Saturday, I found out, with the rest of the tapestry weaving world, that James Koehler of Santa Fe passed away. I have known James a long time, since he was known as 'Jeremy,' in fact. I have worked with him in many capacities. He taught at conferences I helped organize; he was in several ATA exhibits that I worked on; and he was a large part of several invitational exhibits that I curated. At all times, James was ever the professional and could be described as a gentle-man, in every good sense of that term. James brought the discipline of the monastery to his chosen profession; as a designer, a maker, a teacher, a businessman, and a colleague.
My husband has been exposed to the work of many tapestry weavers over the years. There are but a few he would recognize by their work, and even fewer by name. But when I told him that James had died, he said, "I'm sorry. I really liked his work. His colors were incredible!" Well done, James.
I know that I will still look for his work in every exhibit of tapestries I attend. I will miss them. There is nothing that has the glow of a James Koehler tapestry.
3 comments:
Beautiful, Kathy... and you're right, nothing else has the glow of a James Koehler tapestry.
Wonderful sentiment, Kathy. Even though we all put our souls into our tapestries, somehow James' weaving always took it a step beyond even that. His tapestries seem to vibrate with life, even in photographs.
Thank you Kathy. It was good to see photos of his work with your heartfelt words. There is nothing quite like a JK tapestry, is there. Sarah Swett says at the beginning of her intro to his book, "Once there was a tapestry that made everything else irrelevant..." and I think that is the experience of a lot of us when we see his work.
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