an ecstatic tree-hugger

What better activity for all-hallow's eve and all saint's day than to rake more leaf labyrinths? Ben created this sublime piece of work yesterday, Halloween, at the base of the most beautiful maple tree in New Harmony, on the grounds of our Granary building. Ben worked several hours simply determining where to position the entrance. The tree's arms receive the visitor and the labyrinth echoes its embrace in a joyful dance.

The Granary was built by the Harmonists to store grain, and was lovingly restored ten years ago by the Rapp Owen Granary Foundation to become the most glorious interior space in town. Happy weddings take place there, along with concerts of all kinds during our winter nights. The acoustics are nearly perfect. Two weeks ago I had the intense pleasure of listing to the chamber music ensemble of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra play 3 of Bach's Brandenburg concerti there one golden October afternoon. It brought me to tears. As does Ben's work here.

Ben will continue work on this and maybe a new labyrinth all day today. Please come visit if you are in town!

pine needle labyrinth

Later in the day on Saturday, Ben made a labyrinth by raking the pine needles at the Harmonist Cemetery. These have withstood several days of wind & rain and still look fresh today. The leaf labyrinth has now been overlaid with a glimmering blanket of yellow leaves as the maple shed nearly everything in yesterday's rain. It is still visible as a subtle raised pattern below the blanket of yellow.

Tomorrow Ben will resume raking meditatively for the three days he is home between teaching stints in Chicago.

temporal labyrinths in leaves

This past weekend my husband Ben spent the entire 2 days outside in the warm October sun, raking leaves into a beautiful labyrinth at the base of a brilliant sugar maple in the Harmonist Cemetery. He made a second labyrinth nearby by raking pine needles. These are temporal works of art, maintained by constant Zen-like raking, beautiful to walk and to gaze up through the boughs of the generous tree-host.

A Needle Case

I am participating in the Print Invitational Exhibition at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art this month (through November 15th). The show is an ingenious fundraiser for the gallery: each artist donates an edition of 20 prints, which are sold for $20 each.

It was fun to be included as I don't consider myself even remotely to be a printmaker, but in fact I realized I have been making digital editions -- both woven and printed -- for some time now. I had particularly been looking for a more serious application for the digital fabrics I have been investigating, so I jumped at the chance to participate.

My edition consists of 20 hand sewn needle books. The interior page is a digital print of a pseudo antique textile sample book, and there are wool felt pages sewn in to realize the sample swatch image and, practically, to fill with pins & needles for a traveling pincushion. I invented my own sample page when I was inspired by seeing the old sample books of wool fabrics manufactured by the Harmonists, here in New Harmony, circa 1815. The fabric names I used in my pages come from old names for woolen fabrics such as that which were produced here: as we might speak of worsted or gabardine, the old names were things like "Bombazine" and "Druggett". The names took my fancy (thanks to the book Textiles in America: 1650-1870, by Florence M. Montgomery)

Here is the book, interior & exterior.
Also shown is the original Harmonist sample book (from Old Economy PA, where the Harmonists settled after leaving New Harmony)
My prints are available for sale ($20 each) at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, 812-682-3156.

Labyrinth Society of America

It it exciting to report that the Labyrinth Society of America (TLS) has decided to hold its 2010 Annual Gathering here in New Harmony, Indiana. It wasn't a hard sell -- New Harmony has 2 labyrinths which attract thousands of visitors, and my husband, Ben Nicholson, is a well-known labyrinth expert, and also an expert persuader. He just returned from the 2009 TLS annual Gathering in Portland, OR, full of ideas and anticipation for next year.

We have already hatched plans for making equine labyrinths, guided by Ben's sister Cordelia Rose, of Whitewater Mesa labyrinths in Glenwood NM. Cordelia has built several labyrinths out on her land and trains horses to walk them, something which both increases the animal's agility and calms him. She came out here in August and worked with a number of horse owners to convince them to participate with their horses in the TLS gathering next year.

Ben is excited about making new, temporary labyrinths all over town, including the dirt "shuffle labyrinth" he keeps cleared at the back of our land.

more from colloquy 2007

I was writing this morning about Bhakti Ziek's upcoming visit, and her participation in Colloquy 2009 at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana. Here are a few photos I took two years ago when Br. Kim Malloy took our group into the vestry to examine some of the real treasury of vestments, old and new, collected there. I won't go into detail about the fabric constructions; some are brocaded, some are embroidered, some are perhaps lampas or takete. Bhakti would know!
The photo of Br. Kim is in the area with the more contemporary vestments, all hand woven.

Bhakti Ziek

My very dear friend, Bhakti Ziek, is coming to visit me here in a couple of weeks, her second trip to New Harmony. A consummate weaver, and a renowned teacher, Bhakti will be the featured speaker at the upcoming Weaver's Colloquy at St Meinrad Archabbey, in nearby St Meinrad IN.

Colloquy originated with a group of complex weavers in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where they met regularly to converse about their passion for weaving and the tools of weaving. Eventually they moved the meetings down to St Meinrad, where Brother Kim Malloy, a textile enthusiast and quite a raconteur, hosts everyone for a week in its beautiful surroundings in Southern Indiana. When I presented there two years ago, Br. Kim delighted us with several hours spent poring over the jaw-droppingly elaborate textiles in the vestry, an experience I will not soon forget.

Bhakti currently lives in Randolph, Vermont, where she weaves in a beautiful old house she shares with her husband, Mark Goodwin, a formidably talented sculptor. Bhakti takes in students for advanced tutorials in dobby and jacquard weaving. She keeps a TC1 loom along with various other hand & dobby looms in her studio.




Colloquy 2009

October 12-15, 2009

St. Meinrad Archabby, IN

Bhakti Ziek will be the

featured presenter

Contact Kathy O'Neal for

info: kfoneal@sbcglobal.net

or call 219-938-2936


Bhakti Ziek and Alice Schlein's book,
The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop ©

Co-authored by Alice Schlein and Bhakti Ziek. 362 pages, many illustrations. Includes a CD with over 1400 weave structures.

(shown here, 2 lampas weavings by Bhakti Ziek, "Chaos & Order 3" and "Natural Dyes 2"; Bhakti weaving at her TC-1 loom, and a drawing by Mark Goodwin. Note the relationship to Bhakti's weavings!)