Paths to becoming tapestry artists

We've been having an interesting and lively discussion lately on Facebook and in our blog comments about whether art school is a necessary preparation for becoming a tapestry artist.  MY POST followed THIS POST by  Rebecca Mezoff for the British Tapestry Group.  After my post, Mandy Pedigo wrote THIS post about what she learned from her MFA program.  Mandy's excellent article reminded me of how much I had learned in my program 20 years ago, and I linked to it on Facebook.  

I really appreciate the comments of everyone who has written on this topic.  It has, not surprisingly, touched a nerve in many of us.  As Mandy says,

There are a lot of ways to become an artist. You can learn on your own – study books, journals, take classes and workshops, you can find a mentor who will teach you, become an apprentice or you could go to university for a degree. The truest thing that I know is there is no one choice that will make you feel validated. (my emphasis)

As weaving artists we are prone to self-doubt and insecurity.  Making work in our own voice, work that we are proud of, is hard.  Tapestry is a challenging medium and many of us find it a lifelong challenge to learn to speak its language fluently.  There is no reason for us to make it any harder by dividing ourselves up according to how we have learned, or from whom.  My sincerest apologies to anyone who felt offended or put off by anything I said or by anyone's comments in this discussion.  My intention has been only to honor everyone's path. 

What has emerged for me from our discussion is a kind of consensus that, as Rebecca said in her comment on her BTG post, "there are many paths to our individual goals."  Some of us, like Mandy and me, know that we learn best in school, and we have the opportunity and resources to pursue that.  For me it was a way for me, in my late 30s, of eliminating a lot of time in trial and error and reinventing the wheel on the path to designing my work (at the time, quilts).  Others of us find teachers among practicing artists, and this is the time-honored and very valuable way of learning tapestry.  Those who have been trained by James Koehler or Archie Brennan or Jean-Paul Larochette or any of our other legendary tapestry weavers (too many to name them all here) would not trade that experience for anything.  

What I'm interested in now is the process of life-long learning:  no matter how we started, how do we continue to grow and develop as tapestry weavers (or any other kind of artist)?  I jotted down some thoughts:

• Pay attention--to what you are passionate about, what grabs your attention, in the world and in art.  Slow down and really look--so often we are scrolling on our devices or doing that slow museum walk past the art on the walls, taking each work of art in in under a minute.  When something grabs you, stop and study it.  Become curious about why you responded this way.  This can give you clues about your own way forward.

Right now, I'm obsessed with yucca pods and how to portray them in tapestry.  

• Follow through.  Honor your work by finding the time, somehow, some way, to make it.  Get up early--stay up late--shift your priorities if necessary.  Step away from the screens for an hour or a day.  When I first started to work as a full-time artist, I adopted the mantra "Pay yourself first."  Investment advisors tell us to put money from every paycheck in our savings before we spend it anywhere else.  I decided early on to give my first, best hours every day to my artwork, and fit in the chores and errands later.  It made a huge difference.  
• Stop dissing yourself.  In the middle of a project it often looks wonky and weird and it doesn't help to listen to the inner demon who tells you you're no good, have no talent, etc. etc.  Just try to have faith, keep at it, finish it and then decide what you think.  If nothing else, you will have learned something.  No one piece is a referendum on you as an artist. 
• Set a goal for yourself.  You could decide, all on your own, to make a series or a whole "body of work."  You could decide to do a tapestry diary and weave something small every day (and you don't have to start on January 1).  Lots of weavers are adapting this approach and doing very cool things.  You could work through one of the really good technique books---Rebecca Mezoff's new The Art of Tapestry Weaving, Jean-Pierre Larochette and Yadin Larochette's Anatomy of a Tapestry, or Mette Lise Rössing's book The Thread's Course in Tapestry, just to name a few.  

Molly Elkind, Mary (the anxiety of influence), handwoven tapestry, (c) 2017

I did a whole series based on my obsession with a 6th century icon of the Virgin Mary (here, in blue)

• Recognize that art is a long game.  For most of us it takes a lot of time and practice to get good at what we do.  Measure your progress against your own previous work rather than against others' work. (This one is hard for me.)  Know that there will be fallow periods where it seems like nothing is happening (like maybe this whole past year?).  Ride them out; read; keep looking and being attentive.  Keep your hands busy doing something, even little woven doodles.  Inspiration will come. 

Molly Elkind, Out of My Hands, embroidery, mid-1990s.  
It's been a long journey from the Amish quilts that first inspired me to tapestry. 

• Seek out chances to learn and grow.  Be your own faculty advisor!  I don't have to say this to most of you, I suspect.  One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been an explosion of great content, much of it free or nearly so, online.  We've had a surfeit of great books on tapestry come out in the past year, and more are on the way.  

Some recent books on tapestry I've enjoyed.

It should be obvious that I'm still learning.  I'd love to hear from you all how you keep learning too. 

