I made a sampler/wall hanging for a guild meeting exhibit of work by master weavers. Starting with a threading and two treadlings with very long floats from a Beriau (1947 Home Weaving) draft it sampled a series of playful changes based on laces, honeycomb, finger manipulations, and color-and-weave effects in an effort to make the draft usable. Fragile in places and technically far from perfect (I cut some of the long floats into eyelashes, and then had to stabilize them with adhesive on the back because they were not tied in well enough), it was a fun exercise in creative structural and color play. On it I wrote a note with the following:
"This is a sampler which came out of participating in a Weavers Guild of Boston study group on Oscar Beriau, led by Mary Underwood. Beriau was a chemist, not a weaver, who revitalized the Canadian home weaving craft in the 1930's-1950's. He enjoyed designing and experimenting with some very innovative (aka "far out") drafts. I hesitated to bring a piece as imperfect and fragile as this to a master weaver exhibit, but it was fun. To me, being a master weaver is not reaching some static level of perfection, but to have the curiosity, creativity, and confidence to experiment - and occasionally fail. By those standards I have succeeded!"
Laurie Autio
Dear Laurie,
I loved the spirit of your post! I'm sure that your guild was inspired by your piece. I looked at the Boston Guild's list of classes- SO impressive!! I have not heard of Oscar Beriau, thank you for mentioning him, I have enjoyed reading about him and i"m buying the 2nd edition of his book- can't wait to get it. Can you tell me what other Master Weavers were shown in the exhibit?
XO Gail & Fog
Laurie,
Any chance you'll post a picture of it? I love the way this group is moving!
Alison
I will see if I can get some decent photos for the project section.
Other master weavers at that guild show (it was not a public exhibit, just something fun for the meeting), all certified by Hill Institute included (I think): Chris Hammel, Barbara Morse, Georgia Hadley, Elisabeth Hill, Dorrie Hunt, Anita Thompson, Susan Gruen, Bill Rice, Susan Wright, Martha Seymour, Ruth Zecchini and probably some others. You may recognize some of the names from articles in Handwoven or Complex Weavers. That guild (Weavers of Western Mass) meets at Hill so many of the members are in or have finished the 6 year master program.
Mary Underwood is working on getting together reproductions of the samples from the Beriau books. I could pass names along to her if you are interested in weaving some. Here is an Oscar Beriau website: http://www.oscarberiau.com/html/homepage.html
Weavers Guild of Boston has a nice program shaping up for next year. Four classes plus a free section each morning, plus a general afternoon lecture. Being a large guild (300 members) allows more offerings. The programs will be up on the guild website by the end of the month: http://www.weaversguildofboston.org/
Laurie Autio
Interesting quote from a mystery by Fred Vargas ("Have Mercy on Us All"):
"Asymmetry is what guarantees the work's status as art, not decoration... It signifies that the artist is offering us a reflection on the world and not a wallpaper design. It's the missing piece in the jigsaw, the hole in the wall, the skew, the throw of the dice, the perfection of imperfection.... The true artist is the master of chance."
Laurie Autio
I heard a great story from Barbara Cabrol at Convergence regarding her jacket we all saw in the juried fashion show.
She admitted it was actually a sample warp she was experimenting with when Cross Country Weavers pursued their Bedford Cord study. She just could not get this fabric to make the expected ribs, and after a while, abandoned the idea and just wove the yardage up to get it off the loom.
Who knew her initially-disappointing result would turn out to be such a spectacular jacket! I found her story quite encouraging.
