Tapestry Weaver Issue 21 March 2017

Tapestry Weaver
The British Tapestry Group • Issue 21 March 2017

BTG Committee 2017
Contents
Issue 21 March 2017
Chair
Trisha Gow: info@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Acting Hon. Treasurer
Anna Wetherell
Hon Secretary
Veronica Collins: vt_collins@btinternet.co.uk
TW Editor
Hilary O’Connell: tweditor@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Website Manager/Information Manager
Eleonora Budden: info@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Committee Members
Cande Walsworth
Stephanie Edwards
Paulette Furnival
Carole Tricker
Supporting BTG
Membership Secretary
Jenny Lacey: membership@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Advertising Manager
Sarah Mclean: advertising@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Tapestry Weaver Team
Proof Readers: Stephanie Edwards, Angie Willis and
Sally Reckert
Design
Matt Smith: matt@shimuzu.co.uk
Printing and Post: Alphaset
Social Media Team
Facebook
Clare Coyle: clarecoyle@madasafish.com
Twitter
Katie Russell: tuliprussell@gmail.com
The articles written in this publication do not represent the
views of either the BTG or the BTG Management Committee.
BTG Founder Members
Ros Bryant, Janet Clark, Beryl Hammill, Shirley Ross and Nicola
Wheeler
The Purpose/Vision of the BTG
The British Tapestry Group exists to promote woven Tapestry as a
contemporary art form in the UK, by raising public awareness
through professional Exhibitions, networking, regional initiatives,
training and development.
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Chair’s Report
Trisha Gow
Editor’s Report
Hilary O’Connell
My Favourite Weaving
Caroline Reali
Earth Air Fire Water
Barbara Heller
Weaving on a Grand Scale
Elizabeth Radcliffe
Here and Now
Margaret Jones
The Long and Winding Road
Louise Broughton
Weaver’s Profile
Marilyn Eustice
My Favourite Weaving
Eleonora Budden
. . . supporting those who are
starting on their weaving journey . . .
Leslie Whitcomb
Making an Exhibition of Ourselves
Liz Chester
The Company I (Like To) Keep
Heather Smith
Knotted Tapestry: A Course with
Anne Jackson
Lorna C. Goldsmith
Solway Tapestry Weavers
Pat Stonell
A Sense of Place
Christine Paine
A Chance Encounter
Sarah McLean
Cover Photo Credits (From Left to Right, Top to Bottom)
Giants Causeway Weaving by Caroline Reali • Sample in Progress by
Lorna C. Goldsmith • Cool Waters by Heather Smith • Storm Surge by
Liz Chester • Erosion 1 by Louise Broughton • Cool Bitch and Hot Dog
by Elizabeth Radcliffe • Parrot Practice by Eleonora Budden • Marc
Camille Chaimowicz by Elizabeth Radcliffe • Ozymadias by Ted Clarke
• Making Ends Meet by Marilyn Eustice • Double Interlock Sample by
Christine Paine • Birch Kin by Leslie Whitcomb • Still Life with Bird by
Ted Clarke • Mermaids by Liz Chester • Celebrity by Liz Chester • One
Way by Ted Clarke.

My Favourite Weaving
Caroline Reali
Chair’s Report
On behalf of the committee I am delighted to announce that the following Full members have been selected for
the Sound and Weave (S&W) exhibition.
They are Christine Sawyer; Margaret Crowther; Louise Martin; Lin Squires; Jane Brunning; Cos Ahmet; Alastair
Duncan; Louise Oppenheimer; Margaret Jones; Paulette Furnival; Ros Bryant; Stephanie Edwards and Katie
Russell.
You will remember that the Sound &Weave concept had three strands . The second is the S&W online exhibition
and we are in the process of finalising this information and we will be sending this out to you sometime in April.
The third strand is taking place at local level, we hope that members in regional groups have been discussing what
they would like to do. If you are not in a regional group but want to get together with some members to put on an
S&W exhibition/open studio let us know.
During October members from the London /SE areas were demonstrating Tapestry Weaving at the Knitting and
Stitch show in the Craft in Action area. By all accounts this went very well with a good space allocated for
demonstrating. After the Harrogate K&S some members living in the Mid/North of England have decided to work
together to promote the BTG at various local shows, we look forward to hearing more about their plans.
formation of rocks further in the distance, which will
be smoother in appearance and give some
dimension to the piece.
I spend time selecting my yarns and combine
colours. I use mainly Swedish linens which have a
lovely lustre and depth of colour.
I like to pack in as much detail as 10 ends to the inch
allows. I find this sufficiently fine to weave detail as
well as giving good coverage.
Starting off is always uncertain as I don’t know if the
weaving will work and it takes some time to emerge
and make sense. I mark the warp with black felt tip
as a guide to where I am heading. I rarely use a
cartoon unless the piece is larger.
This weaving is taking longer than usual due to the
lack of daylight at present as I don’t like weaving in
artificial light; I confuse the colours. My eyesight has
never been brilliant so I work in short bursts of
concentration whilst listening to Radio 4.
During the last year we have asked for members, who are interested in helping us manage the BTG, to get in
touch. Some of the areas we need specific help are with marketing and promotion and taking forward our
exhibition planning after S&W- can you help?
This edition of TW is going to be the first to be provided in print and digital format – we are looking forward to
accessing it through the BTG website and I hope you enjoy reading it.
Trisha Gow
Editor’s Report
What a wonderful way to bow out from the Editor’s position than with a beautiful Issue as I think this one is.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the last seven Issues, it has been a pleasure to work with you
all and share your experiences and images with the members of the British Tapestry Group. You are an
amazing group of creative geniuses who are inspirational and very generous. Also thank you to the Tapestry
Weaver team who have been so supportive and just brilliant. So now I am off to pastures new where I will
look forward to reading the next issue. Good luck to my successor, I know you will enjoy this position as I
have. To you all, Happy Weaving!
Hilary O’Connell
4 | British Tapestry Group
Giants Causeway Weaving
My favourite weaving is always the piece that I am
working on. Once a piece is finished I lose interest
and want to move onto the next challenging
subject. This piece 'Giant’s Causeway’ is being
woven for a specific exhibition, in which I hope it
will be shown.
I work from photos taken of places I have visited.
These are my own postcards/souvenirs reminding
me of my experiences and feelings about a place.
Translating a flat photograph into a textural weaving
requires experience and imagination to make it work
otherwise it could end up being a copy which has
taken a considerable period of time and effort to
produce.
I visited the Giant’s Causeway on a blustery, windy
day. There was a small window of clear weather
when I was able to take photos of this impressive
landscape, somehow avoiding the tourists climbing
all over it. I focused particularly on the formation of
rocks and textures of the foreground.
When I start to weave I work out the size and then
how I am going to weave it and what effect I want to
achieve. I take notes of the techniques I am going to
use. The foreground is rougher in texture than the
Once the image makes sense I speed up and my
motivation increases. I weave using my fingers. I
never could get the hang of bobbins. I like the feel of
the yarn as it passes through my fingers.
