𝄆  “The use of rhythm facilitates one’s weaving...

Throw the shuttle, catch and beat;
Hold the beater; change the feet.” *

Cycles, rhythmic gestures and emergent patterns are the framework for my creative investigation. My background in music and my education in the fiber arts are markedly similar. Weaving notation and music notation are two non-linguistic languages I have learned to communicate through instruments. Years of musical training have made me highly aware of pitch, just as years of studying dye chemistry has increased my awareness of hue.
Recent works originate from traditional textile practices, but use mechanisms I consider instruments. Following seasonal and physical rhythms, I have also explored the use of my own harvested cotton and dye materials.  This includes spinning homegrown cotton as a video ensemble; creating a spinbike to spin yarn dyed with local plants; exploring the language of weaving through the use of music boxes, and creating a duet interpreting flute sheet music as woven pattern.

Throw, catch, rest;
Beat, change, beat.

Currently I’m investigating the coorelations between woven and musical structures with my computer-assisted dobby loom through Livecoding.  Weaving on my loom utilizes groups of threads that express pattern (unlike industrial jacquard looms, where individual threads can be controlled to create image). Because my loom uses a computer, I can change the pattern algorithm at any time. For me the evolution of the woven pattern is just as vital as the materials used to make the cloth. This progression follows very closely to the principles of a fairly new electronic musical genre called livecoding.  Livecoding includes using computer code to express musical sequences, changing the sound by manipulating and improvising coded patterns live. For me, using Livecoding principles with my loom celebrates the very nature of weaving as a practice and plays with mechanics in a way that makes weaving into an experiment.

Throw, catch, rest;
Beat, change, beat.
Throw, catch, rest;
Beat, change, beat.

Cycles conclude at the beginning.   𝄇

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* A couplet for memorizing the rhythm of weaving on a loom, from“The Rhythm of Weaving,” The Shuttle Service Magazine, Volume XXXVI, No. 5, Sept - Oct 1967.
“Coordinate your movements until they assume a simple progression. Gradually the body falls into a simple rhythm, and there is much less effort and adjustment than otherwise. The weaver and the loom become one, and the fabric grows rapidly. The old-time weavers often sang as they worked, and the very rhythm itself seems to beat out a measured song.”