A workshop with Fiona Rutherford

Today I attended a workshop led by Fiona Rutherford organised through the Durham Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. I find it greatly valuable to attend workshops led by a range of experienced weavers since each individual has their own perspective, interests and ways of working. All of it adds flavours and layers to the melting pot out of which my own style is emerging.

Fiona encouraged us to play around with mark making, and to consciously restrict our colour range to just two colours in order to focus on the relationship between them. I was reminded of one of the beauties of weaving: two constrasting colours can be blended successfully together yet still retain their own individuality. In addition, we worked only in simple plain weave, rather than bringing in additional textural techniques. I found the simplicity of the exercise to be very freeing - it has opened me up to a new range of ideas and ways of experimenting.

About the artist
In her Designed and Made profile, adapted, Fiona states: 'In my tapestries, I like to create a sense of immediate energy by using vivid colours and simple imagery that contradict the slow process of their weaving. My images are a careful balance of patterns, symbols and mark-making that suggest the selvedge of a larger unseen design.'

A workshop with William Jefferies

In November 2006, I attended a workshop led by William Jefferies at the Handweavers Studio in London. A renowned weaver, William incorporates a variety of textural techniques into his tapestry weaving and works with materials such as wool, linen, jute, cotton, silk, coir fibre, steel and hemp.

The weekend was inspiring. William taught each of us according to our needs. He imparted a great deal of information about weaving which we were able to quietly absorb whilst engaged in our individual weaving projects. I learned several textural techniques such as whipping, wrapping and tufting, and my understanding of weaving moved another step forward and came away with a batch of invaluable notes. Shown here is the sample I produced that weekend.

About the artist
In his 2006 artist statement on the Craft Council website, William says: 'I use tapestry weaving like a method of building to produce small pieces. I am interested in the traditions of tapestry which use illusion and picture making but I also like texture and the substance of fabric. I like to use fibres which have character as well as conventional dyed wool. Problems of hanging and shape intrigue me. Inspiration comes from numerous sources. I use drawing and collage to arrive at a committed design.'

A workshop with Sue Lawty

I went to a workshop with Sue Lawty, Artist in Residence at the V&A in London, during her Concealed, Discovered, Revealed exhibition. What I love about Sue is her enthusiasm for exploring and discovering. She was very interested in bringing structure and texture, partly through the use of non-traditional fibrous wefts into her tapestries. She encouraged us to experiment and see what happened.

This is the piece I made during her two day workshop, playing around with colour, and for the first time introducing (albeit a bit nervously) contrasting materials and beginning to play around with the dialogue between the fibres. I felt greatly encouraged by her adventurous and inquisitive spirit and came away from the weekend inspired and ready to tackle the homework she set us.

About the artist
In an artist statement, Sue says 'Throughout my creative life I have been drawn to textiles from times past, re-examining structure and exploring textile language. I have poured over tapestry fragments from Peru and Coptic Egypt or raphia cloths from Zaire. The more I research, the more I feel part of a rich woven tradition and the more I endeavour to add something of interest to it. I wish for my work to give me the same frisson that I experience from these humble textiles. In our present technological age, it feels important that the past should inform the present and that the human mark of the individual should be evident.'

A workshop with Joan Baxter

Joan Baxter led a workshop day at the Durham Guild in June 2006. She encouraged us to work in shapes, rather than lines, and have fun, letting the tapestry tell a story as it grew. We got to use her gorgeous hand-dyed yarns. She encouraged us to select a main colour and then add secondary colours as highlights. This gave the tapestry a congruence yet allowed character and other colours to come in.

The lower green section of the tapestry was woven with Joan's yarns at the workshop, the upper blue section was woven later with my own shop-bought yarns.

About the artist
On her website, Joan says: "My work deals with landscape, its echoes of history, its legends, its atmospheres and moods. I am particularly inspired by the rich cultural heritage and wild beauty of the landscapes of the far North of Scotland where I live.I choose to work in the traditional woven tapestry medium because I like the way my initial ideas can develop and expand during the slow and deliberate making process.The process, although a very ancient one, allows me to push boundaries in design, technique, materials and concepts."