Fibres West and Ruth Jones
by Elaine on Mar.23, 2009, under Blog Posts
Last Friday, March 20, 2009 a group of us went over to Abbotsford to the Ag Rec building for a show called “Fibres West”. There were about 30 vendors from Capilano University Textile Program to yarns, fibres, books to the Lace Group of Vancouver. All very enjoyable and because it was not very crowded you could get a good look at what was offered for sale. The main reason our group went was to hear a lecture by Ruth Jones of Vancouver. Her presentation was roughly based on colour and how she works with it in her tapestries but it was more about how she weaves, what motivates her, what works for her. She told us of her background and how she became interested in French tapestry, her training in Aubusson and her current studio situation. Through slides and narrative the audience got to know an artist who shared her passion for French Tapestry. She explained that she weaves from the back of the tapestry facing her and this allows her to let the tapestry tell her what is needed, she finds it is freeing rather than restrictive. She feels she is attempting to capture the natural world with natural fibres and dyes. She is trying to limit her colour palette using between 7 and 10 colours. She compared this to the equivalent of the musical chord which can interpret her art. Ruth recommended two books: “The Craftsman” by Richard Sennett (why do you love fibre? what kind of a gift to the world can you give? how important for this world’s future is your gift?) and “Slow Food” by Carlo Fortini which shows us that by slowing down as something as simple as the cooking of our food we can weaken the hold the industrial revolution has on our civilization. Ruth feels that her weaving designs illustrate the relationship with a spiritual force that needs to come out and that she is the servant in this relaitonship. It was truly a wonderful experience to hear the words of this tapestry weaver and artist and feel inspired, taking away food for thought. To see Ruth’s tapestries visit her website: www.ruthjones.ca .
