Ten New Scarves

The narrow scarves are off the loom!  I've been weaving like crazy to finish them before the big move to our new studio, as my looms can only travel in their broken-down forms.  They seemed to take forever to weave: I think it took more than twice as long to weave two 13"-wide scarves as it did to weave one 27"-wide scarf.  I'm not sure I'll be employing that strategy again, but this time it was worth it: no two are alike!

New Studio!!!

The top floor...that's us!

Blank Canvas

Did anyone hear that?  That enormous sigh of relief?  I feel like I've been holding my breath ever since I got the news that the artists of Lab 307 were getting evicted in the name of real estate development.  But the wind is back in my sails: we have a new home!  I am so proud of my studio mates.  We really came together and worked hard and fast on this: yesterday we signed a two year lease on a new studio space, and it's another beautiful warehouse.  I didn't think it would be possible, but the new space is even better than our current one!  Cleaner, brighter, with views of the James River on all sides (the building is on a tiny island called Mayo) and here's the kicker...climate control!  I've spent the last month in the Lab looking like the Michelin Man, with all the layers I'm wearing to keep warm, but come January 1, no more.  So now, in preparation for the move, I am weaving like mad to get those narrow scarves off my loom (I feel like they've been on there forever,) then it's time to pack up and head down the James.  These images of the new space show it as it is right now...by move-in, the carpet and drop ceiling will be gone, and I will be hard at work at one of my favorite activities: organizing my studio space.

Getting paid to make art?

Ikat sketches from the Textile Museum conference

Wonderful news!  I have been awarded a $1,500 Personal Development Grant through the Surface Design Association, to use toward research and a body of work based on...can you guess? Ikat!  What does this mean for little fool?  The grant money will pay for the materials I use every day, and help me purchase equipment that I desperately need in my studio.  The technical research and experimentation I will undertake, though directed first toward my artwork, will certainly translate into techniques that I will use in my scarves...just as my warp painting process started with artwork.  Here's a snippet of what I sent the SDA in my grant application:

My work combines process with imagery to create metaphors of psychological spaces and mental landscapes. Weaving has been the most significant element of my work: the actions of weaving and painting on thread are conceptually important, translating time and presence. Since my second year of grad school I have been examining the act of weaving even closer, creating woven inkblots through a circular act of weaving, staining, unweaving, and reweaving cloth.  The process of making ikat: of binding, dyeing, and unraveling thread to weave into cloth, is a fertile place for my continued exploration of the nature of process in my work.  Additionally, I wish to explore the combination of the unique process of creating imagery through ikat with imagery created through my warp painting process. 

I sent a cheeky wink and a couple of batting eyelashes as well, but those didn't upload here.  I'm pretty sure it was that little extra something that closed the deal for me.