Ninety one days. I am five days ahead of the administration and could things be any stranger?
Today is April 15th Tax Day - and many protested the Trump Regime. Really why should we pay taxes when the Trump Family does not? They call that smart business. And they spend our money covering their family security during golf trips and skiing trips, dropping bombs, terrorizing the immigrants who very often clean our homes, pick our vegetables and do all the jobs most Americans wouldn't consider.
At any rate I did not head to the protest today. Instead I headed uptown on the Lexington Avenue local to 87th street for another weaving adventure, despite having papers to grade and an open studio next weekend to prepare for. My destination? Loop of the Loom between 3rd and 2nd Avenues. Here I was to meet Yukako Satone who was going to show me the Saori Weaving studio she founded with a friend. Saori is Japanese weaving art which was started by Misao Jo, a woman who believed disabled persons should be respected for their artistic abilities and facilitated their use of this traditional but simple wooden looms to make products for sale. "Sa" means having dignity and "Ori" means to weave. In the philosophy of Misao Jo, now 104 years old, there are no mistakes in this form of weaving only discoveries. She allowed her artist weavers to discover the process for themselves and make "beautiful mistakes" or innovative improvisations in the process. The craft weavers supporting the "so called" disabled found they were influenced by these innovative discoveries - snarls, loose ends, weaving in unusual and textural elements. In other words anything goes with Saori weaving and in the company of several other women I made my own discoveries.
First I had a full pallet of yarns at my disposal: cotton, wool, silk, linen and the entire spectrum of colors. Yukako was not there when I arrived, but her assistant was told to put me right to work at the loom. That's what I did for the next two hours: Pedaling the heddles up and down, shooting the wooden shuttled back and forth and threading spindles with new colors. I was shown how to incorporate two colors into one line of thread and how to use the scraps of various materials into the weave including fluffy pieces of colorful raw wool. Getting into the weaving rhythm can take a bit of time and just as with learning to knit things can get snarly and loose. I would loose a loop over the edge of the loom or forget to switch my feet on the heddles. None of it mattered, because it was considered part of your process, your discovery in your weaving. It was pure pleasure and I was loath to leave at the end of my two hours. I will surely be back soon.
www.LoopoftheLoom.com
Today is April 15th Tax Day - and many protested the Trump Regime. Really why should we pay taxes when the Trump Family does not? They call that smart business. And they spend our money covering their family security during golf trips and skiing trips, dropping bombs, terrorizing the immigrants who very often clean our homes, pick our vegetables and do all the jobs most Americans wouldn't consider.
At any rate I did not head to the protest today. Instead I headed uptown on the Lexington Avenue local to 87th street for another weaving adventure, despite having papers to grade and an open studio next weekend to prepare for. My destination? Loop of the Loom between 3rd and 2nd Avenues. Here I was to meet Yukako Satone who was going to show me the Saori Weaving studio she founded with a friend. Saori is Japanese weaving art which was started by Misao Jo, a woman who believed disabled persons should be respected for their artistic abilities and facilitated their use of this traditional but simple wooden looms to make products for sale. "Sa" means having dignity and "Ori" means to weave. In the philosophy of Misao Jo, now 104 years old, there are no mistakes in this form of weaving only discoveries. She allowed her artist weavers to discover the process for themselves and make "beautiful mistakes" or innovative improvisations in the process. The craft weavers supporting the "so called" disabled found they were influenced by these innovative discoveries - snarls, loose ends, weaving in unusual and textural elements. In other words anything goes with Saori weaving and in the company of several other women I made my own discoveries.
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| Misao Jo at her Saori Loom |
First I had a full pallet of yarns at my disposal: cotton, wool, silk, linen and the entire spectrum of colors. Yukako was not there when I arrived, but her assistant was told to put me right to work at the loom. That's what I did for the next two hours: Pedaling the heddles up and down, shooting the wooden shuttled back and forth and threading spindles with new colors. I was shown how to incorporate two colors into one line of thread and how to use the scraps of various materials into the weave including fluffy pieces of colorful raw wool. Getting into the weaving rhythm can take a bit of time and just as with learning to knit things can get snarly and loose. I would loose a loop over the edge of the loom or forget to switch my feet on the heddles. None of it mattered, because it was considered part of your process, your discovery in your weaving. It was pure pleasure and I was loath to leave at the end of my two hours. I will surely be back soon.
www.LoopoftheLoom.com
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| My first Saori exploration |
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