Abba Yohanni curtain

Re-creation of a giant tablet-woven curtain from a cave church in Ethiopia that was woven in three pieces.

This is the centre section of the piece.  Weaving it involves 353 tablets threaded 2X2, and woven in a doubl-faced technique.

I drafted the pattern in the summer of 2006 from photos taken by Prof. Michael Gervers.  The rest of the weaving has primarily been done in the summers of 2007 and 2008 (I never have time during the school year).

The piece is full of flaws - working on this scale definitely has different problems, but I'm fairly pleased with how it has turned out so far.

The last picture is the piece on display in the Woodstock Museum, Ontario as a part of an exhibition entitled "Grave Good" in the fall of 2008.