"If only someone had told me. . . ": tips for newer tapestry weavers

It's my guess that it being a new year and all, a few of you may have made a resolution to learn to weave tapestry.  It's been about 10 years since I first got serious about weaving tapestry, and as I prepare to teach upcoming classes this year I thought I would share some of the things I wish I had learned--or perhaps more accurately, paid attention to!--from the very beginning.  I've had great teachers right from the start, and no doubt they told me all this at some point, but for whatever reason I did a fair amount of mucking around on my own and had to learn more than a few things the hard way.

These tips fall into two categories, those relating to technical issues--how to warp and weave--and those relating to inspiration and creativity.  Let's start with technique since that was for me the steepest learning curve.

Technical tips:

1. Build or buy a loom that allows you to adjust warp tension, ie, to make the warp tighter or looser on the loom.  There are great plans for a copper pipe loom with adjustable tension on Archie Brennan's website.  You can buy the materials in any hardware store and do this yourself without needing to solder (kudos to those who can, though!).  There are also plans for galvanized metal looms out there; look HERE and HERE and HERE.   You can treat yourself and buy fabulous copper pipe looms with springs for a variety of setts and shedding devices, in many sizes, from Mirrix.  

L to R:  Glimakra Freja loom, homemade copper pipe loom from Brennan's plans, Mirrix  loom

1. Yes, you can weave tapestry on a picture-frame (stretcher bar) loom (and I've done it more than once), but it's hard to warp it with enough tension to weave well, and you end up fighting the tension the whole time.  Be kind to yourself, just don't, at first.  
2. For your first pieces, use cotton seine twine for warp.  You can find it at many suppliers including Yarn Barn of Kansas, Lunatic Fringe, The Woolery,  and Halcyon Yarn.  Later you can branch out into wool or linen warps.  
3. Probably the most important tip of all:  Use the least stretchy yarn you can find for weft.  ***Do not use yarn marketed for knitting or crochet.***  I did this at first because I was so eager to start weaving and I didn't know yet where to order tapestry yarn.  My results were. . . okaaaayyy, and I did get to practice basic tapestry weaving, but now I cringe when I see those pieces!  Knitting yarn is luscious, but is too soft and squishy and will take forever to weave any distance at all.  So, sorry, the yarn at your local yarn shop is mostly out of bounds.  But there are many mail-order suppliers who sell suitable yarn out there.  Some good ones to start with are Norsk Fjord Fibers' Vevgarn, Appleton (made in the UK but available through a number of embroidery yarn suppliers in the US; order the "crewel", not the "tapestry" yarn), and Weavers Bazaar.  Weavers' Bazaar is also based in the UK but they ship quickly and offer a large array of colors in various weights, perfect for blended wefts.  There are many more excellent yarns out there but these are good foundational yarns.  

5.  As long as we're talking about tools and supplies, buy the best tools and yarn you can afford.  If you learn with awkward tools or shoddy yarn, you will be needlessly frustrated and have to learn again when you step up to better materials.  It is a pleasure to weave with beautifully made bobbins, weaving forks and awls.   

6.  Get clear on the vocabulary of weaving, if you're entirely new to the field.  I'm always learning new words for techniques that are new to me, but there are basic terms such as shed, pick, pass, bubbling, and draw-in, and essential techniques such as meet and separate, twining, and half-hitch that you should understand to make all your other learning easier.  Ask me if you're unclear!  There are no dumb questions.  

I was looking at some notes I wrote to myself back when I first started weaving tapestry, in fact, when I wasn't at all sure I would continue.  I was frustrated by the slowness of the weaving, by the technical problems of staying in the right shed, by the simple samplers every book or beginner's class involved, and by shoulder pain.  It all just seemed too hard.  

But I also came across this note about what I loved about tapestry, enough to stick with it:

"the rich color, melding of painting and fiber, the abstraction, the flat yet subtly textured surface, the idea that it is painstakingly woven, the solidly-worked surface."

I was just really entranced with the woven surface, with images that could be both flat and look three-dimensional.  You might be entranced with different things about tapestry, but it helps to know what exactly it is you love about it, to stay motivated through the hard parts.

That leads me to the second set of tips, about learning and inspiration.  

7.  Look at other weavers' work, in books, in galleries, and of course online.  When you see work you love, stop and ask yourself what exactly you love about it.  Try to put it into specific words.  Can you figure out how that amazing thing was achieved, and strive for that same quality in your own weaving?  

8.  One way to find out how other weavers work their magic is to find good teachers.  Ask your local weaving guild if they ever bring tapestry artists in to teach.  Pester them to bring a teacher you want to see.  For a list of tapestry teachers, see HERE.  Find some good books to walk you through the basics.  Here's an extensive list of books.

