Our final visit to Harnall Lifehouse ( Salvation Army Shelter) with the travelling tapestry was an enjoyable one. We had started the tapestry with this community and were pleased to bring it back as it was nearing completion. We had a busy session with lots of engagement and made considerable progress with the weaving.
The Bigger Weave tapestry was the focus of my first time participating in Warwickshire Open studios. Visitors enjoyed weaving out of doors, heard the story of the tapestry and enjoyed watching a presentation of all those who have woven in their thread to date. The tapestry will be on view again Sat and Sun June 29/30 from 11-4pm. Venue 74 Warwickshire Open Studios
I will be taking part in Warwickshire Open Studios for the first time this year. The Bigger weave tapestry frame will be on view, don’t miss the opportunity to weave in your thread. Venue 74, opening over two weekends 22,23 and 29,30 June 11 - 4pm. Click here for details
Warwickshire Open Studios is Coventry and Warwickshire's biggest free arts event with over 300 artists opening their homes and studios to the public.
Foleshill library is a wonderful welcoming space, a branch library in one of the most deprived wards in Coventry (and in the UK). It has higher than city average populations for black and minority ethnic communities and children. It has a busy ‘extra-curricular’ offer with lots of activities for young people including laptop sessions, homework club as well as arts and crafts. It also runs sessions for adults in computing, cooking and eating well, meditation and much more. We are privileged to be part of the offer at Foleshill library and have enjoyed many community craft sessions there. Recently we took along the Bigger Weave travelling loom and as always were made very welcome.
Two highly enjoyable and entertaining sessions weaving with Hope in Unity, a group of Caribbean elders who meet at St Paul’s Hall, Foleshill in Coventry. As well as our large travelling frame we brought some peg looms and weaving sticks, along with some extra volunteer support. Aaron Greaves from Heart of England Community Fund visited - thank-you Aaron for sharing these great photos with us.
Hope in Unity - Geraldine
Hope in Unity - Evadne
Hope in Unity - Victoria
An inspiring day spent weaving together in the uplifting surrounds of Coventry Cathedral. Thank you to the Cathedral staff for enabling us to be there, to volunteers from The Peace House and The Weavers’ Workshop for dedicated support and to the public who came to spend time weaving with us and shared some of their stories. We had some great feedback as well as an enjoyable day.
Jointly funded by The Road to 2021 (Heart of England / Coventry2021) and Coventry Umbrella Club.
The creative space.
The collaborators
Time for reflection
Appliqued Stole - John Piper design.
Don't miss the opportunity to spend time weaving in this stunning place. We will be working on our Coventry City tapestry 'A Bigger Weave' and would welcome your help in progressing the weave. Take time out to work and reflect in this beautiful building. Admire Graham Sutherland's Christ in Glory Tapestry with a renewed sense of awe having learnt a little about the tapestry weaving process. No weaving experience needed, come and join us - we will share a few simple skills and you will be weaving in no time.
Tuesday 07 May 10am - 3pm Free Entry
Our abstract design - Coventry’s changing skyline
Tuesday 7 May 2019 10am - 3pm - A one day weaving residency in Coventry Cathedral. Drop in to Coventry’s stunning cathedral and spend a while weaving with us in this inspiring building. Take time too to enjoy Graham Sutherland’s tapestry ‘Christ in Glory’.
Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success. Henry Ford
A very successful session at Stoke library, Coventry . Lots of weaving together, great progress, interesting conversations and singing!
A relaxing and therapeutic session at Eastern Green's The Healthy Practice. Great conversations about mindfulness, relaxation and therapeutic activities coupled with great progress on the Coventry Tapestry. We're back at The Healthy Practice next Monday 25 March 11 - 1pm - if you would like to book a place please call 024 76473146.
Thank you to Sarah of The Healthy Practice for the use of her beautiful therapy space.
An extremely busy session at Coventry Central Library today with weavers two deep on occasions. Great progress on the tapestry which is starting to really take shape. Thank-you to everyone who turned up to join us.
We have a book-in session at The Healthy Practice, 131 Sutton Ave. Eastern Green on Monday 18 March 11 -1. Ring 024 76473146 to book.
Next drop-in session is at Stoke Library, Kingsway, Coventry on Tuesday 19 March 1.30 -3.30, just turn up to weave.
We enjoyed a great intervention at the heart of Coventry's Central Librarythis week. The large scaffolding loom caused library visitors to stop in their tracks and we had interesting conversations about weaving as well as many hands taking a turn to weave and progress the tapestry. Special thanks to members of The Weavers' Workshop for volunteering their support. We will be back in Central libraryagain next Tuesday (12 March 2019) 1.30 -3.30, drop by if you can.
