May
Hello during this rainy Memorial Day weekend! It has been nice to have some time to relax after returning from my 8th grade field trip to Washington, DC. This is always a fun trip for me and my students, but it does take a lot to be in "teacher mode" for 72 hours straight. I was happy that this time we made a plan to check out more art than in previous years. The Smithsonian collection is truly is amazing in the breadth, but also the depth of things they have collected and put on display. I saw Whistlers, Low Riders, and Goodyear Gondolas all in the same trip
After getting back to Canton, I was excited to get to the Great Lakes Fiber Show held each year at the Wayne Co. Fairgrounds in Wooster, OH. I really like going to this show each year and interacting with other fiber and textile people. Also its a great way to buy all the yarn from local vendors that are all in one spot. I have been using local wool to make many of my weavings since 2020 and I want to keep finding more local producers to use in my artworks. Some of my favorites are Underhill farm from PA, who raise heritage Leicester Longwool sheep and Powers Acres, a small wool mill in Copley, Ohio. In Addition, there are sheep herding demonstrations, Angora rabbit judging, and weaving and spinning demonstrations. I did not spend as much money as I normally do, but I did make some new contacts and renewed old ones. I am really lucky to have an event like this so close to me in Northeast Ohio.
After my last 3 days of school, it will finally be summer break for me and the students. It takes me a few days to adjust to my new schedule, but I have been planning several new projects for my summer studio time. The main thing I want to do on my own this summer is make some more framed wall pieces. I have not dyed any yarn for a while, and that is one of my favorite parts of the process. I tried to collect color scheme this year, zooming in on nature, architecture and other artworks to inspire my own practice. I have been lucky to sell some work this year, and now it's time to replenish the inventory. Taking these color swatch photos is a way for me to start thinking about color and how it will factor in to the weavings I make this summer and into next year.
At the end of April, I was invited to an artist talk where I spoke to friends of the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland about my work in their 15th Annual show. I was able to talk about my journey to discovering weaving and textiles, and bridge the gap with my early experiments making paper. I made the light blue paper with Kozo fiber at the Morgan in 2012 with artist Aimee Lee during a workshop, and I finally worked up the nerve to slice it up and weave it into a weaving. I brought that piece along with some other experimental studies to show the group at the talk. I was nervous, as I have not talked much about my art in front of other people, but the group was really friendly and wanted to know more about my process. a big thanks to Celeste Stauber at the Morgan for inviting me!
I have a lot of plans this summer, but the biggest involves an installation in downtown Kent. I was commissioned by Main Street Kent to "weave" a fence on Water St. to make the site more aesthetically interesting. I plan to use plastic and cut vinal strips with printed designs to make each panel of the fence more interesting. Below are my "trial run" pics that I took a couple of weeks ago. I hope I can get done the first week of June, but with this weather, I will have to see.
Wish me luck as I navigate the last 3 days of school! I'll hopefully be updating soon with a beautiful fence and some awesome new textile pieces.
PS: here is my interview with HGA for "Textiles and Tea" last month-