From 2020 to 2021, Kim McCollum and I have been putting our creative brains together to make you a gorgeous, simple, handmade, series of quarterly samplers. Kim is one of the wonderful artists/business women that I've met since moving to Alberta. She has a weaving and painting practice and co-runs Gather Textiles. It took me a long time to boil our collaboration down to this but in the most essential terms:
Kim occasionally considers weaving as text/storytelling/communication/knowledge storing... and I believe you can convince yourself that anything is a book. There is a sweet spot in our creative venn diagram and this project fits perfectly within it. We talk all about it in the conversational blog post "A Weaver and a Printmaker Walk into a Bar".
We wrapped up the subscription portion of this project in Septembr 2021 but you can now purchase volume 1, 2, 3, or 4, and if you like, all of them!
Every volume contains a sample of a weaving by Kim, including a draft of the handwoven sample (the pattern for how to create it) if you're a textile-type human. It also contains a print by yours truly, involving lino and/or hand-set-type and/or papermaking (2021 was adventurous!). There's a quotation element, and a bit of book-structural presentation, and we're wrapping it all in a super cute button-string envelope.
The first iteration of this project (Volume No. 1) contains a weaving sample titled "poppies" in red cotton and light brown linen. The linocut print included is a meditation on reading and codification outside of conventional language. It is called "reader - weaver". To be honest, I wanted to call it "reader/weaver" but I didn't have the diagonal slash in the lead typeface I was using! The text below the linocut is from Kim's notes on the subject:
A weaving is a story.
It has a beginning and an end.
It can be deciphered line by line.
The second iteration (Volume No. 2) is very light and fresh. Think citrus for the colour pallette, with an emphasis on texture and play. Kim's doubleweave sample makes an appearance in my print as a picnic blanket. To echo the doubleweave, this is a double-sided print. The blind-embossed envelope is gorgeous (if I do say so myself) and there is a bookmark that reads:
A weaving is a conversation.
It must be considered from both sides.
The third iteration (Volume No. 3) is all about recycling to beautiful effect. Kim made a rag weaving sample from old button-ups and I made new paper from the misprints of Conversations with the Ocean. The illustration portion is a tiny booklet of four Ex Libris cards for you to put in your favourite books.
A weaving has lineage.
It is informed by the structures that precede it.
The fourth and final iteration (Volume No. 4) is full of cozy, feel-good vibes. Kim made a cotton and wool plaid that would make an amazing blanket scarf, and I put together a cloudscape with a sde of moutains (pivot registered and printed from a single block, 1 colour at a time).
A weaving holds comfort:
a message of warmth from waver to wearer.
