Blog

In this blog, I’d like to talk about a number of things—art as contemplative practice, the joys and challenges of working in the fiber arts, using weaving and basketry techniques to create contemporary art. 

Today, I thought I’d start with what I’m working on now.  This piece is one of three that started as a commission proposal which fell through.  I decided to do the pieces anyway because I really liked the designs.  All three have swirling spiral shapes in shades of greens or blues.  The finished pieces will be 24” in diameter and around 2” deep.  They are worked on a single strand core of 3/8” manila rope—thicker than I usually use for added strength in the larger piece—more on that another day. The yarns I’m using are mercerized and unmercerized cottons.

At this stage, I was testing color combinations to get the values I wanted in the piece.  I’m blending 6 strands at a time in the needle so I have a lot of color combinations available!

Here is a close-up of the yarns I’m using. 

Here’s an image of the original design.  It’s only an approximation; it’s not possible to fully map out a coiled piece because the design has to be continually adjusted to the continuous spiral and the curves of each row.

And, this is where I am right now–around 8″ in diameter.

So, that’s where I am right now… I’ll show you more another day. 

Until then, be well!

I believe the visual arts should move us in the same instinctual, non-verbal ways that music moves us.

My coiled and sculptural vessels are experimental explorations of the interactions of color and the melodies and counterpoint of different design elements.  Like music, each piece is intended to move and engage at a deep internal place below/beyond language.

I believe that grace and beauty have great value. 

The goal of my work is to create objects that emphasize, that express grace and beauty, and bring a measure of contemplative stillness into our cultural plain to provide a small measure of calm and restfulness.  Each of my pieces is created with this belief in mind. The French dramatist, Jean Anouilh once said, “The object of art is to give life a shape.”   The question then becomes, “what shape do we want life to take?”

I believe that life’s shape should be quiet, peaceful, graceful, and beautiful, grounded in a place away from and beyond the fray allowing us room to rest and strengthen ourselves for our interactions with the larger world.

I seek balance within each piece I create and for myself within the world and  I hope that the quiet stillness I seek permeates the work and takes those emotions, that centering spirit into the world with it to touch and enrich the lives of others.