I am not quite halfway. I have used plain weave in
small areas contrasting with tufting and wrapping
techniques (using a darning needle for this) also
soumak to depict the roughness of the stones.
The next stage will be more challenging when I
weave the formation of stones. I haven’t decided
whether to leave the slits. I will decide at a later stage
and see what it looks like.
This is what makes tapestry weaving so unique and
absorbing.
Images by Caroline Reali
Giants Causeway Detail
British Tapestry Group | 5

Earth Air Fire Water
From my own miscarriage to 9/11 to the degradation of our environment, I have always made
art from what bothers me. I chose tapestry to translate these concerns because the process
gives me joy. The slow accretion of yarn and colour leaves me time to meditate upon the
message I wish to convey.
Still Life with Bird
Ozymandias, included in the exhibit “Here and Now”
curated by Lesley Millar at the National Centre for Craft
and design in Sleaford, had a longer gestation. I was
concerned about the legacy of the landmines buried
throughout the world, but what images to use? A dead
bird, obviously, as it had become a personal icon, but I
did not want to show a mangled corpse or a child on
crutches. And then, on a trip to Mexico, I found this
broken rag doll on the pavement and everything fell into
place. This artist statement from 2003 reads:
People bury land mines and then people bury the
victims of land mines.
Land mines and the devastation they cause are a potent
symbol of how the innocent suffer from the effects of war -
most victims of land mines are children and the elderly who
unwittingly stray into an unmarked mine field. Man thinks
he is in control of his world but unexpected natural disasters
and predictable (and preventable) man-made disasters are
equally deadly.
Sometimes it can take decades (literally) to complete a
series and Earth, Air, Fire and Water is still in progress.
The first tapestry (though the quartet was not even
imagined at the time) was air. When the Twin Towers in
New York were destroyed in 2001 there were powerful
and disturbing images everywhere and two years later
Still Life…with Bird was the result. My artist statement at
the time said:
Destruction, resurrection, desolation, hope, memory. No one
remains unaffected by the events of 9/11 and continuing
acts of terrorism worldwide. We know it can happen
anywhere, anytime, and to anyone.
The skeleton of the world trade centre, the skeleton of a bird
wing, actual bones; all testaments to terrorism as a tactic.
The orange sky evokes the aftermath of 9/11, the bones
evoke museum displays. Bones are precious; they can be
buried in a cairn or burned in a crematorium or buried in
another sense in a dusty museum drawer. In future ages
will archaeologists dig in what was once New York and
wonder at what they find?
The bird hovering in the sky - is this the angel of death come
to wreak havoc on an uncaring world or is this the
Quetzelcoatl, the phoenix, rising from the bones and the
ashes of a dead civilisation to create a new world?
6 | British Tapestry Group
Ozymadias
Along the bottom of the tapestry in blue-green boxes are the
land mines, hidden and deadly. I have woven them as
drawings and used metallic threads to emphasise their
man-made nature.
Above lies a rag doll with gingham and hearts referring to
the innocence of childhood… The doll lies in a vast desert, a
wasteland with distant buildings on the horizon lit up by
tracer fire in a night sky. The tracer bullets can be seen as
fireworks and I used shiny yarns to make them more festive,
a contrast to their true purpose.
For me the bird is the angel of death, menacing and lethal,
but it could also be seen as an avenging angel crying out in
anguish over what man has wrought, or a mother bird
crying out a warning.
Now I had two tapestries woven in a similar format but
it would take a decade to get to the next in the series.
After yet another disastrous oil spill, I turned to the same
format to depict my concerns about the poisoning of
water, the source of life on this small planet. In 2013 One
Way was woven:
A pelican, its feathers covered in oil from the recent oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico, tries to rise up from the polluted
waters, crying out his warning of the future that we are
allowing to happen.
Behind him is a flooded small town, symbolising a way of
life that is drowning through the consequences of climate
change. Telephone poles stand at a slant, cars are
One Way
submerged; one street sign allows traffic to go straight ahead
or turn left, while the one above, a one way sign, points right.
We can only go in one direction.
The small blue-green boxes at the bottom of the tapestry
illustrate other consequences of our negligence. A
hermaphroditic fish covered by the molecule for oestrogen
represents what we are doing to the creatures that share our
planet: we are literally poisoning them with our own waste.
The zebra mussels and milfoil represent the invasive species
that we carry in our wake as we trample over mother earth.
The bits of plastic in the remaining two boxes were picked
up from two beaches, one on the Pacific Ocean and one on
the Mediterranean.
We cannot sweep the refuse of our civilisation beneath the
sand and pretend it does not exist: it does not go away.
And what of the fourth tapestry in this series? It would
be the last of the four elements, fire, and ideas and
images are percolating in the back of my brain. We will
all, including me, have to wait and see what results on
the loom.
Barbara Heller
Photographs by Ted Clarke, Image This Photographics, January 2017
British Tapestry Group | 7

Weaving on a Grand Scale
By Elizabeth Radcliffe
Back when I was at Edinburgh College of Art, I found that I was looking at my fellow students and
even old fashion magazines for inspiration. I have always been interested in fabric and started
making most of my own clothes over fifty years ago. I felt that you could tell something about
people from the kind of clothes they wore and that you didn't have to depict the whole figure to
make a statement about a person.
In my sketch books, I tried to capture the qualities of
texture and pattern that I found most interesting.
Looking at the clothes around me, I saw fur-fabric,
corduroy, tweed, boucle wools, Fair Isle knitting,
leather, woolly pullovers by the dozen, (it does get
cold up here in Scotland) and, of course, denim to
name but a few. Over the years I have tried to
capture these surface qualities in my work.
to weave the face of the figure and Ritzi showed me
how to weave the eyes without having to sew the
almost vertical areas together, by wrapping the weft
around the adjacent threads at the joins. The result
was a much more subtle one.
One of the next pieces was my Diploma piece, which
had to be woven in a matter of weeks at the end of
About the finishing technique; as I have said to some
weavers who exclaimed “You'll have to tell us how to
do that” my reply was “I could tell you but then I'd
have to kill you”!
Over the years, many weavers have experimented
with new techniques and even invented some. I feel
that if you set yourself the task of innovating
something new you will succeed eventually and you
will learn so much more about the medium that you
are exploring.
One of the first big pieces that I wove was a life-size
shaped tapestry, called ‘Cool Bitch and Hot Dog’. The
woman was wearing a fur coat as was the dog, but
he was a Dalmatian.
Marc Camille Chaimowicz Shaped 163 x 63 cms at its widest
piece was simply woven, because of the time
constraint and the figures were depicted from the
neck down to the mid thigh.
As usual I was thinking of how you can identify
someone by their clothes. I wove a few shoulder
pieces, mainly motorbike gear with lettering on them
and tried to capture waxed cotton and green leather
for the first time.
Cool Bitch and Hot Dog detail
I wove the figure on its side because of the problems
of knotting on the strands of wool for her fur coat.
