Community Threads: Day 7

The countdown is on. One more week before my solo exhibition Wholeness opens and since the Community Threads project is part of the exhibit and there are a lot of things to get done before. Barb Hilts popped by hoping to chat with me about those exhibition details, alas I had to stay anchored to Alice's Attic to get everything ready for next week. Barb, herself a fibre artist and Gibson Centre gallery curator, must be recognized for her important contribution to this project. She invited me to submit a proposal to the Gibson Centre for an exhibition and then it snowballed from there.
There's nothing like working in a team and today we worked really well together. I think the best kind of art is one that involves lots of other people, with all their gifts and talents that they bring to the table. Actors, singers and even musicians get to experience collaboration with others, but it doesn't often happen for craftspeople and visual artists. For me this is a revitalizing and refreshing way to work together with others to make all of this happen.
Lots of people showed up to lend a helping hand and we don't have pictures of all of those who did show up today. Here Nicolas Rodrigo volunteered to continue working on the cartoons for the tapestries, enlarging the designs into the size of the finished piece. The picture above, from left to right, Corrie Parsons, Nellie Waterson, Jean Kazmierczak and Janet Fayle and I know that Nathalia Smugden also came to help out with finishing my tapestries. Elisabeth Bishof worked on one of the smaller tapestry looms. She said that she enjoys the preparation more than the weaving, but thought she might like to try the tapestry. Dawna Beatty worked on a guild weaving project.
Our main challenge today was figuring out a way to position our cartoons on the gobelin loom so that they would remain attached while weaving. I think it took about 6 of us to devise a method, without making permanent physical adjustments to the loom that is only lent to us. Finally we found a way and we were ready to start weaving. In this photo from left to right, Jada Needles giving a massage to Sandi Nemenyi who is beside Linda Needles. We must thank Linda for taking many of the photographs that we used for the designs of the tapestries. The two people who started the first few rows of the tapestry weaving was Lucy Tavares and Sandi Nemenyi and Sharon Robinson made movies and took pictures of the events as they unfold.

Here, Nada tries her hand at tapestry weaving.

We had many special guests today. Above you saw that Jada Needles joined in on the weaving, but her brother Clark also came along and stayed with us for the day.
Here, the president of the South Simcoe Arts Council tried her hand at weaving on the tapestry and said that she could stay all day. It made her forget about everything else.

We were also very pleased that Angela Drainville, the Executive Director of the Gibson Centre, joined us with her son, Cohen.

Sandi Nemenyi sits with Chris, who was looking longingly at wanting to try her hand at the tapestry weaving. Alas, she broke her arm (or wrist) while out jogging on a trail. Not only that, she fell on it twice on the same jog! Ouch. That had to hurt!

Sandi shows the design she is translating into tapestry.

Linda Needes brought in the Alliston Herald dated August 16 which features a great article and pictures of the project. My scanner isn't working right now but as soon as it is I'll post it on the blog, hopefully in the next few days. Linda Needles spoke to one of the Gibson Centre board members last and they would like to visit and see our progress.Someone from the historical society also approached Linda, said they'd like to come to the Gibson Centre for one of their monthly meetings, possibly in February or so, in order to see the tapestries and hear the story of them. Now that’s community outreach!

Community Threads: Day 5

Linda Needles, president of her guild, is one of the dynamic forces at the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners in Alliston. She sent me all kinds of links and pictures related to tapestry weaving. I'll post them at the end of the blog for you to reference and learn more about tapestry as well as about historical and contemporary tapestry practices. Of the many images she sent me, this one was included. It is taken at Stirling Castle in Scotland where they are recreating the historical Unicorn tapestries.

There were various tasks to accomplish today. The guild participants helped me in the finishing of my tapestries recently off the loom in an effort to have them ready for the exhibition opening Wholeness, September 11 between 2-5pm at the Gibson Centre for Community, Art and Culture, 63 Tupper Street West. An intensive effort as they soon discovered. This task requires hours of inserting the weft threads into the 'tunnel' that the weft thread creates as it passes over the warp threads.
In this picture, from left to right, Janet Fayle, Elisabeth Bishof, and Betty C.

