Mother's Weaving
by Ann Berger Frutkin
The following is a composite of memories, unfortunately very sketchy, from Dad,
Christine, Kathy, and myself........
Mother's "training" in Weaving came from Saturday class at the Cincinnati
Art Museum when she would take weaving while Mary and I took drawing and
pottery.
Later, Christine majored in Art and primarily worked in weaving. Mother began
to meet weavers in association with this. Around the same time, Dad's sister's
loom was moved to the house in Cincinnati when Dad's parents died.
Dad and Mother were doing a lot of travelling and especially when they were in
South America, they found the weaving and needle work was so outstanding. She
returned and was able to take an advanced course given by Dorothy Reichart.
This stimulated her creative weaving.
"The Greek Horses", "Rams", "Tiger" and "Quetzal Bird" were done at this time,
some probably done as class projects. These weavings have some hand spun wools
from the farm so she already was exploring textures.
The early work was made on two harnesses - a basic single weave with the pattern
or design done as an inlay, that is, worked in from the front so there is only
one side to the weaving.
As she worked she was always open to other people's ideas. One or her main
concerns was finding a weaving group on Hilton Head Island. New techniques
really execited her. I remember her enjoyment in seeing the first experiments
in three dimensional weaving such as "Sun Day".
Her explorations led her to experiment with light and glass (Woven Rainbow")
and with open weaves, some with very fine warp to let the light through and
some where the weaving at times turned into twisted ribbons to let the wall
behind show.
By the mid-nineteen-seventies, she had tried double weaving which meant more
harnesses to be put on the loom. Dad figured a way to add more to her loom
at home. She began summer and winter weaving which gives two sides to a
weaving, one the reverse of the other, and also tubular weaving which adds
dimension in a new way.
A trip to Sweden was important primarily for the new techniques that she learned.
I remember her being very disappointed with the methods of weaving used in
Sweden. In the "factories" a designer figured out the design, color, and
texture, and the craftsmen did just as they were told.
At this time too, she was experimenting in dying and using other fibres and
natural materials with her wools. After a winter in Palm Beach, she came back
witb a palm scape which became the frame of her weaving. Shells too, found
their way into the fabrics. Mobiles and macrame were done also.
She acquired a spinning wheel and used it to make some or her yarns, but often
incorporated the unspun yarns into the weaving for texture. She was gifted at
using yarns to represent other things in nature, using a natural curl or the
yarn for feathers and keeping a great bag or scraps that could become nesting
materials for a bird.
One of the challenges for her was the utilization of what she had collected in
order to complete her weaving. Whenever She found something interesting ,
whether it was a box of buttons, coconut casings, bird feathers, or yarn from
an old sweater, she was able to put it aside until the time that it was needed.
Mother preferred the natural dye to synthetic dyes, but used both. The synthetic
dye was primarily used as warp, to give color and strength. The natural dyed
weft then added the texture. When she had an idea or a picture in mind that she
wanted to use, she usually began by drawing squares over it, then marked on the
warp the end of the square with a colored tie of thread. She could manage the
proportions without using a cartoon.
After she took the pieces from the loom, there was still much to do. "Wisteria"
for example, was hanging for several weeks so that she could see it under
different lighting conditions. After consulting with Dad and others, then all
of the hand tied yarn was put on and the weaving completed.
Each piece was usually backed with fabric for strength and Dad often framed
and made supports to help in the hanging. The final work, "Snowy Egrets", shows
an unfinished work. Much of the moss and oak leaves must still be added.
Over the twelve years that Mother worked, she used her weaving to explore, learn,
and to show and teach others. No two pieces were alike and even when the basic
colors of the warp were the same, the effects were different.
Her values often were put into the weaving. Before her move to the island, she
worked with the double weave and found that this technique could express opposite
viewpoints, such as black/white or unity/nationalism.
Her move to the island was a catalyst generating many or her last weavings.
Everything was so new and she immediately wanted to know the names or everything.
She wove the plants and leamed the names at the same time. One large weaving
covered the marsh plants, another the shore ,and other showed deep woods and
water plants.
Destruction from both war and pollution was described vividly in naked tree
stumps, slumping people and massive acrid swirls of smoke-fibre.
During the last year, she threaded the loom at least three times, each with
seventeen foot lengths of warp. One series was basically orange and the theme
was the sunset glow with ships and birds. Another series showed deep greens of
the woods where Pileated Woodpeckers crouched on stumps and wisteria wound
around the palmetto.
When she died, on the loom were three weavings of light green and peach background.
One was the Swan and her cygnets, another the Wood Duck and her young,
and the third a mature Snowy Egret and an immature one. All three show care
and concern of one generation to another.
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