Collage to Tapestry Cartoon in Española, New Mexico

Weekend before last, I taught my first workshop in New Mexico, at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC), a major hub of all things textile in the state.*   Six students from around the country braved wintry weather (we did get 6" of snow one night!) to learn more about how collage can be used to generate a weave-able design for tapestry.  They made collages, did yarn wraps to test color ideas, translated their collages into tapestry cartoons, and began weaving samples.

By the way, I am teaching Collage to Tapestry Cartoon at two other venues this year:  the Weaver's Guild of Minnesota in Minneapolis, March 13-17, and at the Mid-Atlantic Fiber Association conference (MAFA) in Millersville, PA June 27-30.  I'd love to see you in either location!

Here are a few photos from the three-day workshop.

Marlena begins to assemble a landscape collage.

Wendy ponders two of her collages. . . . and a beautiful palette of yarn.

Patricia has several strong collages from which to choose  to work.

Wendy and Janice look at work so far.

Evelyn and Cindy give each other constructive feedback before deciding which collages to develop into cartoons.

Cindy makes yarn wraps to test colors before weaving.  Those are all her hand-dyed wools!

Patricia begins to weave a sample of the colors in her collage.

Marlena's sample in progress.  Excellent texture!

Wendy's sample, above, and collage, below.

I love how in this class each student's work is uniquely theirs.  Each student makes several collages which express their own style and tastes, and then everyone makes their own choices about how to develop their collages into tapestry.  My teacher's heart was warmed when I heard a few students confess that they are now converts to doing the "adult" thing and making samples before starting to weave their tapestries for real.  I can't wait to see what they all do next!  

* (Check out the New Mexico Fiber Crawl May 17-19, 2019 with fiber events at studios, galleries, farms and shops around Northern New Mexico.)