Book learnin'--what good is it?

Did any of you see the excellent guest blog post Rebecca Mezoff wrote for the British Tapestry Group? In it she describes how she senses that because she trained as an apprentice to a master weaver rather than attending art school, somehow she is less qualified as a weaver and a teacher.  She questions,  "Is there a perception among tapestry weavers that tapestry is somehow sacred or only for people who study for many years to master it?"  Rebecca goes on to say that among expert weavers there can seem to be some disrespect for those who are "only hobbyists."  Quite rightly, she pushes back against this and against the idea that there is only one proper way to be trained as an artist or to weave tapestry.  As she says in her follow-up comment to the post, "there are many paths to our individual goals."  Amen.  

As it happens, I did go to art school and got an MA with a focus on fiber art (the university I attended did not offer the MFA at the time, "just" the MA).  I focused on paper making and surface design and to my regret now, I did not study weaving at all, much less tapestry, when I was in school.  I did learn some very useful concepts and processes there  . . . but like you, I bet, I also know many fine artists and weavers who are self-taught or informally trained who do amazing and wonderful work.  I'm here to tell you an MA or MFA is no magic bullet!  There is no secret art school knowledge that guarantees success as an artist.  I still struggle to some extent with every design I make.  

That said, it is my passion to share with students some of the terms, concepts and processes that I learned that can make it all go a bit easier.  Lately I've been preparing two slide talks that go over some really helpful design concepts, specifically in terms of tapestry.   Scroll down for the details.  

These are some of the books I've been poring over lately.  It's been a fascinating dive into recent tapestry and fiber art history.  It's a wild and woolly world out there!  I've had a lot of fun looking at and sorting through dozens of the best contemporary tapestries and fiber works, figuring out how to talk about all the diversity in an organized way.  

This Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 a.m. Central Time, I will be with the Weavers Guild of Minnesota sharing a lecture about Tapestry Design Elements and Principles.  That might sound dry and academic, and it is possible I'm a bit of a design nerd.  But I strongly believe that familiarity with some basic terms and concepts that are used to talk about how artworks are put together can be super useful for tapestry weavers.  For me, it's not about throwing around art jargon, it's about knowing how to identify and figure out how the parts of a tapestry are working together.  For me these concepts are helpful in talking about tapestry, interpreting it, evaluating it . . . and diagnosing what might not be working in my own work.  In the talk this weekend, I've narrowed down the usual long list of Elements of Art and Principles of Design to the eight that I think are especially important for tapestry weavers.  We look at each element and principle in terms of how it works in lots of actual tapestries.  

Go HERE to register for this Saturday's talk about Tapestry Design Elements and Principles.  The tickets are on a sliding scale starting at $10, and the lecture will be recorded and available for two weeks to those who register. 

Next weekend, on Saturday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, I'll be presenting a lecture for the Florida Tropical Weavers Guild virtual conference about a particular trend in contemporary tapestry, toward work with lots of texture, relief elements, mixed media and even 3-D work. This topic is of great interest to me  lately and raises interesting questions about what tapestry is and isn't today. HERE is where you can find out more about this talk.   You can head HERE to become a member of the guild and register for the conference.  I'll be presenting this same lecture for the Weavers Guild of Minnesota on May 1, and you can register HERE for that date.  

It hasn't all been book-work lately. . . I'm about halfway through weaving the piece on my floor loom with the working title SkyGrass.  

I'm also designing a new piece but it's changing so often I'm not ready to share yet!

I hope you are immersed in something fun these days.  Stay well.