empty looms & new forks

I arrived home from the ATA celebration to find my new weaving forks awaiting & empty looms staring at me. I cannot wait to get warped up so I can try them out!

I saw these forks for the first time when I took the Inspiration workshop-- they belonged to DY Begay & I immediately experienced a surge of "fork lust". I love my wooden weaving forks, but I usually weave at 9 - 10 epi & the wooden fork tines tend to push the warp around & distort the weaving, especially in small areas. DY generously shared her source with me, so now I must share it with all who might like to have forks like these. The tines are tapered, hardened stainless steel taken from pet combs & embedded in the hand shaped handles using epoxy resin. You may specify the tpi (tines per inch) you would like & what type of wood (from what is available). Here is the artisan's contact info:

John Jenkins

Magpie WoodWorks, LLC

316 Parkwood Drive

Grand Junction, CO 81503

970-256-1257

magpiwdwks@aol.com

The larger fork is the Begay fork (2 1/4 " across at its widest area & 8 1/2 " long including tines) & the smaller fork is the Mini (6/8" across its widest & 9" long). If these dimensions don't suit you, I think John will make them to your specifications. You must also check the pricing with John because I believe he is in the process of re-pricing.

A double-edged sword.... I cannot wait to start weaving my next tapestry, but construction to convert the garage into my new studio space starts on Monday, which will first involve using a jack hammer to chip away the 9" concrete apron in front of the old garage door. Plus, the boss of the concrete crew is as hyper as a ping pong ball in a tile bathroom, so I think he bears watching. Well, it will all pass soon & I will be left with a new studio space to show for the interrupted serenity.

ATA's Silver Anniversary bash

The ATA celebration coincided with the ATB 6 exhibit & the Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Center's annual lecture and was held in San Jose, CA, at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, Friday, April 27th - Sunday, April 29th.

Friday evening was the Gloria F. Ross tapestry lecture, which was very interesting-- it was given by Dr. Alice Zrebiec (she's the former curator of textiles at the Dept of European Sculpture & Decorative Arts at the Met Museum of Art). Her lecture & slides focused on discussing the history of American tapestry ateliers from the late 19th - early 20th centuries, with info & photos she had gathered during the 10 years of research she did for her PhD dissertation (she became so interested she is still working on this project since some of the tapestries have still not been located). The ateliers' production methods & work ethics followed the French models, but the interesting twist was that they were depicting American flora & fauna. Some of the tapestries are still installed as part of the woodwork in the homes that originally commissioned the pieces (most are in NY & the New England area). Some were even in a college (in Pennsylvania or Massachusetts, I think-- can't remember the name of the college) & the college didn't know what treasures they had.... there were vending machines pushed up in front of the tapestries when Alice visited! She also found many of the tapestries rolled up & forgotten in attics. Kind of the American version of the Unicorn tapestries being discovered in use as a covering for potatoes! It was very fascinating & some of the tapestries were so large it was mind boggling.

Saturday was the ATA symposium & ATB 6 reception. It began with informal networking with representatives of the regional tapestry groups: TWINE, TAPS, TWW, TWS, TAPIS, CTN, & weavers from the southwest (we don't really have a group, but maybe we will, soon!). Speakers & their topics during the symposium were: Jean Pierre Larochette (Weaving in the USA: A Personal Experience); Melissa Leventon (former curator of textiles at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco - the tapestries in the musuem's collection were her subject); Barbara Heller (Tapestry Grows Up); ATA: Celebrating 25 Years of Contemporary Tapestry-- Jim Brown, Marti Fleischer, Joan Griffin, Christine Laffer, Mary Lane, Judy Schuster. All of the speakers had great slides to go along with their talks. This was then followed by a panel discussion of the ATA members who had spoken-- Mary Lane coordinated questions that were directed at each person; most of the questions sought to discover how each of them envisioned ATA's future. Barbara Heller had donated a tapestry which was raffled off, (a former student of hers won it) & we were surrounded by the ATB 6 installation. The space at the San Jose Museum was small, but very wonderful; many people were saying that it showed the tapestries off to their best advantage, much better than the previous venue they had been exhibited in. The wall that functioned as the "backdrop" for the slide show & panel discussion was covered with Christine Laffer's "Cloth of Construction" tapestry. All of the tapestries in the exhibit were glowing like beautiful jewels.

Sunday was the studio tour... we visited Christine Laffer, Jan Moore, Tricia Goldberg, Jean Pierre Larochette & Yael Lurie. A bus had been arranged to take us around--- Tricia was the perfect "den mother", herding us from place to place like a precious bunch of chicks. It felt like we were a Brownie troop on a field trip, with lots of chatter & laughter on the bus. Every weaver we visited was very gracious, answering many questions & allowing us to take photos. Most of them had many of their tapestries hung so we could view them. Lunch was al fresco at Tricia's & she outdid herself-- the tables all had tablecloths & vases of freshly cut flowers from her gardens. The last stop was at Jean Pierre & Yael's... quite a few people left us there to take the BART to San Francisco airport for their journey home. It was sad, like the last day of summer camp when you have to tell your new found friends goodbye. Many hugs & waves goodbye, then we journeyed back to San Jose, arriving tired, our minds fuzzy with fiber thoughts, but happy!

summer is coming & life is good

The white winged doves have arrived in full force, calling "who cooks for you?" all day-- a sure harbinger that the heat is on.....

More signs of summer, as the desert swings into full gear, with everyone & everything trying to get their blooming, pollinating, mating, & nesting done before the real heat descends...

