Questioning my competency as a Teacher

Christine Shipley, Theo Moorman scarf, based on my design in Handwoven Summer 2013. Christine tried the tie up and treadling that Handwoven had changed from my own original plan and she found it worked out fine, much to our relief. 

A new term of weaving classes has begun, and the first thing that struck was how happy and enthusiastic  as well as loud and boisterous students have been in the class, communicated by the volume at which they spoke, at times making it difficult for me to be heard and to teach. I wondered if I was a good teacher at this point, thinking that I had lost complete control over my class! LOL! So questioning my own competency I started reading some research about creating good learning environments and I came upon “Constructivist Learning Environments” by  Brent G. Wilson and what I learned is that this is all a very good sign!

Christine Shipley, clasp weave scarf with chenille and tencel. 

I was very relieved to hear what he had to say and what he considered to be good learning environments . The role of  the teacher in his view is one where lerning is fostered  and supported, but not controlled or dictated in any strict fashion.  He talks about the difference between ‘instructional environments’ and  ‘learning environments’. ... a learning environment is one in which  learning is fostered and supported, as opposed to an instructional environment, that is a more controlled and directive of the students activities and interactions.  To someone observing the class, a ‘learning  environment’ appears chaotic  (which it certainly does in our class!), however this only indicates that the environment is  dynamic, responsive and vibrant. This approach sees the student taking more initiative in their learning and leaving the teacher to take a back seat, perhaps guiding, advising and encouraging rather than being directive.  The teacher is responsive to each individual student as they work at their own rhythm and decide individually what direction they want to take and what kind of challenges they are ready to take on.

Louise Granahan, houndstooth scarf in bamboo (rayon). Louise takes all her design ideas from the beginner sampler she did with us. 

The idea of creating a ‘learning community’ is definitely what is happening in our classroom at the Toronto Weaving School, where students are eager to help each other on projects and inspire others with the projects they have done. The students support each others learning constantly...it’s a real environment of cooperation and caring.  Thus creating a good ‘learning environment’ is one in which learners have at their disposal the tools, equipment, and resources that are complemented by the impact other people in the learning environment have upon each other.  So I guess I am now convinced that I have intuitively created an optimum learning environment for weaving, thanks to you and your lively participation. In all of this I only ask that you not forget and include the newcomers to the class .....

Marion Kirkwood. Atwater Bronson Lace Scarves adapted from Handwoven Mar/April 2008, p 54-56 8 shaft pattern. Tencel (rayon). 

I featured Nieves Carresco last week and she wrote to me this week and said:

"Good morning Line, a quick note to let you know that we went to see the textile show on Gerrard a couple of days ago with Pascal. I immediately recognized your pieces! My favourite is "Around in Circles", with the loose and apparently random positioning of these yarns but obviously following some sort of structure. Your colour palette is very appealing, refreshing, optimistic. A really delightful piece. I also liked the fine grid of the background. I saw your blog also, thank you for including me! About Jun Tomita, you made the same mistake I made .... Jun is a man (not a woman), and actually his wife is also an artist, I believe, but I'm not sure what her role is in his studio (as you can see from the web page, almost all is in Japanese!)"

You sent me: 
Scott Ford  thought that this would be of interest to weavers: http://www.leevalley.com/en/newsletters/Gardening/8/9/Letter.htm

Louise Granahan (sorry....info lost on this scarf). 

See a project to the finish

Bonnie Thorne created this linen hand towel. Her struggles and frustrations with this project payed off and she now is glad she didn't 'throw in the towel'  on this one. It was stiff and rigid before she washed it, and it transformed into soft and supple.  Plain weave ground with twill variation treadling for the blue design. 

The warp for this scarf is baby llama and silk and the weft is alpaca. Marion Kirkwood used a M&W threading from Handweavers Pattern Directory, p 76. 

This has been a very interesting week. Last Friday I had coffee with Nieves Carrasco, a fibre artist who uses washi cut into fine strips and weaves them into wall hangings. It was a real treat to see her work in her living/work space. She is presently getting ready for her show at the David Kaye gallery which will be this coming February. To see more of her work go to http://www.nievescarrasco.com/home.html.

My friends, Maurice Poon from York University and Scott Ford from Hydro One weaving on the international tapestry project, Fate, Destiny and Self-Determination. 

My first weaving teacher, William Hodge, is having a show of his recent bead work. Details on this invite. The opening is this Sunday. 

