“FLOW”
This is the story of a tapestry commission using a collaborative approach.
Sue visited my Open Studio event in September 2022. She approached me and asked if I could make a weaving for her. She wanted it to connect in some way to a cross stitch work completed by her mother (with support from Sue) in the period before her death. It was clear that it was of huge emotional importance. In addition to the loss of her mother, Sue had also suffered the loss of her home and most of her possessions due to flooding. She had begun to recover from the trauma of these events and wanted an art work to hang in her new home to represent past, present and future.
Sue showed me a photograph of her mother’s cross stitch work, which had survived the flood. It was composed of a series of squares, varied and unique, but coherent because of the overarching colour scheme. It was a patchwork quilt design translated into cross stitch embroidery. I asked Sue to pick three of her favourite squares and say what she liked about them. There was one in particular that I was drawn to and thought would translate well into a tapestry. It included a stylised wave pattern, but there was also something yin/yang in the design.
We discussed the colour scheme; Sue wanted it to complement the hues in her mother’s cross stitch. She didn’t want the tapestry to have too much of the light colour. She selected some yarns from my baskets of weaving wools. She wanted the tapestry to have a bit of texture and to have quite a dramatic coloured, knotted fringe. The knotting wasn’t something I had used in my previous work, but I showed her examples of pieces by other weavers.
I drew a simple design based on the brief and Sue was pleased with it, so weaving commenced. A tapestry with a formal design and shape presented new challenges for me, being quite different from my usual works. I made mistakes, had to unpick and reweave parts. I had to sew in colours after finishing the weaving, so that the top and bottom halves were in balance. I also added some yarn to the shadowy border, which refers to the squares of Sue’s mother’s patchwork quilt design. The fringe was the first part of the piece, being at the bottom and on which the weaving would rest. After the tapestry was completed, the colours of the fringe were adjusted for balance with the woven part.
Finally, the tapestry could be removed from the loom and finished off ready to hang. The fringe was trimmed into an a-symmetric shape to fit with the concept of ‘Flow’.
The whole piece took a few months to complete, but Sue had said that there was no deadline by which it should be finished. We kept in touch via email and I sent pictures of the progress. I was sustained by Sue’s enthusiasm and positive feedback. The tapestry title, ‘Flow’ refers to the wave image and to the idea of the flow of life through family generations.
I am grateful to Sue for giving me this opportunity to work outside my comfort zone. I learned a lot during the process of this commission and identified that I would benefit from some more training. I have since completed an online course; ‘Shape in Tapestry’.
Finally, some thoughts from Sue: “Chris is a very talented artist,I have nothing but respect for her in working with me to engage in the masterpiece she created.” “The connection between mum and myself interlocking in Flow brings us together with peace and unity. The colours meld beautifully together and every time I look at Flow I see something different.”