Holding, recycled wool and cotton weft, cotton warp, magnolia leaf, goldenrod flowers, pine needles, 2022.

This was my first experimentation with weaving and it may still be my favorite. This piece was in many ways a playful exercise in seeing what would happen with different yarns, techniques, and of course, natural materials. I used an interlocking technique to switch yarns in the middle of a row, which is how I made the round form in the bottom right. I explored the use of interlocking and found objects more in a Something/Someone/Somewhere Southern, but making Holding was my first time approaching these techniques.

The yarn is all donated wool, and the found materials in this tapestry include a magnolia leaf, four sprigs of goldenrod flower, and six pine needles. Can you find them all?

My favorite part of this piece is the way it will change with time. The magnolia leaf has already changed since this photo was taken, and the other plants also show their age. AS the plants continue to decay more, the hollow spaces in the tapestry will collaps and shift, changing the tapestries entire structure. The warp threads at the bottom are left untied, this tapestry is not an effort in stability, rather a creative play time with the spirit of decay.