Objects not Pictures . . . or both?

I'm pretty busy lately getting ready to teach a new class here in Santa Fe:  "Collage to Cartoon. . . and Beyond!"  If that sounds familiar, it's because I have taught "Collage to Tapestry Cartoon" a number of times, but this class includes quite a bit of new information and a more in-depth approach.  After creating a bunch of collages with papers we design ourselves, we'll explore techniques including open warps, irregular edges, changeable setts, and using found objects.   The class is offered through the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (formerly EVFAC) and will take place at Montezuma Lodge in Santa Fe, NM (not Española, NM as originally planned) March 20-22, 2020.  More information and registration can be found HERE.

And because this class is on my mind, this is on my design wall in my studio these days:

 It's a reminder that I want to move my tapestry work more toward being an object than a picture.

(Of course this motto conveniently ignores the fact that one of the series I'm working on right now is pictures of the native grasses and wildflowers in my part of the world.  There is an undeniable magic in weaving recognizable images from the natural world.  So many of us are inspired by nature and want to capture its beauty in our weaving.  Nothing wrong with that at all!)

Sunbelly, Molly Elkind, 2019. 8" x 8" Mixed fibers mounted on painted canvas

Little blue flowers, Molly Elkind, 2019.  24" x 12"  Linen, wool, matted.

Nevertheless.  Perhaps it's the influence of the Objects: Redux exhibit I've seen a few times now here in Santa Fe, a look at contemporary fine craft alongside some of the pieces and makers from the seminal Objects:  USA show of studio craft in 1969.  (I wrote about Objects: Redux HERE).  In this exhibit contemporary craft artists push and stretch the traditional materials and confines of their mediums in challenging and exciting ways.

Perhaps "objects not pictures" is just the natural evolution of my interest in translating the methods and effects of collage into tapestry.  I am increasingly interested in effects like texture and layers and open warps and irregular edges and non-woven elements such as stitch and found objects.

Fold, Molly Elkind, 2020.  7" x 7" Linen, wool. 

Mixed Message, Molly Elkind 2019.  16" x 14"
tapestry with handmade paper, mounted on linen on stretcher bars

Exploring and exploiting these possibilities has been really exciting.  It feels like the resulting pieces, the best of them, are things-in-themselves, objects with their own unique mystery and quiddity (what a great word!).  They are not pictures of something; they are something.  Sheila Hicks' astounding series of 1000 minimes has undoubtedly been a huge inspiration for me, showing the power of the weaver's mind and hands at work, asking questions and experimenting.

Cross Over, Sheila Hicks, 1968.  Wool.  8.25" x 5.5"
from Sheila Hicks Weaving as Metaphor,
ed. Nina Stritzler-Levine (New York:  Bard Graduate Center), 2006

I don't really know where this all will lead.  I'm thinking my next major exploration in this direction will be a woven version of this collage I did a couple years ago.*

Collage, Molly Elkind, 2018. 

I can't wait to see if I can reproduce those irregular edges and make some sort of exciting interpretation of the printed patterns on the paper!  If this sounds like fun to you too, join me in Santa Fe in a couple weeks and we'll see what we discover, using collage to stretch our understanding of tapestry.

*Back story:  I made the collage soon after we moved to New Mexico.  As I looked at it, it felt at odds with the environment I now found myself in.  In fact, my private title for it has been "Peachtree Boogie Woogie",  in a nod to the Mondrian painting evoking the traffic on Broadway in New York City.  My collage seemed to evoke the busy-ness and clamor of the Atlanta we had just left.  So I turned my attention to interpreting our new environment.

roundup of studio news

October was a fun, hectic month of travel and visits with friends.  Studio work has proceeded however, in fits and spurts, here and there, and since it's been awhile since I posted about actual tapestry weaving, here's an update.

Experimentation and percolating of various ideas continues, in short.  These are the three looms I'm working at these days. 

