Mid-year Catching Up!

Oops! It's been half a year since I posted. I used to write in my blog almost weekly (and daily sometimes, espeically when I was at a retreat or teaching a workshop). These days I mostly post to Instagram about the tapestry work (and a few other studio things going on). So I'm going to do a quick summary of the year 2026 so far. I spent a wonderful week with my friends Beth & Fran in February. They came from Texas (Beth) and Florida (Fran) to spend the days with me at the studio here in Dahlonega. We first met in the fall of 1965 when we three entered North Georgia College as freshmen. We've stayed in touch over these decades and gotten together whenever we could—sometimes years apart. It was a great few days. We always do "studio time" and this year I introduced them to tapestry weaving! Each designed and wove a small tapestry in the evenings. During the days we had adventures out and about. We've already gotten plans for next year's adventures and I hope we can continue to do these times together for many more years to come.

In early March I taught for a week at John C. Campbell Folk School. The class was based on the tapestries of one of the early weavers at the Folk School, Alice Tipton. She wove lyrical landscapes and we were able to see several of her tapestries that are in the Folk School's collection during the week. Very inspirational to have those tapestries in hand to get a real feeling for her process. 

Later in March tapestries were delivered to the Roy C. Moore Gallery of UNG Gainesville for a solo exhibit. That show was up until June. There was a reception and artist talk on April 1 and a few weeks later I met with one of the faculty members and her students to talk abbout my work in the gallery. 

 

 In April I was in Asheville, NC to do a book talk and workshop at Local Cloth. I had a full class and there were lots of interesting approaches to "marking time" with tapestry (the topic of the workshop). It was the first time I've been to the River Arts District in Asheville after the devestation of Hurricane Helene in 2024. The recovery efforts made by the Local Cloth volunteers was amazing! I saw photos of the interior flooding earlier and to see what they've been able to do to reclaim their building is amazing! 

 

On May 12th I arrived for a week's stay at the Hambidge Center—and that afternoon as I was moving in I hit my tibia HARD on the edge of the bed frame and caused a massive contusion. It was quite painful and I decided to leave after a couple of days; came back home to see my orthopedic doctor for x-rays and treatment. Luckily there were no fractures but there's still a lump eight weeks later, even after several weeks of physical therapy. Even though I left too early, the couple of days at Hambidge gave me a chance to try a few things.

 

May 16th the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild held a reception for their members' exhibit that was being held in the Atrium Gallery at the UNG Gainesville campus. After the awards ceremony there we went across campus to see my exhibit. 

 

In late June I cut off the tapestry I'd been working on since finishing the ginkgo piece in January. It's the second one done on the Glimakra tapestry loom. There's enough warp remaining to do a smaller piece on it before re-warping and I'm working on design ideas for that now. 

I haven't gotten a good photo of the tapestry; below is the tapestry on the right and the painting I based the design on at the left. 

 Maybe it won't be another six months before I post again? Time will tell!