I taught two workshops, back to back, at the Damascus Fiber Art School near Portland, Oregon. I traded the smoky Minnesota skies from Canadian and northern Minnesota forest fires for the smoke of Oregon fires. Red eyes aside, It was a marvelous experience, with interested and creative students, and the best possible hosts, Linda and Dan Gormley. After the first couple of days, I was able to see the tip of Mount Hood atop the trees in their yard. Cool, I thought, until I realized that plumes of smoke were building like a thundercloud behind it.
On the one hand, it was challenging to teach six days in one week, and my voice is still hoarse. It’s hard to get to know 24 students very well in one week. On the other hand, my husband pointed out that I’ve had many days of no household responsibilities. Plus, think of all the fun emails I am going to receive as students finish the pieces they started in class.
One person in the first workshop, Jaime Runyan, finished her piece already! Her inspiration was a book of Nordic designs, and she adapted elements for her personal chicken piece. Notice that she added a layer of red fringe with rya knots at the bottom for an extra punch of color. I know that her diligent work will inspire the other students to get cracking.
It is always so interesting to see what images the workshop students choose to weave. Many come with no preconceived ideas (and it’s not a requirement that you do), and often choose to weave a variation of Frida Hansen flowers. Others have ideas, and during the first day we work through how the design can be woven. I was so intrigued by the design that Beth Scarthe developed with the help of Procreate on her iPad. She saw a painting on a TV show and snapped a photo from her TV screen. She abstracted it with Procreate. She changed colors. She chose a portion to weave. She wove the sections separated by lines of open warp, with a stained glass effect. I can’t wait to see the finished piece. And I am going to take her zoom class this winter on using Procreate.
With each workshop, I feel more and more that I should end every sentence of instruction with the same word–generally. For example, I told the students that in the wool open-warp technique, the woven sections of the tapestry fully cover the warp. Then, almost immediately, I showed them an exception, a photo of a marvelous tapestry woven by a Danish weaver, Mette Dahl, in which the horse’s mane is woven in a loose and lively style.
Terri Lee wove a seahorse, and told me, “I’m going to weave the back fin like the horse’s mane.”
Marina Donohue was abstracting an image of a kingfisher bird. It has spiky feathers on the back of its head, and she thought that the loose mane was a good model for getting a feathery effect. I hope she weaves quickly so we can see how the technique works out.
And finally, I showed the class my latest linen sample, in which a bumblebee is perched on a flax flower. I still haven’t figured out how I should weave the wings, I said. Two people immediately said, “The horse’s mane!” I think that name may stick.