another day, many more passes

OK, those of you who weave tapestry recognize the term "pass"--and you know we're not down on the main street in Gatlinburg trying to fend off unwelcome advances from strangers!

A pass, for you others out there, is the term used for the two alternating trips of the weft that, used one after the next, make a completion of the plain weave sequence. One trip of the weft is commonly called a "pick"--so two picks make one pass. A major goal for this week is for each person to come to a clear understanding and recognition of what makes up a pass and then how to use passes that travel in opposite directions, yet in the same shed. This is the essence of what I'm teaching. Good old meet and separate technique is used in many traditions of tapestry throughout the world and across time, and this is what I use primarily in my own work.

We had a treat today in a visit to the campus from a nearby dealer of tribal rugs. The gentleman comes once during each workshop session to set up outside and show and (maybe) sell his work. When I asked today how he got into the business, he replied that he was a rug collector and his collection began to grow and grow.




One of the beautiful Iranian kilims with him today (and that Gerda and Jennifer are admiring here) he said he'd sold to someone about twenty years ago. That rug had recently returned to him as the couple changed living arrangements with retirement.



The days are very full here, although the official class time is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a lunch break between 12 and 1:30, other activities are planned in the afternoon and evening after dinner. Three nights each week art work of faculty, resident artists and studio assistants are shown in the auditorium; on other occasions during the workshop session there are demonstrations in studios, and visit to the resident artists' studios. This afternoon, just after class and before dinner there was a reception for Friends of Arrowmont, at which David Willard, director of the school, talked about the current situation with the potential sale of the land Arrowmont leases from Pi Beta Phi. Lots of folks throughout the nation have learned about this situation from many sources. David said that everything the Board of Governors for Arrowmont knows is constantly updated on their website (link here).

Tonight I was one of three of the faculty to make a presentation of my work to anyone who wanted to attend. Faculty presentations happen on two or three nights each session and might be slides and/or demonstrations--I did a little of both, showing images in a powerpoint slide show and then doing a quick demonstration of tapestry weaving with a small frame loom I took into the auditorium. After that session ended, most everyone on campus went back to their studios for another hour or two of work--some students and faculty won't get to their rooms until the studios are locked tonight at 1 a.m.

So far, all's going pretty well for everyone...small challenges here and there but each seems to be able to be worked out pretty quickly and easily. Phyllis is driving a number of miles every night as isn't staying on campus so she's maybe feeling a little frayed. But she's accomplishing quite a bit with her Hagen loom and we'll rewarp it with a continuous warp on Thursday so when she takes it home with her on Friday she'll have enough warp ready to go to try out the design she's been wanting to tackle since an earlier workshop she took.

Jennifer has a concert coming up soon so brought her harp to Arrowmont; she's practicing each day after lunch and before coming back to the weaving studio--I caught her outside today.



Gerda wanted to get some sun today so we took a weaving bench across the way to the wood studio where she wove for the afternoon. I'd go over to check with her periodically to see if she had questions and to see how things were progressing with her.




Tomorrow we'll tackle color blending using 20/2 worsted wool, four fold. We've dealt with meet and separate over and over and over...have done a sampling of angles, a bit of hatching, learned to solved the addition of another shape between shapes, and solve the M/S problem, stitched slit edges as we go (thanks to Susan and Archie's method), and one has begun pick and pick. So, color blends tomorrow as well as discussion of design, cartoons, options for plaching cartoon to warp (inking on or stitching cartoon to back).

Our first full day of class was indeed full!

Each time I teach a workshop it seems that every day is really two days long. So much information shared and skills begun--it always gives an intensity to the class. All three students are working quite hard, each in her own way, to understand what they're doing and why and they're facing lovely challenges along their way.

Phyllis prepares her Hagen loom

Gerda moves through diagonals.

Jennifer (not as startled while weaving as she appears here!)

Let's see, I've only mentioned Archie and Susan's names maybe four times today.  Comments that begin with "Archie recommends...." or "Susan says...." tend to fall out of my mouth frequently as each day I weave I try to pay tribute to just a few of the lessons I've learned from both those wonderful artists and teachers in the past.  And I hope I can in some way share what I've learned with others.

So, here are a few quick shots of today's studio happenings.  And speaking of happenings, as I was leaving the building heading to dinner this afternoon around 5:30 the sun was shining through a stained glass window that's installed high above the gallery.  A wonderful ceramics exhibit is up now and the colored light just happened to be shining on the wall on which were displayed platter forms that were glazed in violet, green and red-orange creating a stunning juxtaposition of color in substance and light.

And so it begins...

My class started tonight at Arrowmont. I came up yesterday to get my studio set up...but...didn't make it here in time to unload the car as I'd hoped! I got here around 4:30, thinking that the building would be open until 5, as I'd been told, but it was closed. My housing assignment was posted so I found my way to my room with no problem at all so I settled in there and entertained myself during the evening as I waited to see what today would bring; we have wireless here in our rooms and I brought my laptop so, after going to Subway for dinner, I checked e-mails, read online news, and got my thoughts together about class today.
  
