Textile and Wood - an "hors pair" combination

Speaking of the Crawl, it's been a pleasure for a second time around to display some of my weaving along with Stu's work at Beatty Street Woodworkers. We both enjoy playing with the characters of our chosen medium to create one-of-a-kind pieces.

One of Stu's recent design is this wonderful functional piece that hangs scarves beautifully.  Dressing up the claro and black walnut piece are some of my personal favourites - a marvel of burnt orange,  a delightful scarf knitted with alpaca, the cool cross scarf and a recent sculptural woven addition.

This year, Stu also displayed some benches - all of them made of re-purposed timber but offering different lines, shapes, lengths and types of wood.  Each one is unique and combines ingenuity in design and craftsmanship.

The bench below my scarves is made of red and yellow cedar as well as ebony, whereas the bench on the right is made of douglas-fir and ebony. Designed as a low bench,  its main feature is the cast iron legs salvaged from an old window weight pulley system.

The "grand" bench of them all is made of western red cedar.  The legs - offset and angled forwards - capture the attention as a design element, while the claro and black walnut bring contrast to the bench (details on left photo).

Mixed Media Painting on Linen Canvas

While on the topic of linen,  I'd like to share with you the work of Karen Bagayawa whose paintings are done on hand made linen canvas.

Upon discovering Karen's paintings a couple years ago, I fell in love with the stunning colours and texture of her work, but little did I know that Karen's paintings involve the lengthy process of weaving her own canvas with unbleached linen.

A visit to Karen's studio during the recent Eastside Culture Crawl captivated me as she shared her weaving and painting process while we walked around her creative space. Here's a window into the richness of her work! 

Saori Chime, Design Workshops, Lau Niu Weaving

And what exactly do the chime, workshops and lau niu weaving have in common?  San-gatsu - the month of March.

It all started with the completion of Maddy's Saori Wind Chime - a second window - also inspired by the elements of nature and unique to Maddy's connections to those elements.  Each piece was created in the likeness and reflection of my first Saori Wind Chime, but with colours, thoughts and additional inspirations that resonated with Maddy. Thanks to Maddy for this wonderful opportunity and to Stu for taking such great photos.

In the footsteps of the commission, followed the weaving of 4 meters of cloth for Marie's design classes.  I first met Marie on Salt Spring Island last year.  I fell in love with the garments and designs she presented to the Weaver's guild as part of the "Designing Women" series.  And so with great excitement, I left for Marie's classes at Knotty by Nature in Victoria. 

  

The Saori-kai and design classes were most inspiring and energizing as we all shared our weavings, ideas, and inspirations.  On that weekend, I forgot my camera at home, however Terri has some great photos on her blog of both the Saori-kai and the Saori Design Classes.

 I find the Saori design process to follow hand in hand with Saori weaving.  In all of its creativity, the cloth speaks for itself, and as it gets folded, cut, tucked and sewn, further beauty reveals ... coming together ever so nicely.  My 4 meters of cloth has become a tunic with asymmetrical lines on one side and fringes at the back.  It's nearly finished ... I'll post more pictures soon. Thanks to Terri for this photo.

And from Saori to lau nui weaving, the month ended in Hawaii where I saw this beautiful basket made with a small section of a single coconut leaf. It was a nice traditional ending to a busy weaving month of March!

Eastside Culture Crawl Commission

In November, my Saori Wind Chime travelled to the Eastside Culture Crawl, and this month - by means of this wonderful event - I have the pleasure of weaving a commissioned piece rich in colours.

Thank you Stu for displaying my window above your wood work and for sharing this photo of our combined creations.