Another book recommendation!

Sorry to be doing this one at a time but these are fantastic books and this is the trial run. These will be on a whole list on my website coming soon as a newly revamped site. It will be in it's full final form by may so keep looking as it changes and let me know what you think.
Meanwhile, enjoy this book as well!

Book Recommendations for you!!!!!!

I've put up a new feature of recommending books that I've collected over many years,as wonderful resources for weaving and designing. Here is just the start , a test if you will.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!! ( it's only 8 days old)

Happy New Year!!

Just when I think I can't get any busier I do.

Made it through the holidays intact with many visits and fun distractions from work. My best apprentice , my grand daughter Giovanna came to help me out , ( she's the shorter apprentice)

The other is Billye, a great help and good friend now after 2 years as an apprentice. She works as a nurse practitioner at the Acoma Pueblo and helps me out on the weekends).

I was approached last year by our University Hospital inquiring if I would donate a large Tapestry to their very extensive and magnificent Contemporary Art Collection, and have a solo show in their Gallery Space, the Jon Abrams Gallery so that is scheduled for July 2011.Here are pics of the piece I intend to donate in progress and finished , on January 1st!! What a nice feeling to have completion on the very first day of the New Year! It turned out to be 77" long, longer than any since my 16 footer for an atrium of an office building a while back.

After Christmas I was asked by Weaving Southwest Gallery in Taos NM to have a Solo Show in April and I jumped at the chance. And have been busy with interviews and arrangements for the show and an accompanying article in the Taos Magazine that will come out in March. Now I really need to chain myself to the loom!

But then wouldn't you know I received 2 orders from 2 different people that were the right sizes to do together , ( How Serendipitous! Rarely happens!) Their deadline is January 31st. Last week I had an appointment with a student to evaluate her 2 looms and help her set one up and give warping lesson. I provide this service locally although I have been able to evaluate some looms by photographs , but they need to be extensive.

Now with these obligations out of the way it's back to the loom!

Happy December!

Year is winding down so I thought I'd post a whole lot of pictures

, of the "Buddy' class with Ida and Jeanne , ida's 1st and Jeannes's second class.

I especially adapted the class for Jeanne to help her fill her toolbox with more tapestry tools that she will use in a design she is working on.

Pictures of my booth at the Weems Artfest. Jeanne and Ida helped me set up and each came a day to help me . I actually had lunch outside of my booth! and My apprentice , Billye came on the last day so help everyday, Thanks so much to all of you.The first day was very exciting as I won a "BEST IN SHOW" ribbon and prize money for my newest "Fractured Square " piece. Then I sold a big piece from my Universal Language series ( left side of booth, top right) and a medium sized piece ( right side of booth, top left).

Really made my show!!

And then the Friday after Weems ( I did take Monday off , went to Taos on Tuesday, and cleaned the studio wednesday and Thursday) a new student, Barb, came to take a 4 day class. A very talented student , who caught on quickly, with just a little weaving experience.

Now it's back to weaving, preparing to move my household yet again in the New Year, and working on revamping my website and Blog. So much to do , so little time soooo Back to the Loom!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What a busy month! Almost missed a blog posting in October when I should have had 2! yikes! and oh well, c'est la vie! And what a vie, feasting now on the great quantity of winter squash that 3 little vines turned out. And all the teaching this month. My Taos Wool Festival class was full and successful. Judy(below Teri) Margy and and Teri (above)rented looms from the Festival

and were able to finish their pieces.

I recommend the rental method , especially if the student has a floor loom with a beater bar they want to use at home to do their tapestries. I teach this method exclusively, a line by line technique instead of the build up method. I teach students to embrace the grid rather than fight it, at least initially, and I teach a design method of getting the most impact for the least outlay of technique, time and material.

The other 2 students brought their collapsable ( so cool) rigid heddle looms, because that was what they will be using at home initially. Yes, you can weave tapestry on a rigid heddle, not so easily and the tensioning is not as tight as I like but it works. The festival treated me well, putting me up right where the classes were, feeding me breakfast and letting me use their microwave for my cheap dinners in my room zoning out watching HBO. A fun working vacation that I'll try and do again.I encourage all you students out there to come to Taos next year for a great experience.

Then home again to a month of frantic weaving to get ready for my biggest show of the year the WEEMS ARTFEST, this year November 12-14, a beautiful show chock ful of high quality art for those of you who might be here then, at the State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque.

Here is a pic ,of a new "Fractured Square" piece , which will be 72"x 40" and hopefully finished tomorrow, what a way to start a month! . I'm feeling the pressure of needing to remain chained to the loom as so many of the new "Fractured Squares" have sold.

But first I must conclude the class that has been here at the studio, every weekend of this month. Again , students, this is based on my other classes, minus the full day of warping as work ( still line by line) and is done on my 6' Shannock upright . 2 students can work at the same time, which is happening right now behind me, so buddy classes are very popular and remember B&B's and hotels are moderately priced and ABQ is close to good skiing and sight seeing, might as well throw a tapestry class in, as I am available with a flexible schedule, week days as well as week ends, moderately priced, and can tailor to individual levels, beginning to advanced.

Next month I 'll try and keep up and post pics of this class as well as the Weems show.

But now it's, scarily enough, Back to the Loom!!!

Happy Autumn!

Yes, Fall is here ( at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and

it's my favorite season,

cool temps and no WIND! I took advantage of the 90 degree weather on the last day of summer and took the afternoon off. What a great recharging idea, I'm going to keep it up, one afternoon a week just lying about.

