Mark your Calendars! - Penland Summer 2014

I'm heading back to Penland June 22 - July 4, 2014 for the fabulous class listed below. The wonderful Amy Putansu (artist statement/bio: gallery) is teaching a doubleweave class and has been so kind as to select me as her studio assistant! Mark your calendars and come to Penland for 2 fantastic weeks of learning!

Doubleweave, Double Cloth, and Multi-layer Fabrics

These fascinating techniques are all possible on simple, 8-harness floor looms. The shuttles can be thrown by hand, and the harnesses raised manually. Hand woven cloth can be fine, atmospheric, and sophisticated. In this workshop students will work with fine yarns, learning techniques to handle an expanded repertoire of yarns as warp and weft to create a series of small fabrics woven in a variety of structural combinations that include multiple layers and blocks. The focus of the workshop will be technical: drafting double and multi-layer weaves; efficiency in warping; and many other tools and tips. In terms of woven textile design we will consider the loom our tool that works for us as we highlight materials within given structures for innovative fabrics.

Bio: Amy Putansu is the Professional Crafts fiber instructor at Haywood Community College since 2008. As a studio weaver before that, her hand woven fabrics were collected by figures such as Jack Lenor Larsen and Martha Stewart, and acquired by the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. She is currently a Southern Highlands Craft Guild member and has taught weaving workshops at Penland, Arrowmont, and Peter’s Valley over the past decade.