The advantage of such a task when undertaken with others, is that it is one of those jobs that you can engage in conversation easily. So lots of chatting went on. From left to right, Nellie, our new OHS president Sandi Nemenyi, and Janet .
As I listen to them talking among each other I clearly see that these women make valuable contirubtions to their community. Sharon Robinson Rodrigo summed it up beautifully when she said that these kinds of cultural activities are community building activities. It builds morale, lifts the spirits of not only those who make the contributions but also those who will benefit from their contributions. People like Linda Needles who works to fundraise for a digital mammography machine, Sandi Nemenyi who puts in countless hours voluntarily and unpaid for the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners, Janet Fayle, whose good sense of order and organization keeps the Nottawasaga Guild running smoothly, Sharon Robinson Rodrigo who puts in volunteer hours for her church, and their youth camp as well as their endeavours to send aid to Haiti. All of you that have come out to participate in the Community Threads project ....I can only say it is such a generous gesture to participate in a project of this scope. I'm sure there are many more of you that contribute in other ways that I have not heard of and you deserve a great round of applause. These community and volunteer efforts contribute to our 'wholeness', to the 'wholeness' of one's community and various organizations , which makes this entire endeavour so compatible with my upcoming exhibit entitled Wholeness.
In this picture Sharon Robinson Rodrigo and Linda Needles prepare the paper that will be layered between the warp threads on the gobelin loom.

We learned today that the Gibson Centre has a TV monitor in the reception area where they post pictures of the activities that take place there. I'll be submitting pictures to the Gibson Centre for that purpose....so head's up, your picture might be there! The South Simcoe Arts Council friended us on 'Facebook' and is very supportive of our undertaking. They have made a contribution to the Community Threads project.


Libby Hoffman and Nathalia Smugden finished setting up the warps on the smaller tapestry looms we'll be using. Nathalia mentioned that she took Ukrainian weaving for several years at the Banff School of Art and recalls the luxury of having a swim morning and night, and weaving all day in between. We talked about how wonderful it is to be able to dedicate time to an activity we feel passionate about and love doing. Time out from the usual mundande domestic chores. Time to just focus on what matters to us. Time to not take care of anyone else but ourselves. We all need to do that once in awhile, to feel whole, to feel renewed!

The final preparations of the warp on the gobelin loom overseen by Gayle Wheeler on the right. Valerie Splaine and Elisabeth Bishof undertake the task. Gayle has studied tapestry with Marcel Marois and Archie Brennan ( and also studied with me!). You should ask Gayle what is was like to work with Marcel and Archie. I'm sure it would be intriguing and very interesting!

I spent the day on the floor preparing the colour combinations and butterflies for the one of the twelve tapestries. Everything had to be coded for the days when I won't be available to help.

Below the promised links to other tapestry information, historical and contemporary forwarded by Linda Needles.
This link makes reference to an artist who commissioned the Victorian Tapestry Workshop to create his designs for tapestries that are still hanging in Saskatchewan. See page 12 of the transcripts of this talk given.
http://tapestrycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/8th-annual-lecture-walker1.pdf
This link is to the Stirling Castle tapestries
http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/tapestries
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/edinburgh-scotland-c-2631/

Canongate Kirk - "kirk," that's what they call churches in Scotland - is at
the lower end of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, near Holyrood Palace.

Built in 1690, its plain, light-blue interior, without embellishments such
as stained-glass windows, reflects the country's conversion to Protestantism
in the 16th century, under fire-and-brimstone-breathing Scottish preacher
John Knox.

But in 2000, some truly lovely and moving elaborations were made to the
otherwise Spartan church in the form of embroidered seat cushions for the
stalls in the apse.

Commissioned by the Fife, Lothians and Borders branch of the Normandy
Veterans Assn., they commemorate the soldiers who died, fighting to liberate
Europe during World War II, on D-day.

Fine three-stranded wool thread dyed in a rainbow of colors was used by
textile artists from all over the world, in patterns well-known to crewel
workers, including Scottish and Gobelin stitchery. The result is radiant,
though it's doubtful that Knox would agree.
Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Day Two Community Threads tapestries

The excitement emanating from the participants and filling the room generated by the Community Threads project has increased exponentially from last week. It was palpable. It is galvanizing weavers, painters, Gibson Centre staff, in a positive, stimulating and creative way. The joy in the room was abundant and I felt so lucky to be a part of this Community Threads project.















