Tapestry

My Creative Outlet through Tapestry, Drawing, and Painting.

To see color against/next to color, shape against shape, and lines, and how it all is in the space of the canvas or paper is very exciting to me. It is like creating your own world. It is design. That is what my work is about. I have always drawn designs, and have doodled. In fact, many of my paintings and tapestries have started as doodles. Some are geometric and some are more free flowing.

I was a tapestry weaver for many years. When my oldest son was born, I started to do paperweavings. I would paint on watercolor paper with watercolor paints that where saturated with color, and then cut the paper into strips and weave them together. I needed to do something that didn’t take as much time as a tapestry.

I had a lull for quite a few years, not doing really any artwork. About 7 years ago, I started to paint. Weaving was too slow. I painted in watercolors and then oils. It is to get color, shape, and line down faster than when weaving. I think there is a weaving aspect in that work, even though I am not weaving. My son has said to me, it is layering. My surface to paint was a canvas, a glass bowl, and even a table. I gessoed all of these and then painted them.

I am weaving tapestries again. I really enjoy weaving. I am weaving smaller tapestries than I did in the past. I saved all my yarn from years ago, and they are all good. It is wonderful to have all sorts of colors in the yarns. When doing a tapestry, I start with a small drawing; decide on the yarns to be used; make a cartoon (the actual size of the tapestry) from the drawing; sew the cartoon to the beginning of the tapestry; and start to weave. The piece evolves through each of these steps.

In the past, I had been in several group shows, and have also done commissions for both tapestries and paperweavings. I wove a large tapestry that is displayed in the Lobby of the Oncology Department at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. And I painted a three panel paper weaving displayed in the lobby of the Holiday Inn off of Mira Mesa Road. I believe it has been taken down since they have remodeled. I also make a small art piece every year for the POSTCARDS From The Edge fund riser show for AIDS.

My body of work including paintings, paperweavings and tapestries are available for sale. I also do commission work.

I attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York for my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. During that time I studied with a painter and a tapestry weaver.

Reach out for your custom design at pamelaklein@att.net