The Creative Process & Artist Statement

From the moment I threw the shuttle through the shed, I fell in love with weaving. Alongside a rewarding career of journalism, graphic design, marketing, organic farming and non-profit program management, I found my way to weaving teacher Donna Cavagnac in 2005 for my first weaving class at North Quabbin Textiles in Orange, Mass.

After moving to Gill in 2008, I took intermediate and advanced weaving classes with Dena Gartenstein at the Vermont Weaving School in Putney, Vt. I am presently working towards my Master Weaver’s Certificate at the Hill Institute in Northampton, Mass.

I love sharing my joy through weaving. I draw inspiration from nature and the magical world around us to design and create beautiful, functional scarves, shawls and home goods that enhance one’s home or lifestyle. Specialties are my original “Story Scarves” and “Story Shawls” that share tales and life experiences woven into fabric with vibrant colors and rich textures. I often incorporate novelty yarns and contrasting fibers into the same piece. I weave mostly on an 8-harness cherry Norwood loom and enjoy demonstrating on my portable 4-harness Harrisville.

A native of Enfield, Conn., I loved visiting Old Sturbridge Village as a child, delightfully carding and spinning wool and watching weavers work at their looms, dreaming of becoming a weaver and living a farm-based lifestyle. I spent two years artistically crocheting and selling original scarves; spent a year studying the centuries-old craft of basket weaving with reed, adding found materials collected in the woods; and traveled to the tiny villages outside Oaxaca, Mexico to experience indigenous handweavers’ craft and culture. Traveling provides an endless source of inspiration for me and I look forward to many more adventures!

Weaving on the loom brings together my many loves – experiencing our deep connections to nature; exploring color and color blending; deciphering complex patterns (and the joy of discovery); envisioning, designing and creating original pieces on paper; and turning ideas into unique and beautiful, soft, functional pieces to share with others.

When I’m not weaving, I can be found growing organic vegetables, raising pigs and chickens, collecting eggs and working as a marketing communications consultant, from our farmstead home in Gill, MA.