When I took the Margo Selby class, I was reminded of a local weaving resource I've been debating using. The Hill Institute offers a four-year program of Master Weaver classes, about an hour away. The classes are very, very reasonably priced and cover a wide range of weaving structures, different yarns, looms, etc. You can take one year and never come back, or take all four years and go on to do independent work that is then evaluated towards a Master Weaver Certificate. I've met maybe five weavers who have taken the courses or are in the middle of taking them, and they all rave about the process. The courses are popular enough that there is a wait list to get in; it might take a couple of years to be able to take them.
Now, I have no real desire to get the Certificate. I don't intend to teach and I don't need official recognition. However, I keep being attracted to the idea of taking the courses and I want your input on whether I should at least sign up for the wait list.
Pros: I'd learn a lot about different weave structures. I'd be forced to try many different kinds of weaving, fibers, looms, etc. I'd meet lots of other local weavers. I'd get to see and touch good fabrics, which would help inform my own standards. There is some homework, but there would still be time to do my own weaving over the years.
Cons: It's a major time commitment. If you have to miss a class for whatever reason, you are expected to make it up at another session that week (I don't know what happens if you're away on vacation for a week). I worry that I will get sucked into a "style" of weaving - let's call it the Hill Institute style, even though I can't identify any such thing - and not develop my own ideas. To explain this concern further, imagine I throw myself whole hog into Scandinavian weaving as taught by the Vavstuga. Becky Ashenden and her Vavstuga are fantastic, but after four years, most of what I'd know would be solely Scandinavian weaving. Chris Hammel at the Hill Institute is by all accounts a very good weaver and teacher, but she's just one person, teaching mostly a standard, let's-call-it-European style of weaving. So, not Saori, not Scandinavian, not backstrap/inkle/tablet, not any of that (I think). Finally, if I commit to the Hill Institute, I probably wouldn't spend that much time knitting or spinning (or gardening or dragonfly-chasing) over those four years.
So, I'm torn. What do you think? If you only had 25 years left in which to weave (remember, I just turned 60, so this weighs on my mind), would you commit four years to the Hill Institute coursework? Or even just take one step at a time and ask to be put on the waiting list?
FWIW, I suspect that it costs you nothing, or at least very little, to be put on the waiting list. That holds your place in line and gives you an opportunity to really think about what it is you want to get out of the program.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I'm reading from your post here, as well as your comments on Ravelry, is that you are worried about getting boxed in, or not being able to express yourself creatively. I think that's absolutely a valid concern - but I'll also turn that around and say: can you shape or describe how you want to be creative?
The thing that would attract me to something like this is that I would see it as a foundational exercise. A building of a tool box that would then inform however I decide to express myself. At risk of using a cliché, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." What I'm finding as I start to really spend time with a structure, or a technique, is that pretty much everything is related. Oddly enough, nearly everything is a twill, in the end. The points of difference have to do with the way a cloth will lie, or hang, or how colors will blend/mingle/vibrate. There are a lot of ways to solve a particular problem - and each has it's own benefits and drawbacks. Some need lots of shafts/treadles, others need lots of fiber/yarn/warp prepping, some are weaver manipulated and defined while at the loom. They're ALL good. It's more a matter of where I want to spend my time - and right now, I want to spend all the time, everywhere. :-)
So, here's my challenge to you, dear Lynn: what kind of weaving do you want to do? Then, based on that, what's preventing you from doing it?
Simple question, I'm sure. :-)
Random answers, not in order: A) I suspect that it would be easy to keep building a tool box, instead of building my creativity - rather like buying lots of spindles instead of using one's handspun to make boat sails or opera costumes or whatever.
ReplyDeleteB) I don't have much of a clue as to what I want to create. I can say that making perfectly square overshot designs in a tablecloth, say, doesn't interest me past the very first attempt, when I learn the basics from a sample. I can say I enjoy weaving when there are choices to be made all along the warp. (Heh - maybe I would like tapestry.) I can say I mostly enjoy complexity over simplicity, except when a simple design is so strong you can't stop looking at it. (Corollary to B: I need to weave in series - make something, respond to it, change something and try again, repeat until I die or I'm bored.)
C) Getting on the waiting list involves no commitment of time or money, so it does make sense to do it. I'm still resisting though.
D) So, my friend, I notice that you still haven't answered my questions about what do you want to do, either. It's not an easy question to answer, is it?