Weaving “The Possible”

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I started a new project today, or rather, I picked up the threads of a project I first seriously took on in October 2009. I’m weaving at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive.

Quick history: Over 4 years ago I bought a plywood laser cut backstrap loom from Travis Meinolf, aka Action Weaver. Having seen his weaving projects, I had mostly been inspired by his approach to craftmaking as an alternative to high art and capitalism. I got a chance to do some basic weaving under his guidance at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (RIP) in SF in October 2013. After that I was hooked. You can see some of the projects I have done using that loom on my Textiles page. They’re very humble. Over the years I’ve been gifted lots of yarn, thread, implements, and even an upright loom by a friend’s mother (thanks Bente!), and I’ve had fun weaving and knitting with the colors. As my inspiration and range grew, I was somewhat impatient about the limitations of a simple backstrap loom. I began to experiment with making patterns on that loom, knowing a floor loom and more complicated projects would come my way when the time was right. My latest project on the backstrap involving patterns I actually started plotting out in November 2010 (yikes!) and it’s still in progress. I decided to create a log cabin design.

I reconnected with Travis Meinolf in November 2013, as he and his family had recently moved back to the Bay Area from Berlin and were looking at doing a project in 2014 at my friends’ Berkeley space, the Subterranean Arthouse. He proposed building floor looms and having us learn that process from start to finish, ultimately crafting our own looms, and also weaving six yards of fabric that would be his payment, but would really be set out on the street for those in need of a free blanket.

My inquiries about the project at the end of January prompted Travis to instead invite me to help out with one of his current projects of building five looms at the Berkeley Art Museum (BAM) as part of the current exhibition “The Possible.” Here’s the write up of the show:

The Possible is a radically new model of exhibition, a framework for constantly evolving artistic experimentation. We invite you to get creative with guest artists and fellow BAM/PFA visitors in a series of Sunday workshops that are at the heart of this interactive exhibition. The Possible incorporates a series of interrelated spaces for creativity, collaboration, learning, and display, and is anchored by four main studios: a ceramics studio, dye lab, print shop, and recording studio.

Travis’s piece of it with the looms is a roaming part of the show, as the floor looms are collapsible and built to be mobile.

Today we worked on getting one loom created, and my role was to fashion 80 string heddles to complete the 240 needed for this first loom. I also paid attention as he crafted various parts of the first loom—the beater, the treadles, the front beam, the warp beams, and the heddle bars. I brought a rainbow of yarn to donate to the project that had been gifted to me. What a perfect place for all those colors to land!

I also spent a little time wandering through the other “studios,” getting super inspired by the natural dye lab particularly with its indigo vat and olive leaf and olive baths. We will have access to these vats for our weaving project yarns, and I have white and natural colored yarn I can’t wait to dye to include in our weaving projects!! I sat on the huge circular Domestic Integrities rug while working on the string heddles, but after awhile I wasn’t very comfortable using my jig with nails sticking out of it in a space where lots of toddlers were rolling around. The whole exhibition was basically a kids’ paradise, and lots of fun for their parents too. There was a scent library near me on the rug, I saw lots of steam coming from the dye vats outside, the ceramics table and print space were well occupied all afternoon, and I ran into Amy Franceschini who will be making beeswax candles in a few weeks as part of the workshops. Amy Trachtenberg is also doing a project called “Minimum Dwelling,” I ran into Ivy McClelland who is working with the Healing Art Project, and the Subterranean Arthouse folks are doing songwriting and folk music showcases. There was really pleasing experimental music from “The Something” music studio wafting down to us. At the end of the day, there was even a local street dance troupe who used the expansive lower floor to showcase their moves against the crafty backdrops.

While unlocking my bicycle outside the museum I heard one kid say upon exiting, “I liked EVERYTHING in there mom!”

I’ll be helping Travis out at least once a week for the duration of the exhibition. Sundays are open workshops from 11 AM – 3 PM, with music and innovations spicing them up each week. Come out and create!

Here are some photos from the first week, with studio shelves all stocked and beautiful and ready to get messy.