Getting Started - August 2009

We all face it - how to get started on new work if we're not quite sure where we're headed. To quote Nike, "Just do it!" Really - starting and making something, even with no end in mind, gets the juices flowing. There are months when I have no studio time, and in order to transition back into a "studio mind-set" I weave samples. Last month I transitioned into studio time with a double-weave color study, where the two warps are different in hue but close in value and intensity. The sample was sett for a weft-dominant cloth, and the challenge I gave myself was to select weft colors that blended with the value of the warps to make blocks of solid color. I now have a wonderful long strip of vibrant delicious colors, and decided to scale up a few and weave some much-needed pillows for the family room. While weaving the pillows, I'll be thinking about where I want my next series of art pieces to take me.

Note: I finished these color study pillows in September, and entitled them the Anni and Josef series. In a moment of true serendipity, Issue 30 of Selvedge featured an article on "Josef Albers, married to the unsurpassed weaver, Anni Albers, and it seems natural that his ideas translate perfectly into a textile designer's sensibility."