Summer 2014 - New faces and old faces!

What a summer this has been! We have had more students in the space of three months then we had in a whole year - in the old day's - and it is a very welcome trend. There were many new faces this summer and lots of our old favorites. Starting in June we had two friends come from NY and VA - Judy Fox and Kathy Parrot who both woven the traditional wool throws. Joining them that week was Sarah Severn, former Vermonter and former long term student, who has moved to Kansas. Her infectious laugh was a welcome sound back in the studio again. She wove a beautiful overshot rug during her all too short stay with us. The next week another long term student came back for a week from Canada - Deborah Livingston Lowe - who wanted to try out our 16 Shaft Dobby loom to weave a historic linen pattern. Then another former student - Marina Contro - was back for a few days to make a warp for the new barn loom that she has set up in her studio in Brooklyn. Eleanor Russell, former student from NH, arrived next with her two grand-daughters - Sydney and Maddie - to weave a group project for the upholstery of a camel back sofa. They all took turns weaving the summer winter pattern for the show cover and the two warps of linsey woolsey for the back….all with Eleanor's handspun madder dyed wool! Following that three-some were three new faces - Seth Rockman from Brown Univ. in RI, his future PHD student - Ann Daly and Camille Hawbacker from NE. Seth was here to further his research in the making of "Negro Cloth" by the mills in RI for the slaves in the south in the 19th c. He had never before thrown a shuttle and by the end of a week had woven 3 yards of singles cotton with a fine wool weft. We were all very impressed! Ann Daly, an old friend of Justin's, came to weave a throw and Camille Hawbacker was here for two weeks to hone her skills before teaching weaving this fall at the U of Nebraska.  Three more new faces were here the following week - Jan Cannon from MA to weave Saki Ori, Jon Eldan from CA to weave towels and a warp faced rug and Michael Lobel and Art Historian from NYC to  weave towels.  Micahel has been researching the "Weavers" series of paintings by Van Gogh and wanted to truly understand how the looms that were in the paintings worked.  He was more then captivated by the process! To round off the summer we had our former student from Ottawa, Canada - Bob Clark - return for three weeks to weave a summer winter project.   And then there was Zoe but we'll devote a whole blog to her work this summer!

Judy Fox making her warp for a throw.

Judy and Kathy with their finished throws.

Sarah Severns beaming on her warp for an overshot rug.

The rug in progress.

Marina back to make a warp for rugs.

Eleanor Russell and her two grand-daughters - Maddie and Sydney after finishing all their yardage!

The summer winter for upholstery.

Seth Rockman weaving his "Negro Cloth"

Sharon Costello with her rag rugs.

Jon Eldan beaming on his dishtowels.

Jon's second project - a warp faced rug.

Michael Lobel threading his dishtowels.

Michael's finished dishtowels.

Jan Cannon with her Saki Ori fabric and some extra linen.

Close-up of Jan's Saki Ori.

Bob Clark warping for his summer winter project.

Bob's summer winter.