Chaos in Maine

TWiNE 2008: A Contemporary Look at Tapestry will be at the Rivertree Center for the Arts in Kennebunk, from September 5-October 4, 2008.

Opening reception: Friday, September 5, 5-7 pm.
Tapestry Demonstration and Gallery Talks: Saturday, September 20, 1-3pm.

Rivertree Center for the Arts, 35 Western Ave, Kennebunk, ME.
Information: 207-967-9120

Tapestry Weavers in New England (TWiNE) was formed in 1991, to support contemporary tapestry artists, and to preserve and promote the ancient art of hand woven tapestry. This exhibit includes 40 tapestries by 21 artists.

My tapestry, "Chaos," was mailed last week, and although I finished it last November, this is its first time out of the studio. It was really difficult to weave, and involved a lot of "Penelopeing," tapestry weavers' jargon for unweaving.

The text was woven and unwoven at least 3 times before I was happy with it.

I used a mixture of white, black, gray and variegated yarns, in wool, silk and linen, and I spent hours turning and twisting the weft to get the black or white spots exactly in the place and at the angle that I wanted.

Here's a detail of it, so you can see the spots and specks.

"Chaos" comes from a 27 year-old oil painting of my messy studio table.

After the usual copying and dismembering, I traced a piece of it with black colored pencil, and suddenly the fallen cone of yarn started to look like a black hole in the universe.

I’ve been looking for Chaos in my work for years, and now that I’ve found it I hope it will hang around for a while.

Home Again

It's good to be home again, even though home is where the chores are! The garden is a mess, and I'm making "To Do " lists again, but I am managing to find some time every day to work in the studio.

I finally finished the grid tapestry that I started on vacation. This is the one I designed while on hold with the Dell tech support guy in India.

Since I still have some warp left, I decided to use the same composition with different colors, and I was in the mood for yellow.

I don't know how long that mood will last....it's VERY yellow isn't it?
It's hard for me to limit myself to just a few colors, but it's a useful exercise, and I like the way this one is turning out so far.

If you look very carefully you'll see a little piece of purplish blue wool that I'm thinking of adding for some tiny spots that just were not working out in any of the other colors.

I am trying to finish it so I can start another project I have in mind for this loom. I want to warp it up with some very fat warp.

I've been making it on my spinning wheel, by plying together 4 strands of an off white wool, with some very thin gray.

Meanwhile I have another Chaotic Fragments tapestry in the very beginning stages on another loom.

For my birthday, my husband assembled my new, used 24" Shannock loom, and I can't wait to try it out.

So as usual, I have too many irons in the fire, and too many UFO's in the studio.



Don't worry, nothing dangerous, they are just Un-Finished Objects. I need to spend a few weeks framing all of the small tapestries I have woven on various frame looms over the years. It's much more fun to start weaving something new, so I procrastinate.