Creative Uses for Discontinuous Brocade Weaving (Sept 2024)
Wednesday-Saturday, September 25-28, 2024
10am-4pm
Instructor: Laura Foster Nicholson
Class fee: $240
Materials fee: $40 paid by cash or check at first class
Registration closes September 18 or when sold out
This workshop will explore ways to use weft brocade (also known as inlay) in both continuous (pickup) and discontinuous ways, to create shapes and images. This is an extraordinary and rare opportunity to study with a brocade master whose work is in major museum collections. The class will also provide many methods for getting the most out of color and texture when utilizing these techniques. Laura Foster Nicholson will be sharing her expertise in color and design as well as weaving technique.
Students will be working with a simple straight-draw twill on 4 shaft floor looms and the instructor will discuss how this technique can be applied to many different weave structures. Open to weavers ages 18 and up who can independently wind a warp and dress a floor loom.
The first day of class will include a presentation showing how weft brocade has been utilized in history as well as by contemporary artists. Students will begin exploring design ideas and possibilities. The instructor will also lead students on a tour of her exhibition at the Finlandia Art Gallery to illustrate how she uses the ideas and techniques discussed in class. The second day of class will be time for students to warp their looms, with support from Folk School staff. The third and fourth days of class will focus on weaving, with further instruction from Laura.
About the materials, Laura says, “one of my favorite ways to manipulate color is to thread the loom with warm/cool or dark/light colors in pairs, so that whether a warm or cool, or dark or light, color is inserted, 50% of the warp will support that color choice.” The materials fee covers the warp and weft needed to weave a sample that is approximately 10” wide and 1 yard long (after accounting for loom waste) as well as cotton for inlay.
Laura Foster Nicholson is a textile artist known for her handwoven tapestries. With a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, she has lectured, taught, and exhibited in the US, Canada and Italy. Her artwork is in several museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Denver Art Museum among others. Grants & awards include an NEA fellowship, the Leone di Pietra prize at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, three Illinois Arts Council fellowships, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Research in the Fine Arts.
Laura owns LFN Textiles, designing ribbons and household textiles, for companies such as Renaissance Ribbons, Crate & Barrel, Land of Nod, Monticello, Larsen, Inc. & others. She also writes about color and color trending for Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot, and for Pantoneview.com.