At the time, a couple, Ritzi and Peter Jacobi who were
well known Rumanian artists working in Germany,
were visiting the Tapestry Department. I was about
Connie and Norries’s Wedding clothes detail
my final year. I had gone along to take pictures of a
friend's wedding at the church door and ended up
with some black and white photographs of the
group, the bride and groom, and both sets of
parents. There was scope to weave pattern; the
groom's kilt and Lovat jacket and both of the fathers
wearing pin stripe suits, which were different. The
bride wore a beautiful Mexican pin-tucked dress. The
I didn't weave much for a long time whilst I was
teaching and it wasn't until 2000 that I wove two
pieces in six weeks (the school holidays) for an
Exhibition in Peebles with John Brennan. Weaving
the images of my daughter and her partner had, of
course, interesting challenges like torn denim and
stripey socks.
Later I wove more half figures, herringbone tweed,
camel and sheepskin jackets. I even attempted a
larger family group: a fur-fabric coat and striped silk
dress as well as a very old mohair teddy were
depicted. Weaving folds and stripes, and tonal
changes kept things interesting.Single figures such
as Young Joo and Marc Camille Chaimowicz, which I
completed recently, are also shaped and I keep
refining the technique each time. Weaving
mercerized cotton and complicated checked
trousers proved to be difficult
My next piece is of my granddaughter and her very
furry Ragdoll cat ‘Beyonce’.
A candlewick dressing gown and mohair cat; what
more can a weaver want to keep things interesting?
Photos by Elizabeth Radcliffe
Marc Camille Checked Trousers
8 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 9

Here and Now
Review of the Tapestry exhibition at NCCD, Sleaford.
By Margaret Jones
For those who have never visited the NCCD, the
building was originally the old Hubbards and
Philips Seed Warehouse which was refurbished
into the current building in 2002 Originally called
'The Hub' it is now the 'National Centre for Craft
and Design' with an international reputation for
the quality of its exhibitions, lectures and
participatory learning programmes. As a venue,
it is well lit and has an open feel enabling you to
stand back and 'take in' the larger pieces. Some
of the walls are not white which is a pleasant
change from what has become the 'mandatory
white cube' in so many galleries.
'Here and Now' is an exhibition of tapestries by 21
invited artists from across the world. The vision of
Professor Lesley Millar and the NCCD, it contains a
range of works from the representational to the
abstract and includes small works as well as some up
to 2.5 x 4.1 metres in size. The works reflect the
various artists’ preoccupations with the current social
and economic climate, the beauty and decay of our
natural world and in all there is a focus on the
processes of making.
moments of human emotion.
Two weavers approached the long debated question
of how to exhibit smaller tapestries. Caron Penney
chose more traditional frames whereas one of Jilly
Edwards works was 52 small 'diary' pieces, each
exhibited in a CD case and hung as a grid, four across
and twelve high.
Philip Sanderson has returned again to his image of
a windblown tree, this time woven using strips of
fabric and yarn twisted together in the weft on a
warp sett of around 2epi. The resulting shaped
tapestry has exceptional presence within the gallery
but is also subtle in its execution. Pat Taylor's work is
displayed as 9 panels, four are plain colours and five
from Tallinn in Eastonia to Vilnium in Lithuania. She one of
the five Japanese weavers in the exhibition, each of whom
have their own very special aesthetic.
I was not familiar with the work of several of these Japanese
weavers and it is good to be able to see their tapestries in
the flesh. In the case of Ayako Matsumura, this can be taken
literally as she weaves images of bodies using yarn made
from shredded animal skin (leather). Her explorations of
skin as the interface between clothing and bodies is quite
intimate and weaving the background in black polythene
heightens the texture of the skin.
Each of the tapestries and their weavers have a fascinating
hinterland making this exhibition one not to be missed.
This exhibition ran at the NCCD until 15th January but then
is moving to The Holburne Museum, Bath from 24th June -
1st October 2017 where I believe it may be slightly reduced
due to space restrictions. So another chance for you to view
this unique exhibition.
All photos by P. Jones
Some of the work is immediately recognizable, Erin
Riley, Jilly Edwards and Caron Penney for example;
there is no mistaking their unique style and content.
Equally there is work that does not quite fit into the
classic weft-faced tradition. Ieva Krumina from Latvia
utilises digital print and applique onto the surface of
the tapestry; a fascinating addition which can only be
seen on very close inspection. Aino Kajaniemi, as
many will know, uses a specialist technique which
regularly leaves warps showing between the wefts.
This produces an image with a lightness of touch;
totally suitable for her depictions of fleeting
are finely woven faces, in which she continues to
exhibit her unerring use of colour.
Ai Ito from Japan maintains the traditional narrative
imagery in a large tapestry of mesmerising detail
depicting the journey she took across Baltic Europe
10 | British Tapestry Group

The Long & Winding Road
I have been captivated by constructed textiles from an early age and love that the simple
interlacing of threads, in various sequences, can produce an array of different fabrics. I love the
tactile qualities of yarn and the possibilities presented by the colours and textures available.
Erosion 1. Hand dyed wool and viscose rayon
I was introduced to weaving at 17 years of age after
starting a course at a local college. My teacher,
Joanne Breen, was passionate about the process of
tapestry and had a very open, yet careful approach.
I remember the first time I warped up on a simple
frame and began to weave. The yarns were dull and
coarse, yet instantly I began to understand that what
was exciting about the technique was the ability to
build not only texture, but imagery. We soon created
our first finished piece, which I still have today. For
me, it represents the starting point on the path I have
taken with tapestry over the past 26 years. One which
has led me to studying at The National College of Art
& Design, Dublin, an exchange in Winchester School
of Art, an influential residency with artist/weaver
Regine Bartsch and the opportunity to exhibit widely.
found, the process of erosion is stopped and it's
surface no longer changes.
As a result of observing such minute detail, the scale
of my tapestries reduced. I had already worked at
larger scales, but now I wanted to remain true to the
precious hidden qualities and the fragmented nature
of the objects. I began to explore miniature tapestry,
irregularly shaped, almost at the size of the remnants
I had been picking up and putting in my pocket. This
was exciting and challenging. It demanded different
approaches to my design development and also to
the type of yarns I was using. I found a scale at which
I loved working and I continue to work at it today.
When evolving an idea I crop and enlarge areas of my
drawings or photographs and further develop these
through thumbnails, then finished designs,
sometimes with mixed media or paper manipulation.
I am constantly thinking about the techniques of
tapestry and sometimes begin to sample, which
drives the design forward. Ultimately this will
become the cartoon.
Fragment 1
such as soumak and floats create texture where
necessary. Eventually, I began to contrast the
softness of the woven surface with various grounds.
Firstly these were natural materials such as wood
and slate, then ceramic. By using clay, I can apply
mark-making to mirror the initial object and link this
with the tapestry.
Currently I am developing work which results from
being part of an archaeological dig. As the trenches
deepened, layers of soil revealed their densities and
colours and presented many 'finds' such as bones,
pottery, shells and tile fragments, all signifying traces
of life and rituals of the past. This was fascinating
and links directly to the idea that each object, like the
ones I collect, has a story and a starting point and
whether buried or exposed, has been been affected
by the processes of time. This project is in the early
stages, but I have acquired a collection of the 'finds'
and am enjoying investigating them.
