The patterns of the traditional textiles of Indonesia are both beautiful and intricately woven. Jane’s first experience with Batak weaving happened many years ago. Her husband’s family come from North Sumatra, in fact their village is on the shores of Lake Toba.

Jane has always been fascinated by the traditional cloths of this region and was keen to learn how to make them herself. She spent a month learning how to weave on a backstrap loom but found it very difficult as not only were the patterns so complicated, but the traditional weaving looms were very heavy to manage. With some help from the weavers at Toba, Jane was able to adapt some of the simpler patterns to be woven on a Louet loom.

Jane mostly weaves Ulos for herself to wear in ceremony and for her family members. An ulos cloth has special meaning in traditional ceremonies and is proudly worn by clan members.

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This presentation will be about how she adapted the weaving to suit a 4 shaft loom with supplementary wefts.

You can find Jane on Instagram and Twitter @janeinjava

September 25, 2021
Testing, testing, testing: Weaving 'tech checks' in Tapestry
FREE 3 hour workshop Noon - 3 p.m.
Molly Elkind

We all know that we're supposed to sample, but when you're excited to start weaving, it can feel like sampling gets in the way.  View slides and examine real-life examples to discover how making little studies or trial runs can save you hours of tedious un-weaving and make you a happier, better weaver.  Analyze tapestry designs and cartoons to determine what type of sampling to do, and at what stage in the process.  Who knows?  Your sample might even be worth framing!  No need for a loom in this class--we'll focus on pencil and paper exercises and discussion. Suitable for weavers with basic tapestry skills.

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Molly Elkind’s tapestry work was exhibited in a solo show in 2018 in Atlanta, just before she relocated to New Mexico.  She has focused on weaving for over ten years, but is also fluent in papermaking, mixed media collage, and embroidery.  Molly earned an M.A. in Studio Art from the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville in 2002, and in the same year she was awarded an Artist Enrichment grant by the Kentucky Foundation for Women.  Exhibition highlights include a solo show at Mercer University in Atlanta (2009) and numerous juried and invitational shows nationwide.  Molly has been published in Tapestry Topics (American Tapestry Alliance publication), Tapestry Weaver (Britain), Arts Across Kentucky, Needlearts, SAQA Journal, and Shuttle, Spindle, Dyepot magazines.  Her work is in several private collections.  

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Besides making art, Molly is passionate about teaching it, with a particular focus on design principles and processes.  For over 20 years she has taught private students and at guilds and conferences nationwide, with a special emphasis on helping fiber artists become more confident designers of their own work.  Molly currently serves on the board of the American Tapestry Alliance as the Director of Volunteers.  She is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.   www.mollyelkind.com  www.mollyelkindtalkingtextiles.blogspot.com

October 30, 2021
Kente: Ghana's Cloth of Royalty, Honor and Leadership
Kwasi Asare, Master Weaver

Consciously or unconsciously, weaving has been at the centre of my consciousness, and I design and weave to ground myself. This makes me always remember who I am.

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Traditional weaving techniques used over hundreds of years have become embedded in my DNA. Through the process of weaving, I connect spiritually with my ancestors, particularly my father and grandfather (of blessed memory) who are true inspirations in my weaving career. Along with a connection to Kente weavers from Ghana in West Africa, my home country, my work is a way for me to commemorate the memories of my father, a renowned Master Kente cloth weaver, and to continue his legacy.

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My designs are inspired and influenced by the laws of nature as well as mathematical concepts, such as the Fibonacci sequences and other Geometric and Algebraic concepts. Just as reality is bound by physical laws, weaving of the Kente is bound by specific weave forms. These forms can be exact 45 degree angles and can produce a transformation such as a reflection, rotation, or even a translation. This is not even considering the inclusion of colours, since colours play an important role in the design process. Using these basic forms, I work to represent the intersection of Art and Mathematics.

