improvement – Weave Story

Critic (noun) a person who expresses an unfavorable opinion of something

For many people, including myself, the idea of having your art judged does not bring happy thoughts to mind and can crush creativity. My elementary school did not have an art teacher. A picture from a magazine would be taped to the chalkboard and we were simply told “Draw this.” The results were always graded using letter grades (A to E) one for content and and one for neatness. My work, if I was lucky, might…. just might…. get C-/D and there were no suggestions to help me improve my work. To this day the thought of drawing something sends me into an anxiety attack.

Critique (noun) a detailed analysis and assessment of something

Getting a thoughtful critique can raise art to new levels, broaden perspective and increase creativity. Last year I worked on large felt wall hanging for the annual Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild show which runs the month of February in the lobby of the Power Center for the Performing Arts here in Ann Arbor, MI.

View From Above
(28″ x 82″- felted wool fibers)

This was one of the largest felt pieces I’ve ever made and felting it was physically demanding. I was pleased with the design – the mix of colors and line movement. It made a statement, especially from a distance. I believed it was good enough, so fingers crossed….. I submitted it.

It was not selected and in my disappointment I suddenly found myself emotionally back in elementary school. But here is where ‘critique’ turned this experience from the negative ‘critic’ into something positive. The jury committee had made comments. Some were positive (it was felted well and it did catch attention from a distance) PLUS there comments about where it still needed work:
1) there is no real change in value (light/dark) within each of the colors used
2) there was nothing new to discover once you stepped closer

So for the next year I thought about what I could do to embellish this piece yet stay true to my desire to only use felting techniques.

Using a barbed needle to punch fibers into place,

I needle felted silk fibers to give a broader range of color value and bring more interest and details, then I repeated the wet felting to blend everything together.

Top detail – before and after

Bottom detail – before and after

I am happy to say that Coastal Waterways was accepted for this year’s Power Center Show.

Critic or Critique? It’s all in how you say it and where the emphasis is placed.

Coastal Waterways
(26″ x 79″ – felted wool & silk fibers)

The good news….
I’m no longer a beginner tapestry weaver and my instructor challenges me to improve my skills.

The bad news….
I’m no longer a beginner tapestry weaver and my instructor challenges me to improve my skills.

Tuesday I brought my newly finished sample to class. Alastair’s comments were, “Nice straight selvages and the slits are good (Yea!), but you need to pack it down a bit more.” (Darn… not done with this yet.) OK… so I began packing.

Low and behold….. my lovely circle is now a lovely oval…..arg!

Alastair’s comment that it took him 7 yrs to perfect doing circles made me feel a lot better and really appreciate the skill necessary to create tapestries with nice round circles in them. I wove a bit more – making sure I was beating FIRMLY – and drew another circle with the plan of trying it again as the week went on.

The large scaffold frame had been warped. (Yes… we are talking about a seriously heavy-duty frame that would normally be used in construction!)

Since I do not have easy access to work on one of these at home I jumped at the chance to weave on it…..

…which also meant I’d be sitting on the floor for the next few days.

Because the back wall was painted white with a white heating unit… there was no way I would be able to see my white warp yarns against that…..

….so I used my raincoat for a backdrop.

I decided to work on a landscape for my next project because I’ve struggled with getting a sense of depth in my fiber work. Using one of my photos as my guide, I selected my yarns and began weaving – making sure I was beating FIRMLY as I went.

By the end of of the day, this tapestry was solid.

Wednesday, I continued working on the landscape. One of the techniques tapestry weavers have used for centuries when weaving a large space that’s basically a solid color is to weave a shape rather than simply going straight across. This breaks the monotony and gives some texture and interest to the weaving. We had seen this technique used in some of Alastair’s work and I wanted to give it a try.

This involved a lot of weaving…. un-weaving…… weave it again…. un-weave…..
but FINALLY….. by the end of the day after multiple tries…. I got it!!

Landscape 4″ x 5 1/2″

I really like the effect this gives the sky and will definitely be using it in other projects.

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Critic or Critique?

Weaving in Wales – moving into mid week……