I am weaving the wedge weave landscape/sky piece that I had in mind awhile ago, nearly done with that.  I'm enjoying blending strands of 6-ply DMC floss.  Love that sheen!  I'm playing around with small slits, as you can see.  Tentative title:  Crosscurrents.  I'm weaving on the Glimakra "small Freja" loom I picked up at Convergence.  It's a great little frame loom with screws at the top that allow you to adjust tension.  But the comfortable weaving area is only about 6" high on this size loom.  I suspect I will be needle weaving those last several rows. 

I'm starting to develop new classes and am sampling for those.  Stay tuned for more specifics on that front. (Visible in the center loom in the photo at top.)

Speaking of classes, I am happy to announce that I am teaching my Collage to Tapestry Cartoon workshop at the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC), in Espanola, NM Feb. 22-24, 2019.  This is the same class I taught at Convergence this summer, with the addition of a third day for optional weaving/sampling of the cartoon you've designed.  You'll learn to use collage (cut-and-paste) to design your tapestry and how to translate it into a cartoon you can weave.  Find all the details HERE.  

Work on the tapestry diary on the Mirrix continues, with one stripe for each day's sky color (days out of town are orange).  I weave the name of each month at the end of the month. 

And I'm still exploring the potential for collage and mixed media in tapestry . . . and not just in the design stage.  I've got a few collages I'm beginning to translate into cartoons, waiting to see which one grabs me and doesn't let go.  I have completed one small piece I'm pretty excited about, but I can't show it to you yet as it's in the jurying process for a show.  

Exciting news!  This piece from my Mary series has found a new home with good friends.  It's always so gratifying when someone responds so wholeheartedly to to your work.  Thanks, Alice and Dave!

Mary (greater is what she bore in her mind) handwoven tapestry 19" x 15" framed
(c) Molly Elkind

And . . . faithful readers (with a very good memory) may recall that a few years ago (OK, three and half years) I was inspired by a trip to Istanbul and the chance to view amazing tile work in the Topkapi Palace.  I decided to design and start making a new quilt for our bed, to go with the lovely rug we purchased there.  That quilt, drum roll please, is FINALLY FINISHED!!!  As in quilted (not by me), the binding sewn on, and washed, dried outside, and put on the bed.  Hallelujah.  

I'm finding the bright white is a bit jarring next to all the off-white tones in the room.  Next time I wash it I may tea-dye it. . .

I hope your life is giving you some occasion to say Hallelujah these days!  (At least a qualified hallelujah?!) 

At the loom again, finally!

The studio has been unpacked for awhile, and I have been faithfully weaving my tapestry diary, but until last week I hadn't actually started a new tapestry.  One of the things I love most about our new place is that the windows are open all the time and New Mexico winds blow through . . . all the time.  Since my last studio was in a window-less basement, I am loving the airflow.

That's the working title of this new small piece, Airflow.  It's more of a study than anything, and a sample for the class I'm teaching at Convergence next month about using collage to design for tapestry.

Here is the collage I started with, along with the cartoon, the array of yarns and the yarn wrap, and barely visible at top left, my list of "20 Things I know about this piece" (thank you, Kathe Todd-Hooker), even if I did come up with only 11.  Did I mention it's a small piece (12" x 6")?  For some reason I left the blue yarns out of the photo.  But I am loving the gradations available from Weaver's Bazaar.  

Add caption

One fun thing I'm experimenting with this time is using the same yarn for both warp and the background of the image (it's Davidson Corporation's "Navaho warp", a Churro wool available at Earth Guild in Asheville, NC.)  I was inspired by painter David Hockney's early practice of leaving blank canvas visible in his paintings, and I wanted to try to translate this idea into tapestry.

Here are some progress shots.

I'm breaking up the background with slightly curved lines of eccentric weaving that go from selvage to selvage.  Those lines indicate the airflow.  You can't see it in the photos, but for these lines I'm combining two strands of shiny translucent metallic yarn from Giovanna Imports with the Churro warp.

I am so enjoying being back at the loom.  I hope you are finding time to weave--or whatever gets your own creative juices flowing--this June!

A reminder:  there is still some room in my two-day workshop at Convergence called Collage to Tapestry Cartoon.  Find out more and sign up HERE.  The supply list is  minimal since we'll be focusing on design rather than weaving.  I'd love to see you there!