I just finished a wool open warp transparent tapestry workshop for the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers. I will post more soon about the experiments of the enthusiastic and congenial students.
It is so fun to share the work of Frida Hansen and her followers with new fans who examine the works closely. They find design elements I haven’t noticed, even when I’ve seen them many times. Last September in a workshop a student parsed out nets, fish and jellyfish I hadn’t seen in a transparent tapestry by Ingeborg Arbo. Read: “Finding Woven Fish.”
This time, when looking at an image of Frida Hansen’s Sommernattsdrøm [Summer Night’s Dream], 1914, someone pointed out, “Look at all of the lovebirds in the tree.”
My favorite parts of the this transparency are rose bushes below the tree and the meandering moonlight in the water. Some students in my classes have chosen to weave a section of the rosebush, variations of this detail.
So I hadn’t even noticed the sweet lovebirds. I will weave a chubby pair for an experiment as soon as my large piece is off the loom.
Thank you so much to the Philadelphia Guild and my students. I felt like Rocky on my last morning before the plane ride home, on a fabulous downtown walk with my host, Linda Perry.
