Each month I release new Canvas With Movement® artwork and this month is an exciting collection of pieces that I cannot wait for you to view! I have developed a new design of tapestries called the “Long Circle” built with my signature Canvas With Movement® yarn in a gray color palette. A blend of wool from both black and white sheep, the gray strands are not dyed, but carefully spun in a perfected proportion, resulting in naturally created gray fibers. The gray strands are suspended from a circular frame in a “perfectly imperfect” form of round fiber art.

Almost 5 years ago when I created my first tapestry, I had the vision of building a canvas but with movement. Although a self-taught painter, I wanted to create a design on my Canvas With Movement® tapestry, and dye seemed to be the best medium. I temporarily abandoned my paints and have spent many years perfecting my dye techniques. I love the fluidity of dye paired with the movement from hundreds of wool strands. My art has taught me to “go with the flow” and release control of my intended design allowing each piece to come alive with the freedom to move.  

As a new style of tapestry formed in the “Long Circle” design, I had the urge to come back to my roots as a painter and push the boundaries of fiber art by actually addressing my tapestry as a canvas and painting it.

You will see in the Long Circle pieces my approach to painting a Canvas With Movement® tapestry. The first Long Circle design expresses my passion for movement and motion in my artwork. Although the painted strands are held in place by two metallic lines, I wanted to convey movement through the painted layers in the design. I incorporated a Jackson Pollock style on the last two of the pieces, which felt very appropriate as Pollock’s works, which came to be known as “drip paintings,” present less a picture than a record of the fluid properties of paint itself.

“Movement” is my inspiration in all my works, and my “Canvas With Movement” fiber art was born because I wanted to create art that had physical movement.   Everything that I create includes some expression of movement and I became fixated on how Jackson Pollock’s art was referred to as “action painting” because of the way he created his pieces. This felt very personal as each of my pieces require massive amounts of physicality to create. From cutting the individual strands, to the building of the 6 foot, often times larger, fiber canvases, there is much labor that goes into creating the base of my pieces before I even approach dyeing or painting my designs.

Beyond the Long Circle designs, there are many pieces that range in style, color and shape. I hope you can feel the movement and passion that goes in to each Canvas With Movement® tapestry. This month offers a collection that I am proud to share with you! Thank you for your interest and support!

Sincerely,
Lauren