY
In 2000 my son and I moved from our comfy nest in Coromandel township, into a new temporary one on K. Road in Auckland city.

The front door of the flat opened directly onto the chaos of one of the countries busiest and most notorious inner city streets. It was in dramatic contrast to what me, the brash Earth Mother and my Rudolf Steiner educated boy were used to.

There were many, many K.Rd Kenny's living on or around Karangahape Road, and this is a weaving of one of them.

Although not a calm place to live it was probably one of the safest places to live in Auckland city. Thanks for sharing the adventure Izack, I hope you forgive me.

E.P.I. EXPLAINED

2010-01-31T19:27:00.000-08:00

Ends per inch or e.p.i. are used to indicate the number of warps (vertical threads) that the tapestry weaving is woven onto for every inch you measure across the completed work.
For example the rug you can see being woven on the loom here is set at approximately 5 e.p.i. This means that for every inch across the entire horizontal row of the warp threads there are 5 vertical threads. This is referred to as a low warp.

It also means that creating vertical lines in this particular rug design should be avoided as much as possible. The low number of e.p.i. will always dictate the limitations of the end design.

E.P.I. CONTINUED....

2010-01-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Woven on a much finer warp thread at approximately 10 e.p.i. allows for more detail to be incorporated into a design. Being woven at 10 ends-per-inch still makes it a reasonably low warp count and the jump from vertical warp-to-warp threads is clearly noticeable where the line of the cheek on the face meets the main background. If the warp had been set at 20 e.p.i. this would be far less obvious, however the hours of work involved completing it would be much increased.

I love this weaving …Beyond The Wall Of Melancholy

Every now and again you produce a piece of work that you feel is as close to what you were trying to create as you wanted. For me this is definitely one of those pieces. By having such a strong visual impact, it manages to strike a chord with viewers, and got a half page review in the FEATURE PLUS section of the Timaru Herald when it was exhibited at the Aigantighe Gallery while promoting the 2009 National Creative Fibre Exhibition in April last year. It is often this type of unexpected hands-on support from people who are unfamiliar with me or my work that feed the artist within….. Soul food is good too.

* If you would like to help feed the artist without, the piece remains unsold and represents approximately 40 hours work. Offers that support the principles of N.Z. Fair Trade can be sent to me via my blogspot E-mail address.

"Chester" What you see is what you get.

2010-01-31T02:54:00.000-08:00

Another one from the archives... This weaving has been woven facing this way up, or across the weaving as you are veiwing it. The strength of the horizontal lines in the design dominate the weaving. There aren't that many verticals, and the few obvious ones are manageable enough to weave without having too much affect on the resulting image. Despite the clean lines of his shirt, he looks a little strung out and devious, and although this has absoblutely nothing to do with the weaving process it is never the less still worth noting. Compare the flow lines of the hair in this weaving with the one below, and you are now able to view tapestry weaving with a more technical eye for details.

Although this is an early work that is reasonably basic in its design and construction, I still find weavings like this unashamedly simple and compelling.

Which Way is Up?

2010-01-31T02:36:00.000-08:00

This archival weaving is a good example of how the design dictates the direction of the weaving process. This piece, and the weaving "Moehau" below, were woven sideways so to speak. If you look at the images with this in mind it is easy to see that vertical lines in a design need to be carefully planned, and that these vertical lines will ultimately determine whether the piece will be woven on the loom vertically or horizontally.

TEXTURE & SURFACE

2010-01-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

I have always preferred to use a selection of yarns in the weavings I produce, and for me the mixing of these different wools, cottons and rayons in particular give the weaving a less flattened and more interesting appearance. When trying to present 2-dimensional fibre art as fine art, I like to enhance the texture of the surface, especially as my weavings tend to be pictorial and the images in them easily identifiable.

The use of texture range is important in the weaving if the veiwer is likely to critique it in the same context as a 2-dimensional painting, As much as that, having all those cones of scrappy odds & ends feeds the magpie in me, and gives an excuse for all the space-wasters in my studio storage area to exist.

Travelling Suitcase Exhibition 2010

2010-01-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

I have been contributing work for the Travelling Suitcase Exhibition since 1998. This is a non-selected exhibition of 20 x 20 cm. tapestry weavings produced by N.Z. weavers, and is open to anyone who is a member of The N.Z. Tapestry Network.

The Exhibition spends a year travelling the country from venue to venue in both the North and South Islands. It is well supported by some of New Zealands leading weavers and I highly recommend viewing the exhibition if it has a venue near you. Here is a sneak preview of one of the two weavings I have been working on for this years show. I will put the dates and venues of this years T.S.E. up in one of my next posts.

CLASSES

2010-01-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

If you would like to have a list of classes and activities sent to you, please contact me through the e.Mail address shown on this page.... warpedartanddesign@gmail.com

Do'nt forget to let me know your area of interest and where you live.

Welcome.....

2010-01-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new WARPED ART & DESIGN blog site. I will be posting updates of what I am working on, as well as letting you know of other events and activities that may be of interest to you. Some of this may be as grass roots as what's going on within my own local Spinners & Weavers, through to events and exhibitions that may be of interest to you.

It is my intent to make better use of my studio this year and to get some basic workshops up and running on a semi-regular basis. I will list workshops as they become available.

Although weaving is the focus of my own work, there are many young women in particular who are wanting to learn more about the very basics of fibre construction. Feel free to make contact with me if you think your group or organisation may be interested in learning the basics and more when it comes to weaving, spinning, or knitting.

Work on the loom

2010-01-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

This woven portrait "Evad" won the Creative Fibre - Gisler Architects Award for Excellence in Artistic Design, when it was exhibited at the Creative Fibre Experience 2009 in Hamilton last year.
Working with what appears to be a predominantly black and white colour palette is a challenge for all fibre artists, and this piece was no exception. It measures approximately 1.3 metres by 900 cm. and took about 90-100 hours to complete; from the first stage of photo adjustment for the weavable design through to its final readiness for hanging.

Portrait Weaving in the making... Note the original photo above the weaving. This is used by the weaver as constant point of cross referencing while the work is being woven on the loom.