Traces. Wool, linen, cotton, bamboo
and paper yarn with stitch embellishment
From the beginning, the processes of nature have
had an influence on my work. Consistently, I have
found a wealth of mark-making, pattern and colour
on organic and synthetic surfaces affected by
erosion. I find it fascinating that these are constantly
transient. Initially, I looked closely at the tactile
qualities of the objects. However, on investigating
further through drawing and macro photography, I
was struck by the myriad of colour and often
jewel-like clusters present between the weathered
layers. I wanted to pursue the idea of 'seeing the
unseen'. Instantly I could envisage translating these
qualities into the textile medium. I also became a bit
of a magpie and collected fragments and objects to
be observed in more detail back at the studio, a
practice which continues to this day. Nonetheless,
the environment to which each item belongs remains
paramount, as it has shaped them into what I find
beautiful and intriguing. I also like the idea that in
recording an object or removing it from where it's
Erosion 2. Hand dyed wool and viscose rayon
One of the key elements of tapestry I have always
adored is colour blending. The varied palettes of
peeling paint, worn driftwood, tarnished metals,
bleached bones, sea-softened stones and broken
rocks constantly provide the perfect source. When
working small, I use a combination of fine yarns,
often hand-dyed to achieve desired colours. I have
also found shimmering qualities within the objects.
To interpret them, I use metallic yarns or viscose
rayon, which dyes beautifully. These are coupled with
wools or linens to create a play of light-absorbent
and light-reflective areas within the work. The sett of
the warp is also quite dense, using fine yarn, and
allows me to build the detail required. Techniques
Le Jour Sacre. Hand dyed wool, cotton, linen and viscose rayon.
Reflecting on my tapestry practice, I feel I'm only
partway down the road. I also teach at Ballyfermot
College of Further Education where I first learned to
weave and I revel in passing on what was taught to
me. I enjoy every step of the weaving process and
am excited about where it will take me in the future.
I work also with knitting, crochet, stitch and
loom-weaving. However, I remain a tapestry weaver
and the road I have taken with it has been long and
definitely winding, veering off to focus my
concentration in other areas at times. This said, no
matter what else I am doing, there is always one
constant, a tapestry on the frame.
Louise Broughton
www.louiseboughton.wordpress.com
Also on Etsy: A Textile Trove
Images by Louise Broughton
12 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 13

Weaver’s Profile
By Marilyn Eustice
My Favourite Weaving until the Next One!
By Eleonora Budden
Nobody was more surprised than I was when my tapestry weaving was accepted for the Cordis Showcase.
At first I assumed that if my weaving, ‘Don’t Speak Of It’, was accepted, then the exhibition couldn’t be as
prestigious as others were making out. Confidence plays a large part in any creative activity and often
we need the right kind of support before we can reach our potential. On the other hand, once you become
seriously involved, it is surprising what you can achieve in a short time.
I am a newcomer to the art of tapestry. In my younger days I made jewellery in Buenos Aires,
my birthplace, and in Ibiza and London for a while. Then I went to college, graduating in
computer science, later specialising in Human Computer Interaction. After retiring I explored
several forms of textile crafts, discovering tapestry weaving only three years ago.
My journey to be a tapestry weaver has taken a long
time. I learned to weave cloth at college in the sixties,
but not all private houses have space for a floor loom
and so, for several years, I was busy drawing and
potting instead. I came back to cloth weaving when we
moved to a house big enough to install a loom and
continued to make floor rugs and silk scarves.
years ago I signed up for a workshop to learn the basic
techniques of tapestry weaving and suddenly I was
fired up.
To do anything properly, you have to learn the rules,
even if you break them later. Over the last three years
I have attended a number of workshops, where I have
been inspired by mixing with other enthusiasts and
now I have reached a point where I can’t sleep because
so many ideas are racing though my head.
I had been weaving about a year when I started on
the parrots. I was looking for something with lots of
colour to brighten up the winter days. I think I typed
into Google something like ‘colourful birds’ and there
were hundreds of inspiring ideas. I was fascinated by
an image of thirteen parrots sitting on a wire, their
reflections clearly visible in the water below.
I knew it would be hard, so decided to start on
another image of just two cuddling up to each other,
which is why I wove them tufted. I used Ghiordes
knots over single warps to obtain fine colour
changes. For the beaks I used supplementary warps
and the feet were constructed using leather and
fabric (twined) with cotton whipping for the claws. It
was great fun doing “Birds of a Feather” over the
winter months and when spring came along I was
ready to embark on the thirteen.
Parrots on Parade
parrots perched on a twig straight up. The ripples
didn’t work however I tried so decided to weave it all
from the side and concentrate on the reflection.
Dont Speak Of It
I had met Jane Brunning at a pottery class and our
mutual interest in weaving, hers particularly in tapestry
weaving, awakened my interest in the subject,
although I continued to weave cloth for some time. The
idea of spending so much time on one piece of work
when I could paint it instead did not fit in with my
impatient temperament!
Jane and I began to meet regularly; she pursuing
tapestry while I was still concentrating on cloth. I began
to see the amazing diversity of tapestry weaving so I
started tentatively to experiment with ideas, thinking
that I knew enough from cloth weaving to be successful
in the new discipline. I dabbled for several years, with
cloth weaving still my main creative outlet, then three
I tend more towards abstract designs, often taken from
nature, and weave on frames in ‘a room of my own’. I
even forget to eat sometimes and, although I still find
it very slow, I have learned to love the endless problem
solving to make a piece work. My piece for the Cordis
Showcase ‘Don’t Speak Of It, is a bit out of my comfort
zone. It is taken from a line drawing I made on my iPad,
using a minimal black line on a white background to
give an emotional impact. Not so simple to weave, of
course, as mistakes become very obvious. But at the
age of 69 I have, at last, found my true vocation.
Images courtesy of Marilyn Eustice
Making Ends Meet
Parrot Practice
Firstly, I needed to work out how to approach the
weaving, straight up or sideways? My first task was
to weave a sampler and experiment. I wove a parrot
on its side, using soumak for the plumage. I quickly
learned that this really needs to be laid on thickly and
after weaving just a few passes above, I saw my
parrot was just a little bit too skinny!
However, the problem I was really having were with
the ripples in the water. I tried weaving straight up,
sideways, any-which-way, whilst weaving three
Finally I embarked on the ‘thirteen’, which I now call
“Parrots on Parade”. I was going to use a length of
thin wooden dowel for the perch. Fortunately at the
very last minute I had a brainwave and used clothesline
instead which, being flexible, was easier to
manipulate whilst weaving with it in place. It is simply
held by a stitch at the very bottom and, thereafter, by
the claws of the parrots facing forwards and the
bodies of the others. I used cartoons for the parrots,
but only drew each on as I was going along. The
foliage was improvised hatching, a technique I could
do forever, as it feels so much like painting. Once
finished I loved the sampler almost as much as the
thirteen, so I decided to frame it and called it ‘Parrot
Practice’ because that is what I was doing, practicing
parrots.
