Tapestry Techniques Class – simple fun and endless possibilities! Saturday November 9 @ 1-5 pm, free!
Taught by Lopez Library Artists in Residence, Barbie Paulsen and Julia Mira. Please RSVP to nikyta@lopezlibrary.org to reserve your space.
Tapestry is like painting, but with a fat, blurry brush. The basics come easily and yet there’s a world of color blending and color effects to fascinate for a lifetime. This style of weaving is used in flat Navajo rugs and, on a much finer scale, in the pictorial hangings that covered the walls of European castles.
In this workshop we will play with color. After learning some basic weaving techniques, we will experiment with blending and contrasting effects. We will also explore how to create lines and simple shapes while weaving a small piece of cloth.
By the end of the afternoon, you will have a small flat woven rug about the size to set under your coffee or tea mug. Barbie and Julia will be available to give one on one assistance as we all work at our own pace.
As an added bonus, once you feel comfortable with the over-under of weaving, you’ll have a chance to participate in a community tapestry. We’ll be working on a community woven image of our own Lopez Library that will be finished by the end of November and presented to the library in December. Find a color and a place to put it and add your own piece to the library’s tapestry portrait.
All materials will be provided, but if you have a yarn you’d love to use, bring it along!
Barbie’s Teacher bio:
Barbie Paulsen has been weaving and playing with yarn and fiber for most of her life. She has a couple of decades of teaching experience where she used yarn, looms and other materials to help elementary school children learn the joy of working with fiber, the frustration of facing setbacks, and the satisfaction of seeing a creation through to completion. Now retired, Barbie still plays with yarn and fiber at her Weaving Wednesday afternoons at the Lopez Library.
Julia’s Teacher bio:
Julia Mira’s grandmother, who could only speak limited English, communicated with her through weaving, knitting, crocheting, and drawing. Her mother had a master’s degree in arts and crafts. Naturally, Julia became an arts and crafts teacher herself. She taught art along with all the other subjects at Waldron School, a K-8 rural school, and also taught absolutely everything to a handful of high school students for three years. She embodies the idea of “Jill of all trades, master of none.” But in a good way.
