End of an Era - Part 2 (Workshops & Exhibitions)

For about 35 years of this Era, I spent lots of time "on the road"

teaching workshops at many regional, national  and international textile/hand-weaving 

conferences throughout the US and Canada.

 My workshop students often asked “How do you get from your photo to

 the design.  There are many answers to that question.  However, in this case 

I took many slides of the 2 dogs playing with a ball. 

After 20 minutes of romping the Siberian Husky puppy sat &  said to 

the old Dalmatian, “This is my ball from now on”.

Since I had taken slides, I just projected the slide onto my design 

paper which was placed on the wall and drew the major color 

areas within the bodies of each dog.  And I even added a couple of spots on the 

Dalmatian just for the fun of it.  

After all, how often do you get to change your spots???

I am grateful to IBM for the education they gave me when I worked

 for them as an Education Development Analyst…

 that meant that I learned how to teach product knowledge, 

sales and marketing to the sales staff and taught the IBM teachers

how to teach    Perhaps the most challenging thing for the creative 

   artist to deal with is how to sell their work.  Thanks to"Big Blue"

I learned how which I believe contributed greatly to my success.  

Not only that, IBM’s motto is “Think” and my Think Sign is always 

close by when when the creative juices start to flow.

For example when the Sacramento Bee was having a design competition,
 I called for an entry form.  After all, I designed my own work!!!
  The editor was fascinated with what I did and 
decided to feature my work on the cover of the California Life Section.  
He asked me to bring a couple of tapestries to a photo shoot. I arrived at 
a predetermined location with tapestries  in hand. 
How’s that for  the luck of the draw… perfect colors for their “set”.  

I also exhibited my work along the way at various galleries and was also invited to
 participate in a number of invitational shows in many cities, including Atlanta GA,  
Anchorage AK, Ann Arbor, MI  and an invitational juried exhibition 
in New York City NY. 

Three of my pieces (shown above) were also featured in the 
National Invitational Tapestry Showcase
 at the Haggin Museum (Stockton CA).

I must sadmit I was overwhelmed when I entered and saw "Harvey" 

on the wall of this prestigious museum gallery.

One thing continued to lead to another and for a few years I also

 served as a contributing editor to Knit 'n Style Magazine,  and wrote 

numerous articles for a variety of weaving & craft magazines throughout 

my weaving career.

In 1986 I was invited by the New Zealand & Australian Crafts Councils

 to spend 6 weeks teaching workshops on Tapestry Weaving & Design.  

This trip also included a number of seminars for various crafts

 groups on “Pricing and Selling your Work”.  

After I returned home I wove this 3’ x 4’  Black Swan tapestry 

as a gift for the woman who hosted me while on the 

North Island of New Zealand. She enjoyed taking me to see the 

black swans that hung out near her home on the shores of Lake Rotorua.  

And I enjoyed it too!!!

And last but not least, there is a biennial tapestry exhibition sponsored

by the Handweavers Guild of America that is called "Small Expressions"

And let me tell you, "small" doesn't mean less expensive or quicker

to weave.   For example, the woven tapestries in each 

of my pieces, shown here  are only 8 1/2" x 11".

 It took me about 23-25 hours to weave each one. Then

they were mounted in a shadow box style frame.  The overall

size is 11" x 14 & 1/2" .   These hang in our home in AZ.

I did have the opportunity to judge the entries (which means select the pieces)

 for Small Expressions when it was held in Washington D.C.   Artwork entries

were submitted to me on slides.  The maximum size allowed was  11" x 15", 

and included all types of textile art.  To judge them fairly, I positioned 

my slide projector close to the screen so I could view each piece in

the scale in which it was created.  Unbelievable detail and one of

the most challenging things I was ever asked to do.

It was an honor and fun.

Stay tuned for Part 3...