In mid-May, I had the privilege of sharing thirteen small format tapestries with a group of nearly forty folks who came to see and take part in a conversation about how we all go through the Waves of Life. Though my waves have mostly been due to the journey of Alzheimer’s that my dear mom is going through, the themes and discoveries as I wove the little tapestries are applicable to any wave of circumstance, be it difficult or joyful.

I wrote a small book to share the process of making the tapestries as well as the discoveries I made along the way. The batch I had printed up sold out on the evening of the show opening. I am now waiting for another batch of books and will let you know as soon as they arrive and are uploaded to my ETSY shop. I also prepared a much shorter hand-out for those who didn’t want or couldn’t buy a book. If you would like to print it out for yourself, please feel free to do so!

I also invited everyone to sketch and color in their own wave, either one they are experiencing currently or one in the recent past. I was honored that so many were willing to add their wave to the backdrop canvas as a way of depicting that we are all in this Wave-boat together! I was even fortunate enough to have a few folks share the stories of their Waves with me. I only wish I could have heard them all!

I am now enjoying weaving other small tapestries. One of them is a third bunny tapestry. The first two of these are in an exhibit that opens on June 2nd with the Tapestry Weavers South in Elkin, NC. The exhibit will be amazing to see so if you are able to go visit anytime between June 2nd and September, please do! I will be there this coming Friday for the opening of this exhibit, from 5:30-8:30 pm, at the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center.

There will be more bunny tapestries, but I’ve also been weaving some small imaginary landscapes. I feel like my tapestry work, aside from the Waves and other concept-driven work, tends towards illustration. This delights me to no end and I love using bright colors and fanciful shapes in these landscapes. For some reason, using handspun yarns, even leftover snippet bits, lends itself to this whimsical approach to tapestry subject matter. I am enjoying my weaving process very much, and that is something I am super grateful for these days!

In case you haven’t downloaded the free handout about the Waves tapestries, I want to tell you about a beautiful piece of piano music that my friend Michael Kuehn wrote and performed in response to my sharing with our Almond Tree Artist Collective what it felt like to me to observe mom’s memories come and go. I imagined that mom’s memories were marked on one long piece of paper, from birth to present day. It seemed that this paper or ribbon was now accordion folded and was folding and unfolding all the time. At any given moment, mom’s mind might be in 1965, or it might be where she was five years ago, and so on. Michael wrote a gorgeous piece of music called The Folded Ribbons of Time and I hope you will visit his Bandcamp via the QR code above to have a listen. I am very grateful for this addition to the Waves exhibit.

Besides tapestry weaving, my daily work in the studio includes spinning yarn and knitting, sketching and drawing. I also had the opportunity to teach a sketching workshop at our local Gardens recently and that was so much fun! The next class in June is full, but we are offering another in July and one in August, so you can sign up for those if you’d like to come sketch with me in the Gardens!

Thank you for your ongoing interest and support of my work! My heart abounds with gratitude! ❤️