The image at the top of this blog post is a snapshot from an interview I did with Tommye Scanlin when we were both residents at Lillian E. Smith Center in Georgia. Tommye encouraged me to apply for that residency among others and I was fortunate not only to be able to spend two weeks in the Georgia woods one April but to find that Tommye herself was at a short residency during part of that time. Tommye’s fierce love of making art and her incredible skill at inspiring and teaching others to do so as well is one of the things I admire most about her. I did the interview as part of my Design Solutions for the Artist Weaver, Season 1 online course and you can watch it there.

The quote above is one that I think about frequently. One of Tommye’s considerable talents is inspiring students to make art. One of her most frequent comments is this one: Weave every darn day. You get better with practice and my own work and teaching have experienced this wisdom from Tommye over and over again.

Tommye has been a friend and mentor to me for many years. She is a dedicated artist now working mostly in tapestry. She is also an author and a committed educator. This review is about her third book.