Weaving.

The call to weaving started out more as a call to wool. It was the early days of the pandemic, and I had exhausted my ability to function well. Like so many folks during those extraordinary days, it was mind-boggling to keep everything afloat. Early morning to log in to work, hours of virtual meetings, juggling family responsibilities, and late nights working to numb out loneliness creeping in. Our homes no longer felt like homes; our neighbourhood parks were quiet, and our personal rituals were widdled to nothing.

One late summer evening in 2021, I was sitting in the bath wrestling with the idea of purchasing a rug hooking kit. The concept of rug hooking was new to me. Previously, I had completed a fine arts degree and walked away from all forms of crafts. Rug hooking seemed charming and manageable. Something so old-timey that it might connect me to a different mindset. Plus, there were innumerable innuendos that one could make if one started taking up rug hooking.

So, I ordered a kit from a lovely woman, and it arrived; I opened it up and completed the piece in one sitting. The texture of the different wool was so soothing, exciting and beautiful! I caught wool fever.

Months pass. I am still 'hooking with wool, but I happened to come across a handloom at a craft store. I picked it up. I had no idea. None.

For the next year and a half, I would progress from a handloom to a rigid heddle loom to a Leclerc floor loom. It was as natural as breathing making this work, and I reclaimed my practice more fully. Wool became synonymous with art, and a new door opened for my creativity.

This is thoughtful work…

and of another time and often, as I start a piece, old friends or family are called to mind. Lately, I've been pushing through these memories, connecting to the broader carnival of life, the patterns of older times, archetypes and bringing these notions out in the weaving.

I keep going, for what else is there to do but heed the call to the loom.