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| Jillian and Janet discuss matters in the weaving shop. |
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| Have you ever met someone and liked them in an instant? Janet readies the shuttle to be zipped through the weft. |
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| A most inspiring woman in a most inspiring shop in Crawford Bay, BC. |
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| My new friend Ziggy Cowan. Lisa and Ziggy share a very beautiful apartment in Nelson, BC. |
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| Two dingalings on the loose. Here we are at the base of Gray Creek Pass, getting ready to make the climb. |
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| Post-run down the mountain. |
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| My dear friend Jillian and I. |
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| Freela at the wheel at the Gray Creek Store. |
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| Rouge having a laugh at the town bar. |
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| Here is my aging face proudly representing Winnipeg jeweler Mangie Chan's Sunday Feel astral studs. |
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When I picked this funny roll up from my local lab yesterday morn, I had to smile. Not my finest collection, no, but rich in visual reminders of time well spent. This is my first colour roll back since October. My dear friend Lisa King kindly lent me her oldie Pentax held together with duct tape and loaded with a mystery roll of what she assumed to be colour film. Correctus! Only seventeen of twenty four frames came out of the bath but I will take it!
When Jillian took me to meet Janet Wallace, owner of Barefoot Handweaving in Crawford Bay, I felt like a babe dropped in a candy shop. Helpless to the eye-popping pull of the wonderful array of colour and texture! Linens of every variety covered every inch of floor and wall space. Best of all-- an entire wall loaded with spools and spools (and spools) of coloured thread. Silk, cotton, linen. My kryptonite!
I am trying to be very mindful of what I spend on material goods this year. The less, the better. That said, I could not pass up a perfectly mustard woven bib for my new niece (or nephew), nor could my hands pass up a hearty spool of natural linen thread for future quilting projects. I have heard of "Janet the Weaver" many a time as Jillian worked in her studio for a time weaving on a turn of the century loom. Beholding that little loom in the flesh was akin to watching an image appear on freshly bathed photo paper. Development! The picture came together beautifully for me as I stood in that inspiring space and let my soul fill to the brim.
I was drawn to Janet's quiet, strong spirit immediately and left with a strong sense that I would be back in that work space in short order. Student hat firmly affixed. While studying Fiber Art at Concordia for a short while back in 2011, I would walk past the Weaving Room on a daily basis en route to the Dye Lab where we experimented with great dye vats and large scale fibre screen printing. 'Should have ditched Photography and stuck that one out. Live and learn. Seven years later, the physical work of weaving still calls to me. It is an aggressive but slow art by the looks of things. One needs to be able to picture the grand scheme before a new work begins. I think that part of weaving would be a good challenge for me as I usually let the materials I am working with guide me in the process (be it paper stencils or cut outs, painting, dyeing, quilting, sewing etc.). No willy-nilly wandering in weaving. You stick to the big picture as you work toward the finish line.
Musings of a dream weaver :) thanks for reading as always.
What I set out to write when I received this colour roll back is that this crummy quality of work is a fine lesson to keep going. Keep experimenting with equipment as I find my stride again with a camera in hand. The Kiev won't be coming back any time soon (at least not on my bill) so it is up to me to use what is available and translate the magic as best as possible. Thanks be to my dear Lisa for recognizing my yearning to photograph her amazing landscape and putting a camera in my hands. True friend. Oddly enough, no photos of us came up despite me taking a handful.
Adios,
MP