Now, some time has passed and I have had more
than one favourite along the way, but that is another
story - or should I say stories?
Images by Eleonora Budden
14 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 15

‘ . . . supporting those who are
starting on their weaving journey . . . ’
The quote above is from the British Tapestry Group home page. The group makes room for
tapestry weavers on a spectrum from professional to home based beginners, showcasing and
honoring that spectrum fully. This keeps tapestry accessible. It makes space for expression
made from a skill set producing beauty and clarity that may include, but not be solely restricted
to, the fine arts. These community resources support my passion to create tapestries that are
place based, that belong where they have grown. To accomplish this, I need communities of
fiber art sharing, because place is community and community is place.
shapes and curves. I am now sampling for how to
reproduce the basic composition of my original Tree
Song piece with a more subtle color shift through four
seasons, across four panels, as a background to the
simple, geometrical tree shape.
The sampling process has been invaluable. It has helped
me make choices about composition and color shifts
that a sketch alone could not have clarified. It has also
enabled me to practice interlock techniques, rather than
sewn slits. This will make it possible for me to weave the
long, tall, straight line of the tree trunk while maintaining
the fabric integrity of the piece as a whole. That will be
helpful through out the weaving of four panels. Viewing
the gallery on the British Tapestry Group web site, and
visiting artist statements and blogs linked there has been
wonderful guidance through this process.
As an ecopsychologist, this sense of community and
place is indistinguishable from my home eco region. A
region that extends into other regions, creating a web
of life that covers our entire planet. This is an abiding
gift and well worth the time taken to weave a response
to the beauty of interconnected survival. Yet how can I
possibly express something so large and complex, given
my skills as a beginner and the difficulty of the tapestry
medium itself?
First, there is the learning. Jane Hoffman and Rebecca
Mezoff have very kindly been available to me as
tapestry teachers. Jane’s dedication to weaving
tapestries with handspun, vegetal dyed yarns, depicting
at-risk flora and fauna around her mountain home, was
an incredible model for my early learning in tapestry.
Rebecca has been a model for me in that tapestry can
be a means of weaving a shared social fabric, reflecting
life’s passages and potential for fruition. These
passages and potentials are often impossible to
understand and share using only words. But tapestry
images, woven moment-by-moment into cloth and
then shared within a community, can convey their
deeper meanings and relevance to our daily lives.
My current piece in progress is called Tree Song. It is an
attempt to express my kinship with two pine trees. One
that I loved and visited daily at my home in
Massachusetts, and one that I now visit daily on my
walks in California. Each tree stands still through
seasons and time. Each is both a biological, place-based
life form – and each is a vivid manifestation of sound
and light waves, made of particulate atoms that arose
at the moment our universe was created. These atoms
move both in and out of my body, and through and
around each tree daily.
I would like to use my basic design skills, yarn choices
and color gradation shifts to express the presence and
flow of our shared life foundations in tree form. I am
doing so in this current tapestry using the basic
template of a tapestry I wove when I lived on my farm
in Massachusetts.
Wool from our sheep, locally spun and dyed with
walnut was woven into the tree trunk. Regionally dyed,
16 | British Tapestry Group
Pine Tree
mill spun yarns were used for the background, base
and branches. I have grown as a weaver since this
tapestry. But I still hold a commitment about the fibers
I choose to weave into a tapestry.
Being a former shepherdess, yarn designer/dyer and
custom handweaver of organic rugs, shawls and
blankets, it is important to me that yarn is suitable for
the task I am asking it to perform. It is also important
to me that the yarn I use has a sense of provenance, a
sense of vibrance, zest and liveliness. Over the years of
growing and working with fiber, I have learned to look
for that sense of a fiber being alive and reflective of
light.
Rebecca’s three basic course levels taught me to
integrate this sense of yarn provenance with tapestry
design to balance color transitions with geometric
Birch Kin
Tree Song Sampler
This piece will be a real adventure in tapestry weaving;
four panels, plenty of color blending, and plenty of
juggling shape and shading. I am grateful that even
though my work will not be a work of fine art or
demonstrate advanced skill in the weaving lexicon, there
is a still a place where my expression can be shared and
received as a form of communication. Our shared fibers
of meaning and survival are well worth this effort.
Leslie Whitcomb, Ph.D.
Leslie has been a weaver, spinner and dyer for thirty-five
years. She is expanding her experience as a shepherdess,
yarn designer and custom handweaver into study and
expression as a tapestry weaver. Leslie lectures in courses
on the Nature of Fiber Art and Human Development in
Applied Ecopsychology through Portland State University
/Project Nature Connect departments of Education and
Organic Psychology.
British Tapestry Group | 17

Making an Exhibition of Ourselves
There comes a time for all of us when we reach under the bed and pull out our latest work for show
to the general public. We've got past the mumbled “Erm, what is it?” from our nearest and dearest
and we are going to show the wider public what we've made. Exhibiting work is a necessary stage in
“becoming an artist” and is often rewarding, but in my experience exhibiting, something people were
really not expecting to do, requires the hide of a rhinoceros. For every “Ooh tapestry!” at the Knitting
and Stitching Show, there will be at least one “you knitted that” and several “my wife sews tapestries”
in the local gallery.
a 20 mile radius of the gallery must have no merit.
Somehow, living in another county makes you highly
talented. Obviously though, they have never been to
Ipswich.
Your rhinoceros hide will be needed to deal with the
inevitable regular rejections and some comments.
“Well, it's not art like you do David. This is more like
sewing,” was a particular favourite. One man, on
looking at my tapestry, informed me that I could have
painted it. I replied that he hadn't seen my painting!
Many people are genuinely baffled about why we
bother. In our modern world the idea of spending
extended periods of time simply making something is
alien. However, by the end of my stewarding shift at
least one person will go home knowing what tapestry
is and why anyone would want to bother. One down,
62 million to go!
Celebrity
to the shop is usually limited to printed cards with
images of my tapestries. Each year I have three or four
new sets of cards printed with my latest, most
photogenic, pieces and this has become a staple part
of my income. We also boost group funds by selling
packs of colour related “leftovers” from our various
crafts. This is how I discovered that to embroiderers and
felters my colour-blended fine wool bobbin leftovers
are catnip. I bag up scraps in the same colour group and
they go like hot cakes.
Mermaids
Being the only exhibiting tapestry weaver locally I
normally share space with other textile artists. We share
the organisation and cost of public exhibitions. As a
group we can afford to rent local galleries, the numbers
of which are in constant decline. Also, as a group we are
able to manage the stewarding and setup duties
necessary to welcome the visiting public and, hopefully,
make sales. The gallery we use is one we have used for
several years and we book our slot a year in advance.
