This Saturday, I woke up, walked into my studio, sat down and started weaving. OH MY...I'm weaving again. It has been a long road back to weaving. I took my first weaving class 6 years ago and fell in love. I thought about all the things I could create. I had all these big plans with weaving. I planned on taking over the world with my weavings.
I turned on my iPod and enjoyed getting carried away in the warp and weft designs I was creating. I smiled and took a deep breath because I remember when I lost this feeling.
It started when I was getting closer to graduating. I found that more demands were being made by my professors. They wanted more from me...more work, more designs, more ideas... just MORE! Did they not remember how time consuming weaving was??? Did they forget that I only took the ONE weaving class that was offered, so my knowledge on the subject was very limited??? Did they not understand that I was a full-time employee and a full-time student??? Soon, my love for weaving turned to disgust. I even hated that I decided to make weaving my focus of study. Why didn't I just stick to dying or painting fabrics or take more digital courses and create my work digitally??? What was I smoking???
By the time I graduated in 2010, I HATED my loom. I couldn't stand the look of it, so there was no way I would actually touch it to create anything. My love and excitement for weaving was buried under the anger and bitterness I had the last 6 months of school. I had to fight to graduate on time because for some reason, the powers that be, a.k.a. my professors, decided that I was right on the brink of my artistic transformation and another semester in school would do me some good. Of course my response was...Absolutely not!!! So, I spent the last 6 months of school "proving" to them that my work was worthy of their approval, so I could finish school without adding another $15,000 or more to my student loan debt. Did I mention that I was purchasing my home while fighting for my highly deserved cap and gown?? When it was all said and done, I proudly displayed my work of art in the Spring 2010 student exhibition, moved into my newly purchased home, and fought to squeeze into my graduation dress that did not appreciate the extra 10lbs. of juicyness that I was now carrying. I was officially done...with EVERYTHING including my loom.
Over the next two years, I tried to convince myself that I was just taking a break and that I would return in a few months. Well, that break was two years long but I’m happy to say that my loom and I are back together! I’m in love again…JJJ Sitting at my loom instantly took me back to my class 6 years ago. I felt the very same excitement of creating my own piece of fabric. I can’t wait to get back to my loom and finish what I started and that includes taking over the world!