These are some books I found (and find) really useful, more or less in order from most basic to most detailed:

Kirsten Glasbrook, Tapestry Weaving

Joanne Soroka, Tapestry Weaving:  Design and Technique
Kathe Todd-Hooker, Line in Tapestry and Tapestry 101

Carol K. Russell, Tapestry Handbook:  The Next Generation

Mette Lise Rossing, The Thread's Course in Tapestry

9.  Connect with fellow tapestry weavers.  Ask around where you live to find other tapestry weavers to share and learn with.  ***Join the American Tapestry Alliance!*** It will unlock a wealth of information about teachers, exhibits, supplies and techniques, and online interaction on Facebook, Instagram, and via an email discussion list.  They also have a mentoring program.  There are lots of tapestry artists on social media; follow them and you will be inspired and educated every day.  

10.  As an ancient sage said, Art is long and life is short.  Weave a little bit every day if you want to get better. I find a tapestry diary is a good way to make sure I do a few minutes each day. 

10.   That said, if you are lucky enough to have lots of time to weave, be kind to your body.  Don't weave for more than half an hour at a time without taking a break to stand up and stretch.  Rebecca Mezoff shares a wonderful set of stretching exercises with her classes that I run through when the timer goes off and it's time to take a break.  In this interview Rebecca shares a number of tips for a healthy weaving practice.  Even something as simple as standing up and walking across the room while you wind a new bobbin is a good break.  Especially when I was first learning to weave, or even now when I'm weaving under a deadline, I hold a lot of tension in my body and it can make for very sore shoulder and back muscles.  Do what you can (yoga and massages are great) to keep your body limber and functioning, and you'll be able to weave for years. 

I'm sure other weavers out there have their own top ten list of tips, and I'd love to hear what they are--and what your questions or issues are that I may have overlooked.  

Teaching and Learning

Recently, on her always-thought-provoking blog, quilt artist Elizabeth Barton wrote about why she teaches.  Much of what she said resonated with me.  She says, "For me teaching has always been about what I wanted to learn myself."   Like her, I love the process of researching, synthesizing and figuring out to present new information.  When I teach about something I've been learning about, I know what questions and issues students may run into, having recently encountered them myself.  I hope that my new enthusiasm for my subject is contagious.  And when the class and the subject are fresh, I am on my toes in a way that keeps the class experience interesting and alive for all of us.  

Terrible photo used as inspiration for quilt below

Start in Your Own Backyard, art quilt by Molly Elkind

I hear sometimes from other fiber artists that they wished they had some of the academic art training I got when I was working on my M.A. in fibers at the University of Louisville.  As a student I felt like I was being given a secret decoder ring for art--I was learning how value and contrast and balance work in a piece and thus avoiding mistakes, or at least taking a short cut through the painstaking process of trial and error.  And I'm still learning! 

Lately I've found that analyzing and figuring out how to teach the elements of art and principles of design for textile artists is an inexhaustible topic.   The students I had in April in a weekend-long intensive class at Fiber Forum seemed to agree, saying they found the class very helpful.  In this class, called Design Intensive:

•  We talk about sources of inspiration, from nature to books to other artwork to emotions. 
•  We look at ways these nebulous sparks of ideas can be developed into actual work.  
• We talk about how to use a sketchbook--it doesn't have to involve sketching!  
• We touch on how to use--and how not to use--photographs as part of the design process.  
• We do lots of exercises to learn how to make value, color, shape, composition and balance do what we want them to, to convey the meanings and feelings we have in mind.  
• We also talk about how to evaluate our work, both while it's in progress and once it's finished, and how to avoid falling into the trap of thinking it's awful and you're a terrible artist.  

Altered photocopy used in design for Mary (gilded)

Mary (gilded), handwoven tapestry by Molly Elkind

I'm offering this 12-hour Design Intensive in a few locations around Atlanta this summer and fall.  Registration is open now for these locations and dates:

• At the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild on Fridays, July 17, 24, and 31. 

• At Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance (SEFAA), on Sundays, October 11, 18, and 25. 

 For those who don't want quite such a long and intensive experience, check out my one-day Design Kickstarters class at CHG on August 15.  For this class I've boiled down the essential information and most helpful exercises from the Design Intensive. You'll learn how to start a visual journal (sketchbook), do some work with line, shape, and color, and talk about how to make the most of the always-too-limited time we have for our creative pursuits.

And if you're just itching to get your hands dirty exploring various fabric paints and approaches to surface design, you can take my one-day class, Fabric Painting 3 Ways, at CHG on August 22.. We'll experiment with silk paints, oil sticks, and watercolor crayons on cottons and silk.  You'll leave with sets of each kind of paint and a stack of samples you can use to make a small project or use as a springboard for more fabric painting.   I used oil sticks to transform the fabric on this quilt.  

Sam at Glacier National Park, art quilt by Molly Elkind

You can learn more about all the classes I currently offer at my website's workshops page.  And stay tuned. . . I am working now on some new class offerings.