Costs include a hire charge of £430 per week plus
commission on sales, VAT on the commission, an
additional bank charge for credit/debit card sales, plus
VAT on that as well. On top of this we pay for printing of
posters and leaflets plus some limited advertising. For
two weeks between 20 people, this works out at around
£50 per person with enough space for each member to
display three or four pieces, depending on size.
On the plus side, the gallery we use is part of a much
larger concert, shopping and exhibition venue which is
a considerable tourist attraction in Suffolk, so we are
guaranteed a certain footfall on top of what we can
attract with our advertising and repeat visitors. Staying
in the same place at the same time for consecutive
years does gain you a growing, loyal following of those
Cool Waters
people who genuinely enjoy your work, one of the most
rewarding aspects of the whole exercise. In an effort to
recoup our individual costs, we also have a “shop”
selling smaller value hand-made items. My contribution
Sales from the wall have steadily fallen in recent years,
but we still usually manage to sell a few exhibition
pieces. It is up to each individual to decide why they
exhibit. It is often the first time you get a proper look at
your own work, from any distance. For most of us,
exhibiting is a necessary part of making. We are all
Makers who want to show people our work. It is our art.
You don't make art for yourself. Art is for sharing, and
as I have already explained there are costs involved so
you have to weigh up the pros and cons. Sharing the
risks and the work is a great way to get started.
The fun side of exhibiting of course is introducing the
public to your way of making and introducing yourself
to the public in return. I have observed a number of
different types of visitors. Some will get to the top of the
stairs, poke their head in the doorway, look horrified
and run straight back down the stairs. I refer to them
as the “runners”. Others will step through the door
before realising their mistake. Having stepped into the
room, they obviously feel that they cannot turn around
and walk out again, so instead they do a tight circle of
the room at a walking pace before swiftly exiting. They
are the “spinners”. Some visitors come specially to see
our work but many are accidental tourists who wander
in, look surprised and end up staying for an hour.
Having exhibited locally, why not enter into national and
international exhibitions? I often find it easier to get into
an exhibition in Ukraine than one in Ipswich. I think it is
a function of the art world that anyone who lives within
Biography
Liz Chester learned to weave tapestry at the age of 15 with the
Lyth Tapestry Weavers in Caithness, Scotland. After a 26 year
detour into engineering Liz became a full-time tapestry weaver
after taking redundancy from paid employment in 2008. She
exhibits locally, nationally and occasionally internationally.
www.elizabethchester.co.uk
Photography by Liz Chester
Storm Surge
18 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 19

The company I (like to) keep
Since the mid 80’s, when I enrolled in my first short tapestry weaving course at the Australian
Tapestry Workshop, each time I completed another course I determined to continue and make a
success of weaving. Instead I accumulated equipment, books, yarn, subscriptions and unrealised
ambitions.
Cup rendering. Minton cup rendered in markers and gold paint.
When I turned 50 I realised I had better get started
before I missed my chance. I enrolled in the RMIT
Diploma of Textile Design and Development, which
included tapestry weaving. The class structure,
assignment deadlines and guidance of the lecturer,
Joy Smith, led to the production of the sort of work I
had been aiming for. In my final year tapestry
weaving was taken off the curriculum, but by then I
had met a nucleus of women with a common
passion. We formed a group that has grown in
number and now meets monthly at the
Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria in
Melbourne.
This group has had a significant influence on my
work and outlook. I enjoy working alone but also
need to mix with like-minded people to bounce ideas
off. Being part of the group has expanded my skills
– not just in weaving. We share ideas, techniques
and inspiration, occasionally visit exhibitions, and
there is lots of encouragement and friendly peer
pressure. Apart from our own work, members
participate in the annual AuNZ tapestry challenge
and the biennial Wangaratta Contemporary Textile
Award.
Recently a group of us exhibited in The Johnston
Collection Christmas Exhibition. It was an exciting
process – we toured the collection for possible items
as our group’s inspiration, finally choosing a set of
India Company paintings that had been very special
to Johnston. To unify our pieces we selected a colour
palette from the ATW colour range, guided by the
colours used in the paintings. Themes, concepts and
designs were discussed and refined.
My design concept was based on the small,
decorative, circa 1811 Minton teacup that is credited
for starting the eight-year-old Johnston on his
lifelong journey of collecting. Using levels of focus to
represent the growing awareness of his love of
collecting, I decided to weave three tapestries; the
first was made up of abstract blocks of colour to give
an ‘out of focus’ impression, the second and third
tapestries to be more detailed, with smaller blocks
revealing the cup as if it were gradually coming into
focus.
I rendered the cup using markers and gold paint and
then manipulated the image in Photoshop so it was
pixelated to different levels of detail. The idea of
weaving blocks of colour seemed easy but was to
prove incredibly painstaking. Firstly, each block had
to be assigned a colour and tone from within our
chosen palette, which was more limited and, in some
Pixelated images Photoshop manipulated images.
Three chosen from eight possible levels.
Tapestries one and two finished and ready to be cut off.
cases, different to the colours on the cup. The colour
codes were noted on the cartoon grid, and metre
length bundles of weft of each colour prepared.
Weaving test samples helped to work out the
number of warps and lines of weft required to both
match the grid and ensure the blocks would be
square. The first two tapestries used 12/9 cotton
seine twine with four weft threads and wove quite
quickly. Unfortunately I made the mistake of cutting
off before sewing the many slits. Horrors – they fell
into strips of weaving, required a huge amount of
sewing and resulted in the final pieces looking a bit
like a pebbled path. At this point I decided that all
three would be framed, trusting that the mounting
would help hold them together.
As all were to be the same finished size, the third
tapestry used a finer warp (20/6), with three warp
threads to get the increase in detail. More blocks
meant more slits and sewing – what to do? I finally
remembered a technique
I had heard about and
went with it - between
every row of blocks I wove
a full pass with cotton
thread. This method still
required some stitching
but the fabric of the piece
itself held together.
I used ATW wool weft (they
have their own dye house
and the standard range is
around 370 colours), and
some Irish linen thread to
get the glossy pure white I
needed. Two of the
tapestries also included
blocks woven with gold
silk to hint at the gilt on
the rim.
Meanwhile, members
were posting photos of
their finished pieces and
finalising mounting and
display methods. The
deadline was drawing
closer and every moment
I had was spent on
weaving rows and rows of tiny blocks. Finally, mounted
and framed (without glass), they were delivered to
the exhibition. Our works were hung in one room,
amongst the items that we had chosen for
inspiration, including the Minton teacup. It was
exhilarating to see all the works together and see the
results of all those hours finally hanging on the wall.
I learnt so much while producing these tapestries,
and being part of the group is what made it possible.
The encouragement, support and bond we shared
have made the process all the more interesting and
satisfying. It’s said that you are as good the company
you keep, well I’m not that good yet – but I’m working
on it – finally!
Heather Smith
Photographs courtesy of Heather Smith
20 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 21

Knotted Tapestry
A course with Anne Jackson
Working ona a 3D sample
Solway Tapestry Weavers
Exhibition at Lochthorn Library, Dumfries
West Dean is a key centre for tapestry weaving in the UK and alongside its tapestry studio the college
offers short courses in tapestry weaving. As part of its programme in 2016 the college offered a course by
Anne Jackson. Anne participates in the European Tapestry Network’s Artapestry exhibition work, and
exhibits her work internationally.
