Apple Festival

Saturday the South Jersey Guild of Spinners and Handweavers held their Show and Sale at Kirby’s Mill in Medford, NJ.  The annual event features about 100 crafters and vendors.  The food vendors were selling apple cider, apple pies, apple donuts, apple ice cream in addition to the usual hotdogs, cheese steaks and sodas.  What an array of enticing aromas.

Several of our members, including me, arrived there at 7:30 am to begin the set up.  We hung the displays featuring the weaving and spinning talents of our members.  Some of the items were for sale while others were for display purposes only.

Our booth generated lots of interest.  April Lippet-Faczak and Nancy Turner’s spinning demonstrations attracted a lot of attention.  Trisha Goodstein brought a rigid heddle loom which was available to anyone who wanted to try weaving.  This was a favorite of the children who stopped by to watch and participate.  Rae Turner was busy felting a doll face,  I was demonstrating tapestry and Janis Hawes provided a card weaving demonstration.

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 We had a great day despite some periods of rain.  The sun did came out later in the afternoon.  In addition to bringing spinning and weaving to the public eye, another benefit of the show was the opportunity to spend time with our fellow guild members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost There

Where did the summer go? Time is just flying by. I know that tapestry is a slow medium, but putting that together with everything that comes up in life and a slow weaver…….well what can I say. It has been almost a year since I started the Polychrome Tapestry. I am now in the home stretch. I am anxious to finish it and get onto the next project which will be a small piece for the ATA small format exhibition- Enchanted Pathways.

I am not a consistent weaver. By that I mean that I weave for a while and then set everything aside for a period of time. The weekly tapestry group helps keep me motivated, but many times all that I accomplish is what I weave in the 3 hour weekly session. I am presently thinking that I will start a daily tapestry project, such as the one that Tommye Scanlon has been doing, so that I can train myself to weave just a bit each day.  Maybe that commitment will help unblock me. It seems that I get blocked when I am facing a new decision or new challenge in the course of the tapestry. Changing or blending colors, shapes, etc. Excuses, excuses. Anyway, I think that it would be a fun thing to do. I just hope that it doesn’t end up as the many attempts at journal writing have.  Or better yet….writing my blog.  I always have good intentions but…………….

Speaking of blogging….thanks to Jennifer Peavey for sharing info for getting text and pictures published  in a timely manner on her latest blog.  It usually takes me forever to accomplish this task.  Maybe now I’ll be able to blog more frequently.

Our weaving group continues to meet on Tuesdays, even in the summer.  Mary who is a prolific weaver, has just completed her latest tapestry taken from a picture she took in Philadelphia - a parking lot. She has documented the weaving of this tapestry on her blog.   She did a fantastic job.

Mary’s Tapestry

Naomi’s Tapestry 

Toby’s Tapestry

Joanne’s Tapestry

 

Finding Home

The Finding Home mural project is part of the Porch Light Initiative, a collaboration between the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health that illuminates important struggles and offers hope for recovery.
Artists Josh Sarantitis and Kathryn Pannepacker, with the assistance of Alvin Tull, invite you to help create a fabric mural through the art of weaving. The completed mural will travel to multiple installation sites around Philadelphia, reflecting the transience of individuals who experience homelessness and encouraging open dialogue about obstacles faced on the journey to find home

Today several of my fellow tapestry weavers and I participated in this project.  We met at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia and worked with artists and homeless people weave fabric to be later painted, embellished, preserved and used in creating an outdoor mural in Philadelphia. 

The following album depicts the steps in the process.  First the large wooden looms were warped with a durable nylon string.  Large rolls of pellon were cut into strips to be used as weft.  People were encouraged to write personal messages or words of hope, home peace, etc.  One of the participants had written his “story” to be incorporated in the weavings.  Once the weaving was completed it was taken off of the loom and the loom was rewarped for yet another weaving. The completed woven fabric will act as a canvas for further decoration.  I have included a sample of what the final product will look like. The weavings will somehow be applied to the wall.  Philadelphia has many murals that decorate the outside walls of building around the city. 

I will be following the creation of this mural and will post about in the future.  I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in this project and to work alongside of talented artists and the less fortunate in the City of Philadelphia.

  

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Tapestry Exhibit

Today I attended the opening reception of a wonderful Tapestry Exhibit featuring the works of the Wednesday Group, students of Archie Brennan and Susan Martin Maffei  The show is titled Tapestry: Ancient Art for Modern Times.  The works are being exhibited at the Medford Leas Retirement Community Art Gallery in Medford, NJ.  during June and July. 

Archie and Susan were there and each presented a half hour slide presentation and lecture about their works and the things that influence their tapestries.  Several of the Wednesday Group members attended as well.  I was fortunate to be able to chat with these talented artists as well as with Archie and Susan.

Here is a photo album of the tapestries that are included in the show.

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