This morning, I was able to get into the studio around 10, got unpacked there and the space arranged for the three students I have this week--what a treat, to have only three people to work with! I hope each and every one will be able to get what they want from the class, as is always is my desire with any class I teach. Two in the class have woven before and one has not. Jennifer, the new weaver, solved a problem immediately tonight in using the PVC legs for the loom I'd mentioned in yesterday's post, as they got in the way of warping...she said, "Why don't we take this one off?"--YES! Worked perfectly and that's exactly why I love to interact with people in classes...they most often add so much that I haven't yet considered! I'll post a photo of what we did with that later.

The photos tonight are of the studio taken this morning after I'd arranged the space for the first time. I made some changes since then but not many--and we'll be flexible this week with the space. Since we have such a small class we've each got a table as working space. I also put out a table dedicated to books I brought with me from my library and we can also borrow books from Arrowmont's library for the class, which I'll do throughout the week as the need might arise. They don't have lots of tapestry books but so have some. But they do have a copy of the Peter Collingwood Techniques of Rug Weaving from which I sometimes use the half-Damascus edge as a finishing method. I didn't bring my Collingwood book because of the size (big and heavy and full of information)--just knew the library here must have one! On another table next to the "tapestry weaving studio library" I've put a number of copies of ATA Tapestry Topics and the Canadian Tapestry Network Newsletter, as well as a gazillion images of tapestries I've collected over the past twenty years as postcards of exhibits, works of individual tapestry artists, etc. I just love to paw through these to be inspired and have now three very full file folders of wonderful images and I love to share them.

So, stay with me through the week...lots of photos to come of what we'll be doing, I hope!

Off to Arrowmont

Well, I'm almost packed and ready to go to my week's adventure of teaching at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. This will be my first time teaching there. I've taken several classes over the past twenty years at the school so I'm eager to have an experience from the other side. Arrowmont is in the midst of an uncertain situation right now as the property the school is located on is possibly to be sold. The link has latest news about that.

But, in my preparations for this wonderful opportunity to teach at the school while it still is as it is, I've been working hard to revise my handouts, developed over the past several years while teaching workshops. I've also gotten two new samplers underway as suggested teaching tools for the class.

I'm focusing on a really basic skill in the class, meet and separate. After moving through the first passes, getting used to moving back and forth to build vertical edges and matching passes, noticing hill (high) and valley (low) turns of the weft, we'll try a few angles to see effects of turning on a high or a low. After a bit of this meandering, a third color will be introduced. The excitement with that comes by solving the problem of meet and separate with the existing two colors moving happily in the way they should, and the third color coming in to cause a problem with one or the other! And, in tapestry weaving, this "problem" happens over and over and over again. Sewing the slit between shapes as you go will be also shown at this point.



A second sampler will have color blending as the focus using four strands of thinner wool. Then we'll move on to other things as time allows, including designing, preparing a cartoon, transferring it to the warp (or stitching it behind), and following it. I'll be showing a few finishing and display options.

We'll have wireless available in the studio so I hope that we'll be able to visit the ATA website to see the wealth of information there, along with many of the other wonderful resources available on the web.

AND, I was very pleased with myself yesterday for coming up with a solution to making my copper pipe looms (Archie Brennan's design) stand on a table. A student whom I'd had at John Campbell Folk School last year had given me a set of wooden legs that he'd made for my loom, based on some he saw at a workshop at Vesterheim. I haven't been able to have more of those made but wanted to have an option for setting the frame loom on a table. I've found that in workshops some people have trouble holding the loom in their lap and bending over it as they weave, tiring their necks and backs. Anyway, I started thinking about plumping pipe components in PVC and went to the local hardware store where they typically leave me alone, staring into their hardware bins, to figure things out when I'm working on a project. After several minutes of digging through various bins, I found the combination T joins that slip onto the bottom of the pipe loom, with a threaded opening to allow for a 12" pipe length to be screwed in. This then extends behind the loom serving as a leg, one on each side (got to put the legs on to the bottom of the frame before the loom's assembled and warped, of course!). I put a cap on each of the leg ends and angled them together, holding in place with a rubber band. Works fine to hold the loom up and will be as stable as needed. So, now my frame looms all have little stands for them, at least the ones I'm taking to the workshop.




LATER this morning....I've just taken a break to make a run to see if I could get my car's gas tank topped off. A friend called just around 8 a.m. to tell me of three stations in town that had gas as he went by this morning. I have just over 3/4 of a tank right now, I think enough to make it to Arrowmont--but probably not back again, so I'd hoped to fill the tank before leaving town at noon today. WELL...by the time I got to two of the stations the lines of cars were backed up quite far...and I don't have time to wait, using up some of the gas I DO have. I'll just head north and hope for the best. I remember the gas shortages we were having in the 1970s...seems like old times...and unsettling signs of more to come.

So, even more reasons to concentrate on the lovely tasks of meeting and separating. If we all kept our hands to our looms we'd be better off, I think.