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Kwasi Asare is a Master Weaver of kente cloth, one of the great cultural traditions of Ghana. The late President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, turned to the A.E. Asare, Kwasi Asare’s father, when he wanted to present Ghana’s royal kente cloth to the United Nations in New York in October 1962. On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the UN in October, 1995, Kwasi Asare created the new design of the kente cloth called “Adwene Asa” which means “consensus has been reached,” that currently hangs there, replacing the one was created by his father over 35 years ago.

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Apart from his passion for weaving and training as a community facilitator, Mr. Asare is also a Mathematician and Teacher and holds a Bachelors’ of Science w/Honors degree in Mathematics from the University of Hertfordshire in England.

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Mr. Asare is teaching a beginner kente weaving online on Course Craft https://coursecraft.net/courses/z92x2/  More info: https://kwasiasare.com 

January 29, 2022
Loom Interventions – Making That Loom Work for You! 
Sally Eyring 

“I am driven by curiosity, and by the love of problem-solving. The common thread that runs through all of my work can be summed up in one word: investigation. I am constantly solving problems in order to get new results, breaking the rules to try out new approaches, and  building tools that work better to deliver different but controllable outcomes. Always, the questions I try to answer are, 'what happens if...?' and 'how can I...?'

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In addition to weaving, Sally both renovates and builds looms. She will describe some of the many and varied loom interventions that she has conducted over the past 15 years and some of the weaving tools that she has built including a horizontal warping mill, several warping trapezes, and a fly shuttle. She will also discuss some of the changes that weavers can make to their looms to increase the weaving area, prevent treadles and shafts from “floating”, easy ways to add warp beams and back beams, how to increase the size of the shed on certain looms, and other topics. Sally has been gifted with seven or eight looms that she has renovated and donated to weaving students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

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Sally Eyring has been weaving and building tools since childhood. She earned a BA in Mathematics Education from Arizona State University and, after a thirty-year career in high tech, received an MFA from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Her MFA graduate project described the immigration experience through woven sculptural headdresses, using unique weaving methods and tools that she invented.

As the inventor of weaving techniques and tools that hand weavers can use to weave three dimensional shapes directly on their hand looms using any material and weaving structure, Sally is the author of 3-D Hand Loom Weaving, Sculptural Tools and Techniques published by Schiffer Publishing in 2020. She is the recipient of the Complex Weavers’ Award for Excellence and has been published in the Complex Weavers Journal, Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot, the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers, Artscope, Handwoven, and many other publications. In addition to weaving, Sally also does glass casting. https://sallyeyring.com

February 26, 2022 
Inside the Larsen Design Studio: Working with a Legend
Krista Stack

Krista Stack spent the first 6 years of her career in the textiles industry working in the Larsen Design Studio with Jack Lenor Larsen. His mentorship was the fulfillment of a dream as she had long admired his work. In this talk she will review many of the superstars of his collection, varying in technique, process and inspiration.  

She will also discuss the process of designing industrially produced fabrics from the viewpoint of a handweaver. In remembering her days in the Larsen studio, the personal side of wisdom, advice and direction given by Jack will also be shared.  Krista will also share some of her own current work from her 24 harness compu-dobby in her Brooklyn studio.

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Daughter of a weaver, Krista began weaving when she was 2 yrs old and “borrowed” her older sister’s loom. Much later she graduated from Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, having concurrently studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, winning weaving awards both domestic and internationally. Moving to NYC, she spent 6 years in the Larsen Design Studio, becoming Director of Design in 1997. She later worked for mills in Turkey and India, before starting Krista Stack Design and working both in industry and with custom projects. She currently works with Lori Weitzner on the Weitzner collection of textiles. She is also an advocate and Advisory Board member of Nest, an organization that works to support artisans around the world.

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https://www.loriweitzner.com/     

https://www.buildanest.org/    

https://www.weitznerlimited.com/

If you've ever wondered what it's like to shepherd your flock on a pastoral meadow, Kristine Byrnes is here to dispel your tranquil fantasies.

