Breaking News: Tapestry artist thwarts hoarding nature to discover priceless drawing

Okay, so the drawing wasn't really priceless, just fervently searched for.

Let me back up a little bit.

I am currently working on a commission and the client really loves a couple of my Emergence series pieces and wants some elements from them in her piece. As you can imagine, designing the new piece with those elements is far easier if you have the original drawings.

That was where I thought my "save everything" nature would help me out. The problem? When you save everything, there is so much stuff that it is hard to find what is really important.

I knew where the dye formulas were. I had them in hand in about a minute. Score!

Next I went downstairs to look for the full-sized cartoons. I knew that I hadn't thrown them out, though I was sorely tempted, when I packed up my Santa Fe studio. I also knew they were in a couple long skinny boxes. Found and found. Two minutes for both the paper line drawing and the acetate upside down weaving copy.

But what I really needed was the smaller original drawings. The ones I could copy and modify for the new work. The new piece is about twenty percent larger than the piece I am sourcing the large forms from, so I needed the originals so that I could reposition pieces of the puzzle and then let FedEx Office do the work of the full-size cartoon.

Searched my one flat-file shelf downstairs. Found some cool stuff I had forgotten about, but no Emergence drawings. I put on some shoes and crawled under the stairs where we have some boxes full of things we'll "never need"... after climbing under tubs of stored yarn and sifting through the empty boxes (stored for the next inevitable move), I realized the drawings weren't going to surface.

At that point I gave up. I sat down to re-create the new cartoon from scratch.

But wait! The term "flat file" jogged something in the back of my brain. I remembered an old plastic file box that was shoved in the back of my closet that had received some papers in the Santa Fe move. After moving a good quantity of spinning fiber, I opened the box and right in the middle was a lovely file labeled "Emergence series". Bingo. The drawing I needed was at the back of that file.

Maybe that hoarding nature isn't so bad. What I really need is organization... and a flat file?
I'm off to draw a cartoon. Dyeing by the end of the week if the client likes it!

Teaching an old art form in an inner city Detroit alternative high school... whoot!

Last week I went to Detroit for two purposes. The first is a secret. The second was a day teaching weaving in an alternative high school. My cousin, Mrs. McNeece, is the art teacher there.

From fairly "short" TSA lines at Denver International Airport, I jumped right into my cousin's car at Detroit Wayne-County and she motioned to the box of 94 cardboard looms in the back seat and said, "Start warping."

We did finish warping all of those looms that evening and they were ready to go for her five sections of art the next day.

Wagon of looms

And who is going to turn down an invitation to be a guest artist in a room full of teenagers for a whole day?

Now to be honest, I'm not the best with teenagers. They move quickly, their behavior is erratic, and they are big. But this lot turned out to be rather enchanting. These kids have been sent to this alternative high school for extra help and support. And many of them are thriving here.

My cousin's husband warned me that morning that I might learn some new swear words. I didn't, but there were a few phrases that definitely needed some translation. For example Duane's, "That shit lows [low key] is hard." I am pretty sure that he meant both that it was hard to do the weaving and that he nailed it. He made one of the best weavings of the day, so we're going with that interpretation.

This is Randall. By the last hour of the day, I was a little fried. This had little to do with the kids and more with a whole day of trying to navigate a new and frankly rather feisty environment. Randall jumped into this weaving project with gusto. Despite the chaos that was last period, he figured out that over-under pattern in short order.

Many of these kids have some motor planning issues and none of them had done any weaving before. I was really impressed at how almost all of them jumped into the project. A few of them even filled their looms in the hour.

And the hero of it all was their art teacher, Molly McNeece. She pushes these kids every day. She teaches them responsibility and how to follow through. She also teaches them about art and that they too can be successful at making things. That knowledge translates to other things in their lives. She often has graduates come back and tell her that her insistence that they do their work was the thing that got them to (and through!) college. That folks, is the definition of success. It does not come without a price. These teachers don't get many breaks and usually when they do, they use them to help whatever kid is in crisis that day. We won't even mention what they are paid, but believe me, it should be at least doubled. Mrs. McNeece's room is a place they can be successful and the kids gravitate to it.

And while I was in Detroit, I spent some marvelous time with my oldest friend. We met in preschool, were college roommates, and still like each other all these decades later.

I also got to snuggle with a couple Rottweilers and hang out with my marvelous cousins, goofiness and all.

Top left clockwise: Me and Tulip; breakfast at sunrise cafe with Molly and Ella; the amazing Bill, master of the double nose-flute; clay faces made by Molly's students; me teaching weaving; center: CJ, the big-hearted beagle.

This is the only hint you're going to get about my first reason for the trip.

Molly McNeece is an illustrator who just published her second book. The first was an amazing digital book called Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse which she created with her husband, Alex McNeece. If you have an iPad or iPhone, you're going to want to get this book. It is sort of a choose-your-own adventure zombie romp and the illustrations are amazing. (Also, it is currently priced at $1.99.) It is so cleverly done. Make sure to look for the extra hidden illustrations. Her new book is Joshua and Jasmine go to Kindergarten, published by Nelson publishing. It will be released any day now. Make sure to visit Molly's website HERE.

"Yo! McNeece!"

People who knit at breakfast

I was at YarnFest in Loveland, Colorado this week. I just pulled out my camera and downloaded my photos only to find I took only a few. But you're in luck because I did apparently take more with my cell phone.

This happens at a conference. I am so focused on making sure that my teaching materials are prepared and that I haven't forgotten something important (like that connector cord from the Mac computer to the digital projector... most important piece of equipment ever).

I was thrilled to be teaching at a venue that was just down the highway a bit from my home and studio. Interweave did a great job putting this on.

I did a lot of prep for this conference... including making looms.

Kathe Todd-Hooker has instructions for this loom in her book, Tapestry 101.

And warping many looms for the Tapestry Answers class...

Putting together exercises and packing it all into the car...

There is the arrival and finding the teaching room...

And the unpacking of all the stuff early the next morning before the students arrive. And then welcoming everyone to a fun-filled day of tapestry experiences.

Ten points if you can tell me who my surprise student was in the Color class (I was secretly thrilled and a little terrified)... of course the points aren't redeemable for anything, but we like to get points here in America.

I only had time for one quick run through the vendor hall, and the most shocking thing is that I purchased nothing. I dare say had I felt a little less pressed for time, that shawl pattern and a few skeins of yak would have come home with me.

This particular hotel had a manger's reception each night. I did manage to sit long enough to have a glass of wine before heading to the Yarn Along on Friday.

I did get to hear Clara Parkes speak on Saturday night and that was marvelous. I stayed up a little too late one night reading her new book, Knitlandia. It starts in Taos, NM and how could I not keep reading?

I did a wee bit of knitting at breakfast one day. There were people with knitting and crocheting and spinning wheels everywhere. These were my people... People Who Knit At Breakfast.

I met a few new instructors and many new fiber enthusiasts. I had time to talk to some editors from Interweave and catch up with a few old friends.

Rebecca Mezoff, Emergence IV