Teachers and Lessons

For the latest issue of the American Tapestry Alliance’s quarterly journal, Tapestry Topics, the theme editor, Micala Sidore, asked:

What teacher (or teachers) have had particular consequence for your work as a tapestry weaver?

I didn’t have to think about it for long: Marcel Marois, because he was the first teacher who was supportive of my choice to weave tapestries that translate the marks of my paintings and drawings. That validation, which came at a crucial point, helped me to trust my instincts and continue in my own direction.

I also learned one very important practical lesson from Marcel: when weaving with 2 contrasting colors in my weft bundle, I learned to make a conscious decision about how the 2 colors interact. 

The dark wefts can always be on top of the light ones, or always underneath, or any combination of the two.

The weft can be twisted carefully, or it can be allowed to twist at random. At this point, with my black and white Chaos series, I am choosing to control almost every dot to get the exact effect I want.

Marcel also suggested that, in the tapestries I was weaving from watercolor designs, adding a thin white thread (I used silk) would give the impression of the white paper showing through the translucent paint.

This is “Secret Message,” and you can see “Secret Message 2”  here.

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