The course was structured to teach us how to set up
the warp threads and how to knot. The technique is
based on double half hitches and allows the maker
to add warps or knot warps which together can take
the work into shaped outlines or 3D forms. We
knotted to our hearts delight, some trying raffia or
nettle yarn and others having a go at creating
bulging shapes. There was a general atmosphere of
concentrated learning and experimentation in the
class, and combined with the short talks of people’s
work there was much to learn and understand.
Display Case
For the course Anne brought examples of her work,
small works based on her interest in early witch
persecutions and samples from previous
commissions such her work for the Eden Project,
Leaving Eden. Her work has some similarity in
appearance to woven tapestries, however when you
feel the work it has a very robust structure, densely
held together by weft knots that are tied tightly over
warp thread. The yarn used in the weft consists of
smooth, strong non-elastic yarns in cotton, silk and
linen – I didn’t see any wool used, although I did try
some in my own sample. The knotted structure leads
to a sort of ridged surface and you can blend colours
to create tonal changes or visual differentiation
across the surface of the work.
There were eight students on the course,( a majority
BTG members), all experienced textile practitioners,
and everyone had some, if not substantial
knowledge, of tapestry weaving. We were asked us
to prepare a little presentation about ourselves and
our work, while Anne shared generously of her
experience of historical research, interests in the
tapestry world and her wider interests in music.
22 | British Tapestry Group
Anne’s samples for us to study
My sample in progress. Working over primary drawing.
For me the best parts of the course were the talks.
We could quietly sit and knot while listening to each
other’s narratives of long careers in tapestry, design
explorations and questions of future work. When
you are a student at West Dean it is worth taking
excursion to other classes to see what is going on,
and the general feeling of useful toil pervades
everything. With samples of knotted bits, work in
progress and impressions from Anne’s and other
students’ work I went home with many ideas and
plans for things to come.
Lorna C Goldsmith
Photographs by Eleonora Budden
Our group is thriving despite some wax and
wane. 2016 started with a growth in numbers
necessitating a move to Lochthorn Library. We
settled happily into a spacious and well-lit room
with our looms/frames, yarns and ideas. Rita
Corbett, our founder, inspires and encourages
us, Gwyn (who travels from Cumbria) is another
accomplished and experienced weaver and also
Katie Russell, when she has
time in her busy schedule to
be with us.
So we are nudged to learn
new techniques and develop
different skills. Rita, realising
how scared some were when
“design “was mentioned,
decided to share some of the
basic skills she had found
useful in developing ideas or
whether or not an image
would translate into a
weaving. A number of
members diligently followed
her beginners’ design
workshops, did their homework
and felt that they had benefitted. As the year
progressed busy lives claimed some members but
we still have twelve members keen to continue.
Weaving is certainly a seductive activity; the calm
repetition of passing weft through warp, the feel of
the yarn, combining colours, building shapes,
producing images and textures.
Our Exhibition
Our year culminated in a small exhibition in the
library, partly to show “what those women are doing
in that room with frames and yarns on the first Friday
of every month” and partly to help library staff
show that they are catering for community activities
in the ongoing effort to keep libraries open. The staff
were keen and offered boards next to the library
desk where everyone coming in would see the work.
We were also offered the use of
display cases; hence our December
meeting was taken up with
mounting the exhibition with
some tapestries that were the
result of the design workshops
and others woven in the course
of the year.
Our display case contained a
frame with partly woven
sunflowers and included a
cartoon to show how the weaver
works to her design. Tools of the
trade were also displayed with
samples of different techniques,
for example, colour-blending.
Our display demonstrated a
range of subjects and techniques and was well
received. We enjoyed it as well.
Pat Stonell
Photos by Katie Russell
British Tapestry Group | 23

A Sense of Place
Drawing and Weaving in Turkey 2016
By Christine Paine
Since visiting Istanbul in 2013 I wanted to return to Turkey to see more of the country and its rich
textile culture. The opportunity arose when Jane Brunning and Louise Martin put together a week’s
program of drawing and master-class weaving in Southern Turkey at the end of September, 2016,
called A Sense of Place.
textile fairs. He kindly offered to show us examples
of kilim motifs and techniques. We spent a fascinating
afternoon as he pulled out rug after rug from his
collection, showing us the different techniques and
motifs - explaining their meanings such as the
spider, the woman with hands on hips and borders
related to lovers’ quarrels. The “wayward women”
carpets. Motifs are used to tell the stories of their
weavers and the traditions are passed down from
one generation to the next. Turkish rural life & the
symbols on the rugs – the usual concerns of country
people everywhere – prosperity, safety from danger,
marriage, fidelity, loyalty, mountains and rivers,
animals and birds.
pomegranates. In the beginning I needed the mirror
to see what I was doing, but later I got into the
rhythm and could sense where to turn and lock and
pass. There were many shady places to sit and work
and my view for this project was the mountains, the
blue sky and the pomegranate trees.
I felt like a rug weaver with my yarns hanging from
the loom. All in all it was a most stimulating and
enjoyable week which also included drawing at the
local Lycian rock cut tombs of Kaunos, mud baths
and an evening boat trip across the lake to see the
stars.
At ORUC Carpets
Thirteen of us travelled from every part of the U.K.
to our location for the week - Spectrum Yoga, a short
walk from the bustling town of Dalyan. We included
beginners, experienced weavers, a watercolourist
(who converted to weaving), a bead-maker who
excitedly translated traditional kilim motifs into
beading patterns and a husband. We were here to
learn about kilims, the flat woven carpets and rugs
of Turkey.
A Sense of Place is summed up as a tranquil space,
blue skies and sunshine. Pomegranate trees bearing
rich orange-red fruit lined the paths. Our work space
was the shady yoga shala (a Sanskrit word meaning,
"home or abode"). Although this is my story, I
collected comments from everyone so it is for all of
us (comments from others are in italics). Days were
organised with two hours of themed drawing
sessions in the mornings – always fun and sometime
messy – quick, organic and freeing with different
media each day! Simple, yet effective drawing
challenges provided a wealth of ideas. These were
followed by the weaving master class with a different
kilim technique each day. Design exercises kickstarting
imagination. Ancient techniques update.
To give us context, Jane and Louise contacted
Ramazan Oruc of Oruc carpets in Dalyan. An expert
in Turkish rugs, he has, over the past 30 years, visited
the UK to do restoration work for the V&A museum
in London amongst others and to exhibit at the HALI
We carefully examined both front and back,
examples of vertical and diagonal slits, outlining,
dovetailing, double interlock, soumak and jijim
techniques in rugs, salt bags and tent hangings. We
were surprised that so many were woven from the
back with long floats and complex patterns. Some
rugs were well worn and we could see and feel their
family histories. We were under no obligation to buy
but some of the carpets did make their way back to
the UK.
