Community weaving project launches at summer arts fest

July 10, 2018 1:30 am
Work by Shawn Nordfors is included in a group show of work by wood artists (Courtesy Photo).
Work by Shawn Nordfors is included in a group show of work by wood artists (Courtesy Photo).

The Vashon Summer Arts Fest, a two-month long celebration of island art and artists at Vashon Center for the Arts, will offer new exhibits and events with a focus on sculpture and weaving starting on Friday.

Fest-goers can look up in VCA’s lobby and gallery to see Scott Durkee’s exhibition of mobiles, “Art in Motion,” hanging high above a group show by local artists who work with wood. The exhibit, “Wood Sculpture: How Wood Artists Create Their Artwork,” will include artistic and functional sculptures by Hans Nelsen, Shawn Nordfors, Steven Caldwell, Israel Shotridge, Curt Minier, Steve Schlossman and Rick Paquette. The show is curated by Steven Caldwell and Shawn Nordfors.

Wood artists will also be wielding chainsaws and other tools of their trade as they demonstrate their techniques from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 14, in the parking lot of VCA. Shawn Nordfors will demonstrate chainsaw and adze carving; Steve Schollossman will demonstrate wood turning on the lathe. Another demonstration will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 28, when Steve Caldwell will be in the parking lot, showing ways to burn, paint, texture and finish wood sculpture.

One of the most collaborative events of Arts Fest will also begin on Friday, when master weaver Suzanne Hubbard launches “The Big Weave,” a community project, in the art center’s lobby. The project will include chances for attendees to learn tapestry techniques from Hubbard, and experience the thrill of weaving on a Swedish tapestry loom.

Over the course of six days, participants will help Hubbard create a tapestry that expresses individual messages of hope from community members.

“Weaving creates wholeness on or off the loom,” a press release about the event explained, inviting islanders “into the world of this ancient medium as it expresses a deep wisdom in its integrating and unifying process.”

Hubbard learned how to weave from Swedish weaver Marguretta Grandin-Nettles, gaining a mastery of Swedish techniques, which include an emphasis on pattern, structure, and texture. Hubbard’s career has included weaving commissions, participating in decorator show houses, and exhibiting in both galleries and museums. Over many years of weaving, she has developed a deeper appreciation how weaving’s patterning process resembles a life-patterning process, the press release said. Pattern, structure, and texture remain the primary elements in her work, and each of her tapestries also expresses an important theme when seen from the integrated perspective of the whole cloth.

Hubbard will be in residence in the VCA lobby to guide participants in the community process from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 13; 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 14; 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 21; 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 27, and 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 28.

All events of the Summer Arts Fest are free and open to the public. For more information, visit VashonSummerArtsFest.org or www.vashoncenterforthearts.org.