On March 29, 2026 I chatted with Susan Gaire about the Tapestry Interest Group at Local Cloth. Their newly completed project had drawn my attention at the Local Cloth Studio in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

Susan led me through the group’s inspiration, her participation in organizing the project, and the groups collaborative interactions to complete the work. Susan is highly energetic and totally enthusiastic about the tapestry project.

Blue Ridge Mountain Collaborative Tapestry Postcard

Location: Local Cloth, Asheville, NC March 17, 2025

Weavers from left to right:

Susan Gaire, Stephanie Lyons, Madeleine Hairrell, Betty Hilton-Nash, Susan Gaire, Kathy DeOrnellas, Anne Burg, Kathy Dennison, Jennifer Zia, Jaqueline Fay

Size: 7’ x 3’

Materials: warp: cotton seine twine, weft: wool, silk, assorted fibers.

First, Susan showed me the folder that she has made about this project. She had collected a photo of a project in which the same city view was photographed at different times. Slices of the images were extracted and reassembled so that from left to right a progression from day to night times are seen. One commonality amoungst the their positioning is the water-land interface.

The tapestry project was also highly influenced by another tapestry artist collaboration: The Murmuration Collaboration.

https://nearlywildweaving.wordpress.com/the-murmuration-collaboration/

Susan showed me the folder out page from the Murmuration catalog publication.

We live in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina (WNC) which offered the next major influence to the textile interest group projecd.

The group worked on colored pencil renditions of the beautiful photo of the mountains at sunset and choose 3 strong ridgelines to act as the continutiy thread between the individual contributions of the tapestry members.

From there, full size stripes of the actual sizes of the individual contributions was drawn and the three ridge lines penciled in. They were cut out and handed to each of the participants. Betty Winters is shown holding her pattern piece.

Individuals created sketches and a small sample containing the yarns to be used so that they could compare for compatibility. You can see that the textile group collaborators have a strong talent in coloring and drawing the mockups.

A deadline was set for April of this year, 2026, and they went to work.

We are working on a 3rd collaborative project now. However, for review, I present the first two projects: Project #1 was lost to Helene and mud, but recovered; project #2 was never recovered.

Project #1. Susette Shiver, Carolyne Morrison, Ceil Jensen, Katya Krenov-Hoke, Paddy Lynch, Rebecca Norris, Tori Masaki, Silk, cotton, felted wool, miscellaneous items.

Project # 2 Tori Masaki, Susette Shiver, Katya Krenov-Hoke, Paddy Lynch, Ceil Jensen, Rebecca Norris, Mary Kelley. Japanese kimono fabrics, sashiko, silk, cotton, Temari balls.

Kathleen Lewis started the next project and we choose a theme from our experiences at Local Cloth of from the Helene hurricane of 2024: before, just after/during, and after.

Kathleen Lewis passed this project beginning to Martha Brandon. cotton, photo-transfer to fabric images.

Kathleen started the project by creating a backround in linen with added photos transferred to fabric and the center in a dark color.

Martha Brandon had to think awhile about what her contribution might be! She followed Kathleen Lewis’s start brilliantly.

Martha Brandon’s contribution centered on the top of the piece: cards from Local Cloth vendors who lost inventory during Helene: thread, weaving, surface design, photo-transfer.

List of participants:

1 Kathleen Lewis done

2 Martha Brandon done

4 Katya Krenov-Hoke done

5 Tina Hvitfeldt working on project

6 Ceil Jensen

7 Judi Jetson

8 Linda Hayward

9 Rebecca Norris

10 Susette Shiver

I’ll keep you all posted!

Katya Krenov-Hoke added the tree and then fallen tree. This was an event she and her husband endured as it fell on their house. When the house was built they had carefully preseved that beautiful tree and only some few years later it toppled over during the rains and then Hurricane winds.