About the piece; the before picture is not a state of hopeful manifestation but a state of potential, inviting the viewer to image their own finished work. The only reason the finished tapestry is included in this post is to show off and share the joy of representational fibre art that still shows how its constructed through the use of exposed warp and weft. I was lucky to learn with master craftsperson and fine artist, Frances Crowe, she studied Fine art in The National College of Art and Design Dublin, where she discovered the weaving department, which was set up by Lillias Mitchell, (1915-2000) who set up a Trust to fund Golden Fleece Award’s and founded the Irish Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.

Crowe fell in love with Tapestry. I have more information about her weaving lectureer but need it clarified…i think they were educated in France and brought the French tapestry tradition, in Ireland weaving was practical production of cloth and so our tapestry tradition is of French orgion. (A country starving, under forigen control and in survival mode cannot produce art…) Crowe’s love of weaving is evident by the atmosphere at her art studio in Co. Roscommon. There is a legacy of true craftsmanship, using a frame loom, no tapestry needles, no shed stick, heddle or batton stick just pure cotton, real wool, knots and knowledge.

Biography:

Michelle Moloney King; poet, visual poet, publisher at Beir Bua Press. Research interests: signifier-signified, semiotics-semantics, plurality of time, the surreal absurdism of life, the deconstruction of language, and the construction of poetry objects with fibre weaving and tapestry art. Published widely.  http://www.MichelleMoloneyKing.com