Introduction to Weaving

Rebuilding sustainable communities requires the preservation of ancient skills that have long connected us with the landscape and each other. Cultivating those skills and recalling that storied relationship are both essential parts of growing a more mindful culture. In this course we will explore weaving as one of the many strands in the web that links our own creative natures with land, humanity, the past and the future. We will focus primarily on the practical cultivation of skills: learning the language, the styles of weaving, the tools and techniques that have developed over thousands of years of cultural cross-pollination. We will employ a variety of looms from inkle loom to eight shaft floor loom with a focus on the four shaft floor loom. We will also work to put these new skills into context: we’ll follow the path of fast fashion from factory to waste stream; research roles weaving plays in a cultural tradition of each student’s choice and explore our perceptions about craftsmanship and creativity.

This course opens the doorway to approaching textiles more consciously in terms of our layered relationships with them as well as appreciating our own capacity for their production.