The American Tapestry Alliance has hosted a dozen unjuried small format tapestry exhibits, beginning in 1996. They have been held every other year, in conjunction with the Handweaver's Guild of America's Convergence. I didn't learn of the first exhibit in time to enter it, though I was thrilled to see it in Portland. When I saw how varied and vibrant such small works could be, I was determined to be a part of the next exhibit, and each one from then on. I have kept that promise to myself, and am now preparing to begin a new small tapestry for the next one, which will be this coming summer in Tennessee.
This is the first small tapestry I created for the 1998 exhibit, "The Practical Cat." One of the best things for me about weaving small, is that I will try new things. In this tapestry, I wove only with thrums (leftover bits of yarn) from my larger tapestries.
The tapestry for the 2000 exhibit was "Beignets and Café au Lait," inspired by a trip to New Orleans. My experimentation in this one was the diagonal soumac lines in the upper portion, and the 'dots' throughout. All are woven in, not stitched on after off the loom.
The tapestry for the 2002 exhibit was woven as a demo while teaching a workshop at Ghost Ranch. The point was to take a fairly colorless object, and weave it in a colorful way, following a cartoon, which was also a new experience for most of the students.
The small format exhibits have a size limitation of 10"x10". Most of these tapestries are about 8x10 inches in size, with a warp sett of 8-10 ends per inch.
In 2006 I did a tapestry of my husband, an avid photographer, in Yellowstone National Park. It was actually part of a small series of tapestries I did of National Parks of the west.
2006 found me as a new grandmother, so the tapestry was of my first grandchild, called "Suite: Katie Blue Eyes."
For the 2008 exhibit, I wove a fairly realistic tapestry of our old yellow lab dog, mostly woven with him in the studio at my feet. This is still one of my favorite tapestries.
"Milo's Duck" was inspired by a duck following my second grandchild around, in Rocky Mountain National Park. I wanted to weave both feathers, and especially to experiment with weaving water and reflections, as this was followed by the weaving of a larger tapestry that was mostly a water scene. This tapestry was in the 2010 exhibit.
"Grace" was designed and woven for the 2012 exhibit. I was much in need of weaving a bit of whimsey!
Following my first trip to the wonderful state of Maine in the fall, "Acadia Autumn" was woven for the 2014 exhibit. It was so beautiful in Maine, I took hundreds of photos, but rather than weave one of them, I chose to weave the experience of 'capturing' them! ATA seems to have used this tapestry quite a bit to promote the small format exhibit, and I feel honored for it to be used in this way!
In 2016, My son's family had just become 'urban farmers' with six hens producing eggs for them. They are all named, and this one is "O'Brien." Much to my surprise, I discovered that all the little detail bits that are actually abstract in the weaving are my favorite bits to weave! At this small scale, all the tiny bits of color are very small, and they rapidly change. It is a very meditative thing to weave this way.
The last unjuried small format exhibit was in 2018. I had done the 2017 and 2018 Women's March, and felt compelled to weave a self portrait of the experience. Since then, I have done two more Women's Marches (including one today) and several other marches in an attempt to make my voice heard on the side of non-violence, kindness, and acceptance.
I do not yet know what I will weave for this summer's exhibit, but I have to make that design choice very soon! The tapestries are due at the end of March. As the exhibit is not juried, any weaver can enter. Information about the upcoming exhibit (as well as information on obtaining catalogs from past exhibits) can be found on the American Tapestry Alliance website, here.
Why not get busy and join the fun?
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