Weaving Kelim Slits
Even with naturally dyed colours available, vibrant
pink and violet colours may be woven in to part of
the carpet to protect against evil spirits along with a
secret name, either the weaver or a loved one. The
Christine Paine weaving double interlock sample from the back
patterns and techniques are learnt as part of growing
up. A daughter had a greater chance of marrying if
she was a skilled weaver and would offer carpets as
part of her dowry to her future husband. She would
take great care in the dyeing and hand-spinning of
wool and in the selection of designs and motifs, some
of which were related to her daily life and tribal
culture.
After seeing such wonderful examples of carpets we
worked on our own techniques. Lines made on
postcards from the drawing exercise led to a group
project weaving the lines as slits in a Turkish kilim. It
was a personal way of making marks and interpreting
a traditional technique in a modern way.
After completing my slit weave sample, I set myself
the challenge of weaving one of my designs for a
weaver’s mark inspired by traditional symbols and
using the double interlock method. I had never
successfully understood or mastered this technique
and it does give such a beautiful surface with no slits!
Following my own design was much more exciting
than trying to make up a technical exercise on the fly.
The exercises we have done to open the doors to
creativity are beautifully juxtaposed with the regularity
of the motifs. Women were judged on the quality of
their weaving dowry so I’m not sure if my attempts at
double interlock would have got me a husband! I
used the colours from the sky and the
Christine Paine’s finished double Interlock sample
I will end with a couple of weaverly comments: Louise
and Jane interlock and dovetail well, half-hitching and
keeping an eye on your sheds. And finally from our
newest weaver: Never at a loose thread!
For more information on the place and the people
mentioned:
www.spectrumturkey.co.uk
www.dalyancarpets.com
www.louisemartintapestry.com
www.janebrunningtapestry.co.uk
Christine Paine
http://www.thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk/artist/
christine-paine/
24 | British Tapestry Group
British Tapestry Group | 25

A Chance Encounter
Discovering tapestry weaving through Anni Albers
By Sarah McLean
Tapestry Weaver
Free to BTG members
£7.50 to non-members
Membership Fees
1st April 2017
UK individual £35
UK Student £20
UK Associate £25
UK Associate Group £45
EU/Rest of the World £40
Advertising Rates
BTG aims to produce two issues print and digital a
year. Tapestry Weaver is free to BTG members and
any surplus print copies may be sold at BTG
exhibitions and other events around the UK.
South of the Border, American. Artist: Anni Albers, 1958, Cotton, wool. 4 1/8 x 15 1/4 in. (10.5 x 38.7 cm.)
The Baltimore Museum of Art: Decorative Arts Fund, and Contemporary Crafts Fund, BMA 1959.91
A complimentary copy is sent to advertisers (who are
Not BTG members) advertising in the current issue.
For more information about placing an advert and for
current rates contact:
advertising@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
On the road leading down from Brighton station
to the sea there used to be a huge secondhand
bookshop. It was there I found a lavishly
illustrated book about Anni Albers and was
immediately captivated by her pictorial
weavings.
One, which I particularly liked, was called ‘South of
the Border’. The colours woven into it were bright
pinks, oranges and yellows, conjuring up heat and
light, set off by light blue. The arrangement of
colours suggested a landscape, perhaps with
buildings. The twists of thicker wool could be trees.
The whole piece had a rhythm set up by groups of
four black vertical lines and also thicker orange
vertical lines which appear and disappear
throughout the piece. These were, I now realise, the
warps showing through the weft. For such a small
piece, 10.6 x 38.7 cm it was very complex. This
fascinating book made me want to find out more.
Although the name Albers was familiar, her husband
was Josef Albers (he of the colour squares), I had not
realised that Anni also had a long and varied career
after her days at the Bauhaus. She initially started
weaving as this was the only option open for women
at the Bauhaus.
After the Bauhaus was shut down in 1933, Josef and
Anni went to teach art and weaving at a new
experimental college, Black Mountain College in
North Carolina, USA. From here they made many
trips to Mexico to see the art and ancient
architecture.
In the early 1940s Anni started to make small-scale
weavings as well as being a teacher, lecturer and
writer. Her most well known book is called ‘On
Weaving’.
In the 1950’s Anni worked with the manufacturer
Knoll on upholstery textiles while also making most
of her pictorial weavings. Some of these were large
scale such as two commissions for synagogues.
These are beautiful in golds, whites and blacks. In
1970, when she was 71, she gave up weaving “I could
not stand the idea anymore of all the yarns and
looms. It took too long.” So she took up printmaking
and etching, she died aged 95 in 1994.
Well from that encounter I initially wove rugs, quicker
and more practical. Gradually tapestry weaving has
taken over but I often look again at those illustrations
of her weavings. These tapestries, poised
between pictorial and abstract, emerge out of her
in-depth knowledge of ancient and modern,
weaving into the techniques which could not be
created in another medium.
‘South of the Border’ is owned by the Baltimore
Museum of Art who kindly waived their fee for
reproduction. Look on the internet to see other
examples of her work to understand why she made
such an impact on me and my weaving journey.
Permission kindly given by Albers Organisation to
use image.
Photography By: Mitro Hood
Issue 22
If you would like to send an email with a comment
about an article, one line or two, then email:
tweditor@thebritishtapestrygroup.co.uk
If you have visited a gallery and want to write a review,
have some information on forthcoming exhibitions or
want to write an article or profile then please contact
the Tapestry Weaver team and we will get back to you.
We consider all articles.
DEADLINE
1st August, 2017 for Issue 22
Text: Please supply text in WORD document or other
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possible. The minimum resolution is 300 dpi,
minimum size 210mm x 149mm and in JPG format.
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the magazine.
New and Returning Members
Polly Hoad, Pam Morris, Joyce Marlow, Jennifer
Woolnough, Ann Green, Julie Ballard, Robbi
Robinson, Christina Arscott, Leslie Whitcombe,
Sarah Beardsmore, Samina Gasimova, Linda Dunn,
Camilla Hair, Jane Wakely, Christine Tanish.
Comment
To all those FULL members, make sure you make full use
of the areas on the members’ area! If you haven’t sent in
your images and an artist’s statement for inclusion in the
Showcase do it now. This is a brilliant place to show your
weavings to all our members.
Also, if you teach weaving then please add your name, etc.,
to the area - Weaver’s Who Teach. We gave out lists, based
on this area of the Website, to people at the Knitting &
Stitching Show. I was surprised how many people were not
on it. Good way to get your name out there.
If you have a website, blog or are part of a group who has
a website get this put onto the members’ lists. This is a
place I turn to as the Editor to get inspiration for members’
to approach for articles! It is also a way of other members
to see what is going on through your websites.
For each of these, contact or send to:
webmanager@britishtapestrygroup.co.uk
Another suggestion is to use the membership list to see
whether other people are in your area and make contact,
you can be email buddies, meet up for coffee, organize an
exhibition in a local venue acceptable to you all, or create
a weave and natter group in a library.
Make use of our BTG network. Anything is possible.
26 | British Tapestry Group