Toronto Weaving School: Fashion as Art, Art as Fashion

A recent submission, handwoven on a floor loom (above) for the Fate, Destiny and Self Determination international (tapestry) installation is from Maite Tanguy . She has distinguished hereself in her weaving practice in Paris France for the last 10 years by creating art /fashion fabrics for Haute Couture such as Balenciaga, Christian Lacroix, Celine, Bouchra Jarrar, and Proenza Schouler. She enjoys these collaborations and describes them as robust and envigorating experiences but also challenging and demanding in terms of productivity. She has had numerous exhibitions in Latin America and has participated in "Artextures" , an exhibition of fibre art in France directed by Marie Francine Brochard.

detail of shape by Maite Tanguy
She loves to travel and weave connection with others which she considers very important...weaving ...people and threads - the fibre that gives meaning to her life! In her 20s she acquired her skills at sewing fashionable clothes in Paris and at night she worked on her own creations, where she discovered her gift for colour and her passion for it. When she was unable to find the kinds of fabrics she wanted to sew, she decided that she had to weave her own in order to create the garments she imagined. When she was 30 her parents gave her a weaving loom and the process was an ecstatic experience and embarked in studying textiles and weaving at the atelier National d'Art Textile under Genevieve Dupeux.

detail of shape by Maite Tanguy
Weaving for Maite is also about transmitting it to others and she has been giving classes for the last 30 years at workshops in Vanves, a suburb of Paris.

Maite says she loves fibre art because she loves to use it to share her stories and love for nature. After a rigorous spell of production fashion weaving she realized she needed more creative time, and time to express what was important to her. Marine life are great sources of inspiration for her work.

Another important element for creative work is silence. She feels it nourishes her creativity, and helps her to release the flow of ideas, further rejuvenating and revitalizing her in so many ways. Its all the sweeter when many opportunities like exhibitions, have resulted with her being true to her calling and direction and honouring what she needs to have her in life.

Maite's website: http://arts-up.info/MBR/page_dediee/galerie.php?id=286
other websites featuring her work:
http://www.aiguille-en-fete.com/A-la-decouverte-de-Maite-Tanguy-creatrice-de-tissus-uniques-et-inspires_a1052.html
http://www.ateliersdeparis.com/pro.php?pro=911

Exciting things also happening here at the Toronto Weaving School.

Carole Hibbert wove this incredible mercerized cotton shawl on her 28" Ashford Knitters loom, available for sale at the Toronto Weaving School. She created a lace weave pattern that was all hand manipulated. She added a hemstitched twisted fringe.

Margaret Raines wove these cotton runners for a friend. We know these are NOT her kind of colours so she really put herself outside of her comfort range.

Marion Kirkwood wove this twill scarves in wool.

Michelle Kortinen did an especially good job at weaving her beginner sampler. She numbered all the samples and included a threading draft at the top for quick and easy reference for the projects she will be making in future.

Wendy Hayden did a wonderful presentation of her latest woven project. She made a cake which she brought in, gave us a lovely talk about the reasoning behind her choices of colour and placement.

Wendy writes: "I took a Colour and Design weaving workshop at Jane Stafford Textiles earlier this year and used the theory to create eight (8) tapas-sized napkins as my canvas for freestyle weaving. These napkins are my first attempt to work without a draft created by someone else.
My first thought was to create two bold stripes set in a yellow background for the warp and use a natural-colour weft to create the eight napkins. The number of yarn ends for the colours in the stripe were a simple 2-1-3 proportion (these numbers found in the Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3,5,8…).
As I finished the first napkin I thought, what if I added an accent stripe? I played with the secondary colours (honey and lilac) and the accent colour (dark rose) following the stripe sizes and placement within the warp to determine where to change colours in the weft. I finished each napkin with hemstitching to get practice.
Just a simple little project in 2/8 cotton but it allowed me to practice my weaving and hemstitching skills and gave me the freedom to play with colour and design. Freestyle weaving can easily be adapted for napkins and towels of varying sizes following the same proportion theory."