Interesting weaving links you've sent
Jessica Brousseau sent this link to let us know that 70s style wallhangings are becoming the trend again: http://allroadsdesign.com/

My sister, Rita sent me this link about jacquard weaving in France after I had been to Fondazione Lisio: http://www.maisondescanuts.fr/

Arlette Schulman, herself a tapestry weaver,  was inspired by this fibre artist and sent me this link: http://www.worldofthreadsfestival.com/artist_interviews/095_mackenzie_frere_13.html

Sandra Dunn wanted to recommend Sandra Brownlee Ramsdale's jacquard weaving that was exhibited at the Textile Museum of Canada: http://www.textilemuseum.ca/apps/index.cfm?page=exhibition.detail&exhid=169

Nieves Carrasco was inspired by this woman's work: http://www.juntomita.com/Jun_Tomita_-_Textile_Studio/Top.html

Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio

The Duomo in Florence, Italy

This past June I had the privilege of travelling to Florence to take a one week workshop at the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio. There were only three students - myself and...shown below on the right...Abbas Kahn from India and Georgia Hughes from England.....

and two very knowledge, flexible and accommodating  teachers - left to right - Julie Holyoke and Eva Basile. Julie has recently authored a book, Digital Jacquard Design to be released in the UK in October 2013, and in North America in December 2013. My main goal was to become familiar with the whole process as I am an experiential learner 

From the moment I walked into the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio, I felt it was a great honour to be there and to see these remarkable jacquard  looms in operation, along with being surrounded by all its history, tradition and its heritage.   I was even more astounded that I had a chance to weave on them. Lisio has created fabrics for many powerful and wealthy individuals and for theatre and movie sets. 

Lisio created the fabric for Elizabeth Taylor's dress for the movie the Taming of the Shrew. 

Gian Paoulo Cerchiarini weaving a voided velvet. 

It required a certain amount of physical effort to weave with the ‘manual’ jacquard loom. This gave me greater appreciation for the work it took to weave velvet, both in preparing the cards and the weaving of it.

Velvet requires a minimum of 2 warps. Here we see the second warp (the one used to create the pile in velvet) and how each thread is attached to a spool. It required a certain amount of physical effort to weave with the ‘manual’ jacquard loom. Until  1990 the Telaio Serenissima had been in storage for 20 years and it took the Fondazione four months to restore it.  It had originally been used by Giuseppe Lisio (the founder) in 1925 for the production of 3 warp velvet, the most highly prized fabric made by Lisio. It has 12,000 silk warp threads, 2000 punch cards and while I was there, the punch cards were being prepared for a new design, shown below.

Velvet was not the only think being woven at Lisio. Here Marta Valdarni weaves what is called a Cloth of Gold (and Silver), highly prized during the Renaissance and still highly esteemed in liturgical communities. These kinds of textiles are used to create garments for priests, bishops, cardinals and Popes of the Roman Catholic Church (and quite possibly other religions).

Each shuttle weaves either a gold or silver sun shape, and are worked individually, like a tapestry technique. In between each row of pattern show, 3 to 4 rows of background weft are woven. Marta's loom was powered and she used a flying shuttle.

I created my own design for the jacquard loom shown here. Eva helped me each step of the way. By the middle of the week I was done and ready to experience the powered jacquard loom.  We selected an image from my files and we again went through the process of preparing the point sheet on the computer, but this time, no cards were required. The software would allow us to weave the design directly. I worked with a flying shuttle for the first time and I loved it. Each weft was programmed and pressing on the powered pedal raised the correct threads in the warp to create the image.

After my course I went to the Uffize gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Costume gallery....where I saw many paintings that painstakingly rendered the rich and sumptuous textiles (velvets, damasks, gros de tour etc) of the period and from which Lisio took his inspiration. In this portrait of Eleonore of Toledo with son Giovanni by Bronzino, one feels you can almost touch the actual velvet. Every loop, every pile and the glistening of the silk seems so real. Many other painters such as Gusto Sustermans, Van Dyck, Titian, Rubens, Rafael, Signorelli, abd Botticelli to name a few, also rendered textiles superbly and convincingly. 

I was awestruck by this sculptured detail of a fabric (damask) in a monument in Sta Croce, the church that has many tombs and monuments to great thinkers and innovators of every domain.

In closing I am hoping to return and bring with me other students who want to share this unique and inspiring experience. A maximum of 5 to 6 students at a time and the workshops will be offered in the summer. If you think you are interested contact me (Line Dufour) at tapestryline@sympatico.ca.