What better way to crank this new blog up than with a post about our recent tapestry retreat?
monday, may 4
It's 6:30am, it's a chilly 38 degrees, & I'm sitting here in Woodstock savoring my coffee, listening to Bach, & watching the first morning light gild the trees near the river after it finally climbed high enough in the sky to clear the ponderosa studded hill behind me. If this description sounds a bit incongruous with what images you may have in mind when you hear "Woodstock", it is the name of the old Airstream I am staying in... next door Susan is tucked away in the Hotel California, DY & Peggy in Julia Butterfly, & beyond Janie & Don's snug little house, Shirley & Lynn share the cabin.
We are finally gathered together for our tapestry retreat, here at Janie & Don’s Blue River Retreat deep in the Blue River Primitive Area high in Arizona's White Mountains, all of us journeying yesterday from our various desert home spots-- Bisbee, Tucson, Phoenix. One by one our little flock of weavers appeared, driving out of the woods & through Dry Blue Creek onto Janie's property as a very warm, breezy afternoon greeted our arrival. As we unloaded clothing, food, wine, & weaving gear from dusty vehicles, then carted it all into our respective nooks, happy greetings, warm hugs & excited chatter punctuated the clear air. It all felt a bit like the beginning of summer camp. We enjoyed our first meal together last night, a satisfying ham soup I prepared, & several glasses of wine before everyone, tired but exhilarated from the drive through the beautiful landscapes & anticipating our first day of weaving together, headed for their sleeping bags to weave dreams until morning.
Today was a time to settle in to our new digs, to begin the process of unwinding, to reacquaint ourselves with each other. I have now been here often enough that I feel quite comfortable, even though I have never stayed in Woodstock before. Everyone took their time meandering about the first half of the day, Shirley outdoing us all with her early morning birding hike & diving into her weaving well before lunchtime. After lunch we arranged the large picnic tables under the shade of a couple of large ponderosa pines; one by one weavers & looms appeared. We all managed to get some good time in on our respective works, along with much sharing of tapestry related thoughts, ideas, books, tools, & fibers. Inspiration for all was to be had.
Tonight’s wonderful meal was prepared by DY & Peggy beginning with margaritas, guacamole & chips with a grand finale of delicious Navajo tacos. We attempted to watch a short documentary about Picasso, but we soon all realized that our sleepy heads needed our beds & off we trooped through the crisp night with our flashlights to crawl into sleeping bags.
tuesday, may 5
Mornings seem to be when everyone enjoys alone time, either breakfasting leisurely, sleeping in, taking early morning birding hikes or starting the day with creative activities. I have been doing the latter... I've been waking at around 5:30, enjoying coffee & breakfast while gazing at the the riparian & mountain scenery before breaking out my drawing materials or getting acquainted with my new Nikon by shooting different subjects.
I have brought along a very small journal, my watercolor crayons & pencils, a jar of matte gel medium, a bottle of clear gesso, & a small pad of tear off inspirational quotes printed on vellum. As part of my planned exploration to deepen my designing & creativity, I have decided to try art journaling, with no intent to use entries for tapestry design, but rather as an attempt to generate a spontaneous flowing state of thoughts & ideas that is less controlled & planned out. I started yesterday by preparing the first page in the small journal. The pages are made of Nepalese lokta paper which is quite thin, so I glued three pages together using the gel medium & prepped the surface with clear gesso to allow the texture & color of the top page to remain visible. The project I have assigned myself is to "blindly" select a page from the inspiration pad, affix it to the journal page, & then write or draw whatever that particular quote or word brings to mind. The journal is only 5.5" square, so I can quickly finish a page & not have time to dwell on or control the process too much. Then I prepare the next day's page so it will be dry & ready to work on.
At 10am, most of us met to take a short hike led by Janie up into Frieborn Canyon which lies in National Forest land behind their property. Not all canyons in the Southwest are rocky, bare, & severe; many like this one are covered in mixed conifer forest with riparian areas if there is a water feature. The trail paralleled Frieborn Creek which we could hear & see at times, the clear, cold water gurgling over polished stones in greys, browns, reds, & rusts. A couple hours later we returned & everyone scattered to their respective abodes for lunch & rest. Shirley & I later spent time at the picnic tables under the trees weaving; DY joined us & began carding some lovely fawn Churro fleece to spin. Others were working on designing & so spent time alone. After another rich evening of conversation, wine, & a fine meal prepared by Janie of roasted chicken & other delights, including fresh asparagus from her garden, we wandered back to our lodgings under a nearly full moon to crawl into our beds, tired & happy with the day's activities.
wednesday, may 6
After spending the morning engaged in solitary pursuits, we all gathered in Janie's kitchen to prepare a picnic lunch for ourselves & took a little drive further down into the drainage basin to a small campsite located adjacent to a petroglyph site. We enjoyed lunch together & then walked to very short distance to see the petroglyphs. There were only a few, most were spirals. I was excited to see that the zoom capabilities of my camera allowed me to really get close photos of many of the glyphs even though most were over head high on the rock face behind a post fence barrier. It was much warmer at this elevation & many of the deciduous trees had already almost leafed out completely.
