A Conversation with Susan Gaire About the Tapestry Interest Group at Local Cloth

May 2, 2026

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.

Susan led me through the group’s inspiration, her participation in organizing the project, and the group’s collaborative interactions in completing the work. Susan is highly energetic and 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 Gaire showed me the folder she created for this project. She had collected photos 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 could be seen. One common element in their composition is the water-land interface.

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

The Murmuration Collaboration

Susan Gaire showed me the foldout page from the Murmuration catalog publication.

We live in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, which provided the next major influence for the textile interest group project.

The group worked on colored-pencil renditions of a beautiful photograph of the mountains at sunset and chose three strong ridgelines to act as the continuity thread between the individual contributions of the tapestry members.

From there, full-size strips matching the actual dimensions of the individual contributions were drawn, and the three ridgelines were 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 small samples containing the yarns to be used so they could compare them for compatibility. You can see that the textile group collaborators have strong talent in coloring and drawing the mockups.

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

Local Cloth Waterline Project

April 9, 2026

The details of the Post-Hurricane Helene member project were sent to Local Cloth members in an email. I captured this information in the screenshots below.

Our Handwork Circle at Local Cloth decided to approach this as a group. We discussed it during our online Zoom gathering today. We volunteered several ideas and identified felt as a possible medium. Several of us have nice collections of felt in different colors.

At the bottom of each 2” × 6” piece, we felt that browns would be especially relevant to the project. The water that filled our studio in the wake of Hurricane Helene was filled with brown sludge from the French Broad River. Above the sludge-colored water in our pieces, however, colorful objects — including flowers and other scenes along Depot Street — might provide a brighter aspect that mirrors our recovery. That is where we are thus far.

The pieces must be delivered by September 1, 2026, so that is our deadline. Since this is a group project, we want to link our 2” × 6” pieces together in a chain and submit them that way.

There are two ways to submit:

Enter it in the Waterline project book in Local Cloth’s cozy corner.
Submit it online:

Waterline Project Submission Form

Update — May 2, 2026, on the Handwork Circle’s Planned Contributions

The Handwork Circle contribution, we decided, will consist of joined individual pieces unified by a heartbeat motif: the tracing of a heart monitor. We discussed ideas for designing the 2” × 6” strips that will be arranged horizontally 11 feet up the wall. The earlier idea of requiring brown and other shared colors for everyone to use was ultimately discarded.

We were inspired by the Tapestry Interest Group’s installation at the Local Cloth Studio.

Chatting with Susan Gaire About the Tapestry Interest Group at Local Cloth

Ceil volunteered to create and distribute paper templates after designing the heartbeat line digitally. At present, we feel participants should have the freedom to choose their own colors, with one proviso: the contrast between the heartbeat line and the background must remain strong.

Because we are also working on Collaborative Project #3, whose theme is before, during, and after Hurricane Helene, the heartbeat trace will progress from normal rhythm, to fibrillation, and then gradually recover to normal again.

I will send out a request for participation to everyone who has attended the Handwork Circle during the past year to ensure that all who wish to be involved are informed.

Ceil’s work:

Handwork Circle: Project #3

April 8, 2026

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

Project #2

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 Lewis started the project by creating a linen background with photos transferred onto fabric and a dark-colored center.

Martha Brandon had to think awhile about what her contribution might be, but she followed Kathleen Lewis’s beginning brilliantly.

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

List of participants:

1 Kathleen Lewis done

2 Martha Brandon done

4 Katya Krenov-Hoke done

5 Tina Hvitfeldt done

6 Ceil Jensen working on project

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 the fallen tree. This reflected an event she and her husband endured when the tree fell on their house. When the house was built, they had carefully preserved the beautiful tree, only to have it topple over a few years later during the heavy rains and hurricane winds.

Christina Hvitfeldt’s contribution was a phoenix rising out of the oval cloth rubble.