Sandra Sandberg Weavers Art Conversation

Why Weave?

“The reasons for weaving are as various as the needs, gratifications and abilities of the weavers, but I believe they boil down to this: essentially we weave because we like to do it, and in a secondary way, because we like to have our own beautiful textiles, made with our own hands, for the greater comfort and seemliness of our lives. We like to throw the shuttle; we like to beat with the batten; we enjoy combining colors and textures and decorative figures to make a brave new fabric that will be a pleasure to the eye and that will serve a practical need–the “fulfillment of demand” if you like. Doing these things gives us the pleasure of creating,–the artist’s pleasure, the good craftsman’s pleasure.

“Why we enjoy these things is a different question. Weaving is a very ancient art and goes back to the dawn of human life on earth. It is built into the human nervous system; it is an urge in our brains and our fingers. To give it expression brings us keen pleasure, and also an “escape” from the distresses or the hum-drum detail of our daily lives. And the value of this escape in hard and cruel times like the present can hardly be overestimated.” Mary M. Atwater, “The Weaver,” July-Aug, 1941, vol. VI #3, p.13.

“Weaving a tapestry is like painting with fiber. It’s a form of moving meditation. The pace is glacial, akin to gradual changes in the seasons.  Weaving tapestry is a connection to the ancient ones who believed Spider Woman wove the world into existence.”  Judy Harlin, Artist, Weaver

“The feel of fiber/yarn, the texture of materials, the beauty, the creative freedom, the technical details and potentials, the dimension of the woven product, all are satisfying and pleasurable to the eye and the senses.  The motions, the materials, twisting, twining, tumbling of weaving relax, sooth and free the weaver from many of the stresses of life, a move toward wholeness, threads that touch, turn and free.” Sandra Lynne Sandberg, Artist, Teacher, Weaver

This exhibit of individual expressions of artistic creativity through fiber, yarn and other materials is provided by the many fiber artists associated with the St. George Weaving Studio or the SW Spinners and Weavers, a branch of the Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild or are individual artists, each on their own track of expression, exploration, study and development into the simple as well as the complex nature of interlaced structures.

Sandra and other participating weavers will present more thoughts like these at this Art Conversation.