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Back to Borders
by Sarah Swett
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. . . A year and a half ago, however, after over sixteen years of longing for my loom on a daily basis, I could hardly bear to be near it.. . . . I was longing to paint. . . . It was clear that the images themselves did not care what medium they were in. But did I? Has my work over the past 16 years been about the weaving or about the stories? If asked last week, I would have agreed [that the answer is the stories]
Today, however, I have changed my mind. I have missed weaving. . . . I wanted shape, colour, improvisation, room to play. I wanted borders. I missed my borders. So a few days ago I screwed galvanized pipes together, put on a five inch wide warp and wove a border all by itself. It was fantastic – like being 11 years old and climbing a tree. The warp was covered in a few short afternoons. I warped my loom again and wove a second one; it was even more fun than the first and the selvedges were straight.
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below left: Sarah Swett, Indigo Narrows
below right: Sarah Swett, Line Between Pink and Red
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below left: Sarah Swett, Indigo Narrows, detail
below right: Sarah Swett, Line Between Pink and Red, detail
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Weaving the bottom border is my path into the image itself. . . . As my cartoons are black and white and I do not choose any colours until I am at the loom, . . . Across the bottom of each tapestry, I make a line of small blocks of colour, and do not begin to build anything above that until they feel right. . . . To avoid joins I use three kinds of borders: the long slit border, in which the border and the image are entirely separate until stitched together.
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below: Sarah Swett, Miss Havisham's Gardener, 50" x 38", 2005
Photo by Marc LaMoreaux
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below: Sarah Swett, Red Nun, 35" x 35", 2005
Photo by Marc LaMoreaux
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. . . partial borders, in which there is a long slit but it goes only part way along the image . . .
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below: Sarah Swett, The River Wyrd, 48" x 36" 2004
Photo by Marc LaMoreaux
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. . . and what I call stair step, or short slit borders, in which the border elements move in and out of the main image in small blocks or stairs.
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below: Sarah Swett, Fresh Peppermint Tea
Photo by Sarah Swett
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below: Sarah Swett, Miss Havisham's Cook, 36" x 48", 2004
Photo by Marc LaMoreaux
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This last method is something of a compromise. There are no slits to sew but it allows me to "mow half the lawn before being called away to the phone".
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o f
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t h e
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N e w s l e t t e r
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A m e r i c a n
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T a p e s t r y
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A l l i a n c e
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