A very warm day... after returning from our petroglyph picnic, we retreated back to our trailers & cabin, some of us taking the opportunity to nap, others working on various things. Since DY & Peggy have to leave a day early to return home tomorrow, we had agreed to meet together later in the afternoon for a "sharing session" at the picnic tables. As we all gathered, I shared several books I'd gotten recently to aid me in my quest to generate deeper creativity-- nature journaling, mixed media, self-portrait. I read several passages & passed them around. Susan had brought along several tapestries she had woven during her study experiences in France, at Penland, & in NYC. DY showed two recently completed works, one was her second Parfleche design which she plans to display folded to resemble an actual parfleche; the design was such that the weaving could be folded in numerous ways, each one affecting the pattern in such a way that it appeared different with each new configuration-- fascinating! DY's other weaving was done in one of her landscape patterns woven in yarns dyed with cota, also known as Navajo tea, which she had gathered on the reservation where her family lands are near Chinle. The vibrant rusty orange hues glowed with a resonance that will never be equaled by any synthetic dye... a very vivid reminder for Janie & I of our visit to DY's hogan last July & the time the three of us had spent together collecting that very same dye plant. Our sharing session generated many interesting conversations & discussions; everyone was busy scribbling notes, asking questions, & soaking up inspiration.
Janie & Don's daughter is here visiting & will be presenting her Master's thesis at her college in Prescott; we were treated to a "practice run" presentation before dinner. Our meal was a delicious Cuban black beans & rice dish prepared by Susan. As we were nearly finished with our meals we were honored as Don shared with us the very sad story of the events surrounding the recent death of the last known jaguar living in Arizona, which also happened to be the oldest known jaguar in the world. While the death had at first seemed a tragic accident, in light of recent revelations it now seems quite definite the death resulted from the negligent actions of the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson. As Don talked, my eyes filled with tears & my heart grew heavy. This particular jaguar, known as "Macho B" is represented in Janie's Sky Island tapestry... during studies conducted on the jaguar's territory, plaster casts had been made of his tracks. Janie used one of the casts as the model for the jaguar track in this tapestry.
thursday, may 7
This morning DY & Peggy had to take their leave as Peggy must return to work tomorrow. By midmorning they were packed up & ready to journey back into the heat of Phoenix, which we had been hearing had already climbed past the century mark this week. DY has a full summer & fall ahead, with exhibits, a possible trip to Peru, the annual Indian Market at Santa Fe, & a speaking engagement at Haystack in the lineup. After big hugs all around, we watched them drive back through Dry Blue Creek & off into the woods towards home.
Shirley & I spent most of the day weaving at the picnic tables, moving one of them around chasing the shade as the day heated up. It has been unseasonably warm & very breezy, causing Susan & Lynn to suffer with allergy flares. Lynn has spent much time in the cabin weaving to avoid the winds & Susan also had to do her weaving inside, but as the picnic tables had been placed between her trailer & mine, she set up her weaving in front the large windows of her trailer & could watch whomever was at the picnic tables weaving, coming out for brief periods to join us if something interesting was in progress. The beauty of having an unstructured retreat such as this is that everyone can do what they feel they need, whether it be weaving in a group or spending time alone to enable concentration.
After lunch, everyone gathered at the picnic tables for our last afternoon together. Janie displayed an eccentrically woven raanu runner that she had woven in college, & I read a few passages from L.K. Ludwig's Mixed Media Nature Journals, an extremely inspirational book I have recently discovered. Aside from the obvious pleasures of the sharing of work, ideas, & thoughts about weaving between artists, one of the great joys of the retreat is seeing the reactions of our two newest tapestry weavers, Shirley & Lynn, as they are exposed to the rich diversity of tapestry weaving experience represented here. In the midst of our sharing, Janie's husband, Don, appeared with the custom frame he had just finished constructing to house Janie's Sky Island tapestry. We all cannot wait to see each of the small tapestries united into the whole she has been envisioning!
Our last dinner together was leisurely, first enjoying wine & Shirley's smoked Alaskan salmon followed by a veggie fruit salad on the front porch, then moving inside for broiled sandwiches & Lynn's sinfully dark & delicious gingerbread with homemade whipped cream.
friday, may 8
Departure day... can't quite believe how fast the retreat days sped by! Every morning dawned cold & crisp with temps in the mid 30s, the days quickly warmed to 80s with the appearance of the sun, quite fabulous. I have risen every morning at almost exactly 5:30, despite my best hopes to sleep a little later, but the morning hours have been well spent, sipping my one cup of coffee, writing blog entries, listening to music & birdsong, sketching, watching the land outside awaken & warm.
Plans are already in place to plan another retreat next year, same time, same place! Next year we all have decided to bring small "demo" looms warped for mini "learning sessions", such as learning wedge weave from DY or another technique from someone else who has something to share.
Shirley & Lynn will be headed back to their respective homes in Alaska & Washington soon after returning to Bisbee; Janie & Don will accompany their daughter to Prescott later today to hear her thesis presentation & then return to the Blue to prepare for their busy summer guest season & gardening chores; Susan & I will return to Tucson with plans to deepen our friendship. She & I met several years ago at a workshop held at the Desert Weaving Workshop & had felt a connection then, so it has been wonderful to reconnect during our time together here. Janie & I will be attending Kathe Todd-Hooker's workshop at IWC at the end of July.... hey, anyone else I know heading to Durango?
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