Shawl
100% merino warp, 50% merino/50% merino weft
Original Twill-based draft
2005
Shortly after I received
my order from Liz, I received a second commission from my friend Keiko. This project was lovely and intimidating at the same time.
Keiko grew up in the textile district of Kyoto, Japan, listening to the sounds of silk weaving day and night, and she studied dressmaking and kimono-making. In addition, the shawl was intended as a Christmas present for a Japanese opera singer, with whom Keiko's husband had worked on several CDs and concerts; someone I've never met. Oh, my!
Luckily, Keiko had sent me one of her CDs, and Googling revealed the said opera singer preferred monotone dresses with interesting weave patterns, and she trained at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Nine hours of Googling of München, the school, and the Opera House later, I discovered that either around the Opera House or at a nearby park were fence posts modeled after the top two-thirds of a G-clef. I envisioned her, as a young music student, rushing from her flat to school, running though this park (?) dreaming of singing at the Opera House.
I created several drafts based on this shape, and decided on one which was most stable and still resembling the fence post. I was a very new weaver, or designer, and when the draft was woven, the G-clef was not as obvious as I had hoped. I wove two pieces with the same weft but different picks, and chose the closely-woven piece in which the mohair produced a more beautiful sheen.
It was one great design adventure for a novice weaver, and secretly, I think it is one of the most elegant pieces I've woven.
"Wave" behind Katie Gold and Owen Bartlett ceramics, in front of Tracey Smith costume. Beyond, from left to right, Scilla Young multimedia work "The Dance of Red", Catharine Hodson and Janet Bathgate paintings, in Wellington
"Bubble" and "Paua" with Charles Shaw's pots, in Wellington
"Deep" and "Windprint" with Charles Shaw's pots andDavid Haig/Lindy Harward chair
In Nelson, I was able to inspect more closely how "Wave" was propped up to look wavy.
I sold no shawls, but I sold a copy of one of my photographs!
"Wind Print"
"Wave"; blue on one side and green on the other.
"Bubble"
"Gentle"
One piece was not completed until the evening of the day the exhibition opened!
"Deep", a day later
The second room had only two pieces, but two chairs for those who wanted a break after climbing up the steep steps to the gallery. I also set up my small loom and wove small scarves while the exhibition was open.
"Paua"
"Paua" detail
"Rabbit Island"
A Weavers' Afternoon Tea; they are looking at the samples pieces and my notes.
My dear friend Kath Bee held lunchtime mini-concerts every Thursday.
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