Artist's
Profile
I can’t remember when fiber and fabrics
where not a part of my life. My
mother taught us to sew at an early age
and I grew up on a farm with sheep
and a spinning wheel on the hearth. Not
that anyone in my family knew how to
spin , but my mother had a flare for
fashion, fabric and making stylish
things. My father taught me how things
worked so fixing that spinning wheel and
adjusting my first old loom where
enjoyable challenges. In Jr. High I
remember taking an aptitude test. Mine
said I should be either a scientist or
an architect. I loved art and design
classes in high school and that was
where I saw my first loom. A few years
later I began taking classes in
spinning, weaving and dyeing
through the Phila. Guild of Handweavers.
That experience opened the door to a
lifetime of exploration of fiber arts
and I am still not bored!
Being a painter at heart, I
respect the technical part of
weaving but use dyeing to provide
spontaneity to my craft. I hand-dye most
of my warps. Being a spinner in spirit,
I dye and sell natural fiber
yarns and support US mills and
those small farms that now spin their
own fibers. Being a weaver
in my head , I enjoy imagining the
structure of my next project,
drafting the design and making
calculations before I approach my loom.
When I finally weave, the rhythm of the
beater and lifting of threads is my
meditation. I count the same
numbers over and over again. The power
from my body, structure in my head ,
materials from my hands and color
from my heart all come together to build
order from chaos, fabric from miles of
yarns, a sense a joy from hard work. I
see now how my affinity for science and
architecture come together in the making
of cloth.
I maintained a weaving
studio in Philadelphia for over 10
years and in 2012, moved to the Gulf
coast of Florida. My current studio is
in Dunedin, where I produce
limited edition scarves, wraps, throws
and interior accessories. I
specialize in hand dyed yarns and
multi-harness loom structures to create
fabrics that are not only
functional but create a statement
through the use of structure
and color. I usually
work in a series of four pieces, each
one unique but related, and like
to focus on the idea
of the “wrap”- lengths of cloth
that are draped around or cover our
bodies to provide a sense of warmth and
security.
My background includes studies in fiber
at Penland School of Crafts, Phila.
College of Art and a BS in Textile
Design from Phila. College of Textiles
and Science where I also taught Weave
Design Studio between 1995- 2001.
Since then, I’ve taught the fall 2003
fiber concentration at Penland
School of Crafts and weave structure and
woven design courses at University of
the Arts and Moore College of Art and
Design in Philadelphia.
From 20I0-12, I instructed the
Weaving Workshop at the Newark
Museum in NJ. I have also been a regular
teacher at the Phila. Guild of
Handweavers. Currently, I conduct
my own classes in floor loom
weaving and design at my
studio as well as teach dyeing and rigid
heddle weaving through the
Dunedin Fine Arts Center. I am
also available to teach workshops
for conferences and guilds.
I hope you will visit and help keep the
fine tradition of fiber arts alive.
Pam Pawl
|
Pam Pawl
Textiles l 1019 MLK Jr. Ave, Dunedin, FL
34698 l 215 483-7157 l
pam@pampawltextiles.com
|
|
|