Would you like to experience tapestry weaving on our travelling Navajo frame?
The design we'll be working on is a contemporary take on Coventry's developing skyline and when complete will be 1.8m wide x 1m high
The library dates shown are drop-ins however, if you'd like to join us at The Healthy Practice numbers are limited, please book in on 024 76473146
Shown here we are installing and securing the Navajo warp to the scaffolding frame, transferring the design onto the warp using the cartoon as a guide, preparing the fabric to weave, and finally, settling down to weave.
We received a lot of interest from residents at Harnall Lifehouse who are interested in how the tapestry will turn out and are looking forward to getting weaving next week.
Attaching the Navajo warp to the scaffolding frame
Transferring the design marks onto the warp
Preparing the fabric for weaving
Settling down to weave
A cartoon is a line drawing of a tapestry design drawn to scale. Below pic shows the tools and preparation required for scaling up the design to the tapestry dimensions. The cartoon lines will be drawn onto the prepared warp threads before weaving starts.
During Spring/Summer 2018 I am woking in collaboration with The Making Project. Together we will be working on a large community weaving project jointly funded by Coventry Umbrella Club and Coventry City of Culture Trust ‘The Road to 2021’ Fund
The looms will be large and portable taking inspiration from nomadic Navajo weavers. The frame will be constructed from aluminium scaffolding and the tapestries woven using re-cycled fabric.
We have spent several days preparing the Navajo warp – winding, twining and binding. See pictures below for an idea of what we have been up to.
Winding the Navajo warp
Twining the warp to secure spacing
Binding the warp onto the horizontal bar
A design based on movement - a tapestry worked as a triptych - Commissioned by the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust (SSAT) to hang in their London headquarters.
The design is based on the idea of two weavers working together ...moving a line, using subtle shading, blending one colour into another to gain depth and movement - a dance where two weavers work together advancing and retreating, consulting and coming to agreement, keeping within the structure of an overall plan, dancing to the tune of the tapestry.
...to and fro…meeting and greeting…touching and leaving…hello and goodbye…
Colourful yarns and conversation flowed when we took The Big Weave to Stroud International Textile Festival With a steady stream of visitors keen to weave some colour into our latest tapestry.
The final image shows Val Bowman from Maiden Erlegh Community Arts handing over the completed tapestry to Liz Macfarlane from Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The tapestry was commissioned by SSAT and will hang in the Trust's headquarters in Millbank Tower, London.
After the successful launch of The Big Weave in summer 2009 we started a second tapestry with a colourful flower garden design. The design provides a basic structure to guide the weaving while participants are invited to sow a seed in the growing tapestry. The Flower Garden tapestry was worked on in two Wokingham district libraries, Woodley and Lower Earley. The tapestry accompanied the Berkshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers at Basildon House National Trust property. Families enjoyed watching guild members weaving on the Guild's Basildon Park tapestry project and were delighted to discover they could have a go on The Big Weave Flower Garden tapestry. The completed tapestry was hung in Woodley library.
Championed by Maiden Erlegh School Community Arts, The Big Weave began in Reading. Mentored and guided by Thoma Ewen from The Moon Rain Centre, Gatineau, Quebec. Thoma visited the UK for three weeks of weaving and sharing expertise with local communities as we, ‘The Big Weavers’ skilled-up in the craft of collaborative community tapestry weaving. The design for the inaugural Big Weave tapestry was inspired by the work of Reading artist Peter Hay, founder of Two Rivers Press.
Images show the preparation of the warp, using the design to create a scaled cartoon, following the cartoon to transfer the design onto the warp and starting to weave in the weft. Click on an image to enter gallery.
Alongside the community loom Thoma hosted a workshop at Maiden Erlegh School for teachers, weavers and craftspeople. The small frame looms were constructed as a live brief by Maiden Erlegh Design and Technology students and were put to full use during the project. Click on image to view gallery
The Big Weave goes on the Road
The large community loom is designed to break down into three component parts while there is work in progress on the loom. In this way the work can be taken to a new venue and communities can build on the work down by other communities, pulling groups together with common a thread.
The photo gallery shows work down by Festival goers at Henley Festival, Henley-on-Thames, the Alfred Sutton School community in Reading, and visitors to Art in Action in Oxfordshire. We worked on the barge on the riverbank at Henley, ‘built’ the red-brick houses with school children and the constructed the bridge at Art in Action.
Back at Maiden Erlegh School Community Arts the finishing touches were added to the tapestry and finally the warp threads were cut and the tapestry released from the loom. Meridian TV was there to record the big moment.