So lucky to see transformed before me the participants faces, as their fear about going outside their comfort levels subsided, their self doubts pushed aside, and they joined in the fun. People who were not comfortable in painting last week, joined in this week, bringing paintings they had tried on their own, and joined the others in continuing to create paintings today. People like Flo Thomson (above) who has been in Alliston since 2003 and has lived in Ontario for a number of decades and originally from Newfoundland. Today Flo decided to paint the Obelisk in Alliston, a monument to the founder of Alliston, William Fletcher, 1791-1871.


Lucia Tavares came out today and without reservation jumped in and created a painting towards the project.










Jean Kazmierczak preparing skeins.












Other activities were occurring at the same time. Elizabeth Bishof, Jean Kazmierczak and Nellie Waterson were helping to prepare wool skeins for the dyeing we’ll be doing with Pat Burns Wedland and Barbara Hilts August 6 & 7. The dyed yarn will be then be used in the weaving of the tapestries. Nellie mentioned that the town of New Tecumseh was named in honour of an Shawnee Chief (1768-1813). On line I learned that he fought against white rule, but ended up joining forces with the British in the war of 1812 when they captured Detroit.

Nellie Waterson winding balls from skeins.














Libby Hoffman painted the Gibson trucks, Janet Fayle created a number of landscapes
A few participants braved doing figures....Linda Needles of Scottish dancers, Sandi Nemenyi of a pianist, Mattie Sullivan of hockey players and Allanah Bishof of a female guitarist. All had never tried figures before so they must be commended on taking the risk. Carol Watson, an artist and felter, contributed a winter scene, and will bring in others to contribute to the Community Threads project. Barbara Hilts also got on the painting bandwagon. Barb said she would reserve the gallery for October 2013, when we will hang all 12 tapestries and present the self guided brochure which she will create.

Libby Hoffman












Assembling the Gobelin Loom

Carol Watson, Gayle Wheeler and Dawna Beattie












with chief engineer Mattie Sullivan












The gobelin loom set up.


























Judy Pirone from the Alliston Independent who wants to feature the Community Threads project in the paper and weave the tapestries. Beside her Mattie and Flo.

I applaud all of the participants in going outside their comfort level. It is so endearing to see how very humble everyone is about their own artistic and creative talents. How courageous of them to attempt to paint and to create these paintings which will later be translated into tapestries. Their lack of confidence in their artistic abilities only made for more vibrant, vital paintings. I think these feelings are a very important part of the creative process requiring a vulnerability, uncertainty, receptivity, taking the process of making and creating moment by moment, and being present to the flow of your creative forces.

I am learning so much too about the history and community life of New Tecumseh, the important facts about the community and area that I was entirely unaware of. I am getting to know the people participating in the Community Threads endeavour. Making new connections and new friendships.

To those still in the wings, succumb to your curiosity and come see what is going on. We welcome any contribution you can make to the Community Threads project. Warps to be prepared, skeins to be wound, looms to be dressed. We need someone who would be good at making calls to companies and charitable organizations for their donation, no matter how small. There are still a few things that have to be paid for that are not covered by the grant. Next week we’ll also be collecting all the paintings, and organizing them into the final designs for the tapestries. Come and contribute in some way to creating a lasting legacy for the community of New Tecumseh.

Community Threads tapestries Day One

I was totally impressed with the paintings that were produced by the guild members and guests of the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners, most of whom do not consider themselves artists. I agree wholeheartedly with Picasso who said that everyone is an artist. So many of us have heard so many negative messages about art, about making art, and were well trained to focus our energies and talents into other domains. But if you take a minute to recall your childhood, remember how easily we engaged in the activity of making pictures and how freely we did it. This session was about disconnecting from our critical voices and freeing ourselves to freely make marks on the paper connected to our theme - images that represented community.