Our first saguaro blooms are opening, which will soon turn to red, juicy fruits. A white winged dove usually starts sitting on top of the saguaro arms, monitoring the ripening like a nervous chef. The birds will peck holes into the fruits to stuff themselves, sometimes the smaller birds even upending themselves inside the holes to get every morsel!

The pizza pan cactus' blooms glow ethereally in the late afternoon sun. They are a species of "paddle" cactus whose pads are the size of pizza pans & sometimes larger.

Our pomegranate is loaded with its thick, waxy blooms, which quickly begin to form the fruits. Their hulls make a wonderful bronzey green dye & it looks like I will have a bumper crop this fall.

My new website, www.desertsongstudio.com is up & running!!! My web hosts, Other Peoples Pixels have a wonderfully easy & beautiful set up that makes it fun for someone like me who wants to DYI on a budget. The nicest webhosting package I was able to find, & I am very pleased with the results.

I will be packing my bags to head for the American Tapestry Alliance's silver anniversary bash on Friday, & I am very excited to be going. I will be submerged in a sea of tapestry & fiber, & I won't want to come up for air!

For now though, I am looking forward to a very lovely dinner tonight with my very significant other, Dennis, as we celebrate 14 years of life together.

everything is not as it seems

It seems this is the theme to my life as it exists this week...

My latest tapestry, desert island - espíritu santo, woven for a local exhibit about the Sea of Cortez, may at first glance appear that I had taken great artistic license with mother nature's color schemes, but in comparing the tapestry to the actual photo taken by Patrick Fulton, seeing is believing...

Many thanks, Patrick, for giving me permission to use your photo!!!

What appears to be a pile of dead weeds in a scrap of garbage is in reality a treasure--

Dried sacred datura pods with some seeds still inside that I found on my walk this morning. I was also fortunate enough to find a scrap of old plastic to wrap them in to carry them home, so I didn't lose any precious seeds or get repeatedly punctured by their thorns. One of Georgia O'Keeffe's favorite subjects, the flowers are very beautiful. My hope is that Dennis will be able to coax them to grow so I can weave a tapestry.We often bring home "found seeds" & dead flower heads from desert walks to plant them on our 5 acres of natural desert... it is illegal in AZ to dig up wildflowers & cactus, but not to collect seeds... we never collect the whole plant, only a few pods or heads so that it may regenerate itself where we found it.

What appears to be a pile of rocks & gravel dwarfing our already small camper trailer is another treasure.... 14,000 lbs of beautiful sandstone flagstone in peaches, rusts, tans, & purples and 2 tons of "rosa grande" crushed granite to replace the crumbling Mexican adobe pavers in our courtyard & back door porch. Our dog , Roux, is quick to exit areas of apparent construction (or deconstruction, as the case may be!). Dennis has been hard at work...

Here are the stacks of old pavers he has already removed... they will be recycled into a low wall here along the small wash that runs through our property. Gambel's quail have already been making themselves at home, parading across them in the morning sun. It also has been sounding like we have 80 species of birds inhabiting our desert space, but it's really just mockingbirds & curve-billed thrashers competing to see who has the biggest repertoire of mimicked songs & noises.

I will be able to see the wall from here.... what appears to be our garage, is in reality a long held dream of mine that will soon realized several months from now: my new weaving studio!!! The new studio space will have 2 large windows & a sliding glass door where the old garage door is now & a ramada to shade it from the intensity of the summer desert sun-- desertsong studio will soon exist as a physical entity & not a scattered collection of looms & fiber in our house! Dennis will also have a dedicated area within the studio space for his pen & ink and watercolor pencil drawing (thank goodness his choice of media doesn't require the space that a weaver's does!!!). A new detached garage will be constructed in another part of the driveway at the same time.

cereus expectations measures up!

cereus expectations
(~16.5" x 16") wool

Fresh off the loom, with the fibers still relaxing, cereus expectations was accepted for the Night Blooming Cereus exhibit to be held May 3rd - June 12th at Tohono Chul Park's museum, our local botanical garden!!!

I am thrilled for a number of reasons... I love this little park (its name means "desert corner" in the language of the Tohono O'odham Indians who are indigenous to this area of Arizona); Dennis & I have been members since we first moved here 10 years ago; their small gallery & exhibit hall have hosted some exquisite exhibits, & inclusion is by invitation-- they seldom have open calls for entry. When I first began pursuing tapestry weaving seriously after retiring from nursing 2 years ago, it was one of my aspirations to be invited to exhibit at Tohono Chul.

This tapestry's subject is a digital photo I took of a bloom from a cereus cactus we purchased at Tohono Chul's greenhouse a couple years ago. Tohono Chul has an annual celebration surrounding this humble cactus that opens its spectacular blooms at night. The celebration must be timed each year to coincide with the bloom period. Although the original photo was beautiful, I decided to use my graphic design software to "posterize" it-- I wanted to capture the electricity surrounding the festival & it is also how I imagine the moths might "see" the blooms' luminosty as they visit to drink its nectar during the night hours. Another interesting feature of this tapestry-- some of the fibers used in it were dyed with blooms from a sunflower plant we purchased at the park about 5 or so years ago.

Now, I am digging in to the next tapestry, also to be presented to Tohono Chul for consideration for inclusion in another exhibit, Sea of Cortez: A Desert Sea, that will coincide with the Night Blooming Cereus exhibit. So far this year, I have had 3 tapestries accepted for exhibit, & I am hoping the trend will continue...!