While I was relaxing I started wondering what happened to the Mantis that lived in our yard? I think I've become a nature whisperer as this happened with a hawk earlier , Lo and behold , I spy this enormous preying or is it praying? mantis. I snapped the shot and went back to lounging when sure enough along came a hummer!

Oh they had a good 10 minute duel and I really think the mantis had high hopes, but eventually she went on her way and the hummer had a drink and I had a nap.

I have been extremely busy with a student in the studio these last 2 weekends along with dropping pieces to shows , meetings and trying to get weaving done.

Here is Jeanne working away,
and her finished piece!

I am going to The Taos Wool Festival in early October to teach a 5 day workshop and this was great practice.

The idea is to do a sampler that is also a viable tapestry on its own, learning the basics,selvedge to selvedge, I teach dovetail joins because of their strength, (joins are around a warp, not suspended between)

stair steps, 2 different angle slopes and combining the last 2 , a curve.

I teach primarily for students who have floor looms and want to use their beater bars, so it is all line by line, even though my teaching loom is a Shannock upright and we use a beating fork.Here is a picture of tying a

warp onto the dummy warp so I never have to rethread the reed or the shafts! Especially good when you are really busy.

I've got two showsin Santa Fe coming up , one in the Rail Yard District for Santa Fe Design Week that is sponsored by the NM chapter of National Museum of Women in the Arts.

If you have a chapter nearby they are a great group to join.The one here does a lot of lectures and workshops and shows where you have the opportunity to put Tapestry Art on an equal footing with more traditional art forms, and its great for networking.

The other show is an Alumni Art Exhibit at St John's College, also my 30th reunion. Oh boy! I'll have my newest fractured squaresat the railyard and 2 of my math pieces at St John's.No wonder i love Math and Philosophy so much. ( We read and had to understand,ancient Greek and original Papers by Einstein, a varied education for which I am very grateful)

This top photo to left is my newest fall inspired "Fractured Square" and it will be part of a Solo Show I have been invited to do next year at UNM Hospitals prestigious Gallery and I will also be donating a large

( really LARGE and I'm planning on getting larger and larger with my work in general) Fractured Square Tapestry to their permanent collection which is a phenomenal collection!

This little one was done after winding the new warp on as a tester. Yes, the warp went on well, i probably could have started the big piece but better safe than sorry.

Now back to Fall, a time to harvest, a little bittersweet, like the japanese idea of Wabi Sabi, Ephemeral and beautiful , partly because of its fleeting ways.As you sow so shall you reap(spiritually as well as physically so apologizing for those squashed toes and stolen ideas and hurt feelings is in order), the garden harvest was pretty good,Still more beets and zucchini and those winter squashes look tasty. I have lots pesto cubes ready for quick winter dinners so I can weave away, Which I must do now, Back to the loom!

Happy August! ( Yikes its almost over!)

Yes, that was a fast month, before I knew it was here ,... it was over, or almost.

I survived the influx of Convergence with it's share of stepped on toes ( ouch!) and noses poked where they didn't belong, but it had its share of bright spots. One such bright spot was a visit by a Tapestry Artist from Providence RI, Jan Austin.Here is her link, austintapestry.blogspot.com/ (The color has changed and I don't know why? Bloggers?)and Thanks Jan for your link to me in your last post.

The proverbial photo of photo taking referencing infinities ( see jan's last post for a Pic of me taking this) and one of Jan posed in front of the sister piece to the Weaving Southwest photo from the recent article in USA Today http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/summerroadtrip/index.( I was a little nervous about these images of my pieces as I have had recent copyright troubles)

But the visit with Jan was great and she is a joy.

Then Mercury went retrograde and everthing possible broke from the fuse box which my air compressor uses, to no internet, no e- mail, to a broken board on the deck. I'm still trying to fix the light in the utility room. And then an influx of visitors, including my best apprentice, my granddaughter, who mastered dovetail joins quicker than I've ever seen. A quick trip to CA and back delivering college student and stuff and I'm back to the loom. In between I finished a warp , put a new one on ( 9 1/2 yards every 3 months) and reshuffled my show in Madrid NM(Left) to be able to put a new " Fractured Square" ( Reds Blacks & Golds) in a beautiful nook in the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History's Gallery Store, (RIGHT).

At the end and the beginning of a warp I do little pieces anywhere from 2-6 pieces at the same time. I ended with the 4 little "Feng Shuis" ( 10"x 10") $110 ea in brighter colors this time ,

and began the new warp with 3 little panorama pieces of "Fractured Squares" 7"x13". I hope to finish them today! YAY!

And another bright spot was my little Trader Joes $8 orchid that bloomed again and is still blooming!

Recently there have been so many disparaging comments on "Contemporary Tapestry" and Southwest Tapestry" As someone who creates works of Art in this genre using Tapestry as my mediumI feel compelled to respond somewhat to all this. Firstly, ERUDITE is a good word, not a put down (having or showing great knowledge or learning.) I definitely am drawn to bold graphic images and that is what I create . I never expect everyone to have this same aesthetic, it is my path and that is all. All truly authentic paths have equal value, however sometimes the distilled and simplified is harder to grasp and understand and often quite difficult to pull off.

I could go on and on but I'll end with a picture of my glass collection window. I found most all of them from the thrift store or from artist friends and I was inspired by a short story by AS Byatt.I love her writing and I love Glass!!

And now back to the Loom!