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Modern day sheep farming is demanding, physically and mentally, but ultimately rewarding.  Kristine will share her strategies for obtaining award winning Coopworth fleeces, (hers have won many honors at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and at 4H shows) and talk about what it's like to live with sheep.  She'll describe the cycle of life on a farm, keeping rams and ewes, and how breeding works.

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Winters Past Farm produces both white and natural color fleeces, offers 10 colors of dyes locks, roving for spinning felting or crafting (you can buy an ounce to a pound) natural DK skeins of yarn, wool dryer balls, wool dog and cat balls, (Lil’ Bit, this is for you!)  and wooly felted insoles for keeping feet warm and dry.

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At this writing, Kristine's every waking minute is going into skirting fleeces and getting ready for virtual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Winter’s Past Farm is also a vendor at the King’s County Fiber Festival at the Old Stone House of Brooklyn on October 9, 2021, from 10am-5pm. 

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http://www.winterspastfarm.com

Susan Kesler-Simpson was born in Jay County on a dairy farm. She has been weaving for over 20 years and is enthusiastic about her work. Textiles have always been a passion. She excels at making weave structures understandable for novice weavers. In this program, we will learn the basics of overshot and shadow weave, and see some of the projects that Susan has included in her books. Two of her books are currently available: Overshot Simply and Shadow Weave Simply. A third book, Creative Treadling with Overshot, will be published in the fall of 2021. 

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Crackle Weave Simply will be published in the future. In these books, she simplifies the weave structure, and emphasizes the basics. Numerous projects are included that the beginning weaver can successfully accomplish. She also emphasizes using affordable threads. More accomplished weavers can use the projects as a starting point to create more complex patterns of their own design. 

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Susan received her BS and MA degrees at the University of Nebraska in Textiles and Design where she was introduced to weaving. Besides writing books she also teaches a variety of weaving classes. 

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As she likes to say, “Time at the loom is time well spent!”
 

Having been trained in traditional jewelry making techniques, I aim to bring this knowledge to working with non-Traditional and alternative materials. In my undergraduate work, I studied both sculpture and metals, and art history for my graduate degree.  I try to combine my skills in fine jewelry construction with bygone jewelry techniques, such as traditional Victorian hairwork. I use wax carving, gilding, metal wire work, and various iterations of Victorian hairwork (most often seen in 19th century mourning jewelry and wall pieces).

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In addition to my love of the sculptural form, I am also drawn to concepts around remembrance and the souvenirs we use to recall events and people from our history. This has led me to explore reliquaries and the preservation of human and animal relics. The veneration of a saint’s bones or the sentimental rhetoric attached to a lock of a hair are two examples of how we ascribe memory status to anatomical relic. I have written and lectured on this topic extensively, and it has even manifested itself in my current exploration of ethical taxidermy (I only use naturally deceased animals or roadkill) in small object sculpture and fashion accessories. While some may see this as morbid, I see it as a way of paying homage to a life. It allows me to combine and explore other alternative materials, found objects, and metal specific techniques.

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Karen Bachmann specializes in jewelry, hollowware, and decorative art. She has special interests in medieval, memento mori, Renaissance, Baroque, and 19th century hairwork. Her studio work revolves around modern iterations of the genre of hairwork, incorporated into jewelry, wearable art, and decorative objects. She is a practicing studio jeweler with over 25 years of experience creating fine jewelry and is a former master jeweler at Tiffany & Co. At Pratt, she teaches in both the Art History and Fine Art departments. She is also an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Karen is a former artist and scholar in residence at the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn. Her work has been published in Art Jewelry Today and the Lark 500 series of books. Published works include “Hairy Secrets: Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Hairwork Jewelry” and “Queen of the Stone Age: the Venus of Willendorf”. Her most recent publication is an essay on hairwork in “Death: A Graveside Companion”, by Thames & Hudson.

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Karen holds an MA in Art History from Purchase College, State University of NY and a BFA in Sculpture/Jewelry from Pratt Institute.