People selected mostly photographs they had taken from the the municipality that are representative of the community. Some people also sought out other sources such as magazines and the internet as other themes that represented community were lacking. We've decided to have another painting day next Thursday July 21 10am to 1pm. Eventually these paintings will be translated into designs for 12 tapestries that we hope will hang in different venues in the municipality with an accompanying self guided tour brochures. This suggestion was from Angela Drainville, the Executive Director of the Gibson Centre. She also gave us the title of the project which we felt was very appropriate.

After a brief lesson on design and application of the paints, we got started, hesitantly at first, but before we knew it people were creating amanzing results. Janet Fayle said " I didn't believe I could do it!" When Donna Beatty was done, she said it was ''uplifting" and Allanah Bishof said that painting made her feel good. Mattie Sullivan enjoyed painting with a group and that this was stimulating for her and generated a lot of ideas. She made reference to really being able to get into the 'flow' that happens in painting and being creative. Libby Hoffman was interested in how the painting could apply to her weaving and Gail Sheldon agreed. Painting has many applications for the weaver as a source of colour inspiration for fabric, spinning and dyeing. It will give you ideas about combining colours that you may never have thought of combining before. Valerie wasn't too sure about how she felt about painting but she said she would do it again which is a great sign. In addition, what she was able to produce was remarkable and showed no sign of her uncertainty. Linda Needles felt she'd rather be knitting which, since she was painting madly away, showed what a good sport she is and a team player! Thanks Linda! We had a few experienced painters in the group that joined us as well: Barbara Huson, Carol and Joan (sorry....didn't get last names). Carol and Joan helped some of the novices with the application of paint. We appreciated their input and contribution.


This project is made possible by the generous contribution of the Ontario Arts Council and many volunteer hours and donations.

WHOLENESS

It's been a very exciting year thus far, starting with having my tapestry "Joy" accepted into the American Tapestry Bienniale which took the tapestry to the American Textile Museum in Lowell Massachusetts and the Elder Gallery in Lincoln Nebraska. I taught a Creativity and Designing for Fabric weaving workshop to the Niagara Guild of Spinners and Weavers and had a wonderful time with them. I taught a weekend course on tapestry through the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners at Georgian College, and it was wonderful for me as a teacher to be able to focus only on teaching tapestry, when usually, I'm teaching a variety of weaving structures besides tapestry weaving. All this while I celebrate my 15th year teaching weaving, and 25th being an artist, fibre artist and weaver.

Presently I am working on preparing for a solo exhibition of my tapestries and fibre related work, entitled WHOLENESS and it will take place at the Gibson Centre for Community, Arts & Culture in Alliston http://www.gibsoncentre.com/ which will open September 1 and close September 26 2011. The opening reception will be Sunday September 11 between 2 -5 pm.

This exhibition will be in conjunction with the official commencement of an Artist in the Community Project for which I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council to collaborate with the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners Guild in creating 12 community tapestries.

Why the title, WHOLENESS. Over a lifetime, many of us seek it and this journey makes for an interesting, more engaged life. We all come from many different backgrounds, each of us facing the challenges that our family of origins may have presented to us, and this foundation sets us on our path, and motivates our choices in life. Most of us, myself included, seek to be the most and best of who we are, and we can only be as good as the circumstances, opportunities and environment will permit. We all must contend with the limitations and constraints that life and others may place upon us, and somehow find a way to be whole and to be fulfilled. Through our passages, we feel a range of emotions and my tapestries and fibre work is mainly about giving visual imagery to these very same emotions. To find Wholeness, we need to be in touch with ourselves, with who we are, and certainly with others.

A weaving studio for the One of a Kind Show 2010

I'm very excited about being asked to set up a weaving studio in the centre of the One of a Kind Show this year. It will be really wonderful for weaving to be front row centre. They've asked for demonstrations throughout the 11 days. Many of my students and 'weaving class partipants' will be on hand to answer questions and demonstrate some basic techniques of fabric and tapestry weaving. I'm hoping it will not only inspire people to buy weaving made locally (especially in my booth W-07) but perhaps they will want to join us in taking some weaving classes through the Toronto District School Board - http://www.learn4life.ca/. Classes start up again January 15 (Monday) and January 17 (Wednesday) 2011. Registration opens November 15 2010. To know more about the One of a Kind Show click on the link http://www.oneofakindshow.com. There you can browse all the artists, artisans, and other show participants in their online catalogue.