This piece is a culmination of months of study and practice with the intent of learning to create fabric from raw fiber. I researched the various tools and processes that have been used to do so, both historically and in the modern day. Using this research, I decided which methods of spinning and weaving I could use most effectively, then obtained the equipment needed to transform the piles of raw alpaca wool into fabric. The fabric itself is merely a byproduct of the process – a record of the time invested and the improvement that resulted. My motivation for beginning this long, arduous procedure came from two factors: First, that I had been interested in textile arts for many years, and wanted to learn the most foundational form of the medium. The second was my passion for traditional styles of craft, and my desire to keep them alive in my own work.
This undertaking began as a continuation of my Junior Focus pieces exploring the significance of craft in fine arts. However, it quickly evolved into a project simply about the process of learning and creating with a medium I had been interested in for some time. The body of work expanded to include the tools used to create the fabric, as well as images of the process at each stage of creation. These are photographed as though the audience is viewing a work that is still in progress, with tools and unprocessed wool strewn about the workspace, thus including the viewer in a tradition that is so strongly based in community, but has been a solo project until that point. The fabric itself is unfinished, and will continue to grow as I practice.
