ATA Fall Newsletter pg6

He summarized, "I teach outside the studio. In the studio we must focus on the Work."

Approaches to Designing

Kaija acknowledged British Columbia's landscape as her most potent influence. For instance, she noted that after working on a tapestry called "On the West Coast" all day, she would turn to walking her dog through the misty lanes of her neighborhood park and "it felt like I was walking right

back into my own tapestry." She also spoke about how the gallery workspace affected her designs -- the need to construct detailed cartoons from her original pastels to avoid being distracted by visitors has prompted her designs to become less painterly and more realistic. The expansion of patterned borders, which define and enhance her work, also occurred in response to weaving while being watched.

In his atmospheric work that balances between abstraction and figuration, Marcel responds to world news and, especially, to environmental issues with strong messages about fragility and preservation. Often working from press photographs, he referred to many influences, ranging from

ancient Coptic textiles and historic European tapestries to his contemporary teachers and role models.

Jane Kidd spoke eloquently about the impact that other textiles and tapestry traditions have on her own work, an influence encouraged by teaching and traveling. Working from drawings to create her richly patterned surfaces with many allusions to other worlds, she said, "I respond as the

work develops." She also described her heightened sense of the ceremonial and ritual aspects of weaving through her own and others' development of skills and investment of labor in the processes.

Barbara Heller talked about the evolution to more political themes within her current woven series, responding to her frustration with politicians and our disregard for the environment.