Textiles and Tea, Molly McLaughlin

Yesterday's T andT featured a weaver and dyer who until recently has been working in silk, hundreds of warp threads to the inch. Very slow work and she spends months at the design stage before warping.

She's a design then execute worker, and the slowness of her medium explains how few slides she had to show. She's also moving into working with linen thread because it's now difficult to get the fine silk she uses.

It was a very talky session, and I went to her website to see if I could find more images, pretty much the same few. They're beautiful.

She used to use synthetic dyes but moved into more earth friendly natural dyes some years ago, and has a dye garden, with indigo, woad and black eyed susans. 

Despite questions from the interviewer she did not identify these crops, but the black eyed susans are evident. 

Here's the studio she designed to suit her work, one of those presentable studios beloved of art reporters.

And here's work she's created in it

She noted that during the pandemic she's moved away from abstraction and into more representational work.  I wonder if other artists have noted shifts from one form to another. Interesting observation.

She also had interesting comments on studio space, saying it pays to get a space that supports your work, because it can influence your output.  

In the case of some art forms, a dedicated workspace is vital. You need separate quarters if you're working in materials which are hazardous to daily life.  But with benign materials it's a different issue.

I can and do make art practically anywhere because I use so many forms, pretty much all nontoxic. I never mix art and food, though. No snacking at work.

I've had dedicated studio space which ended up being handy for storage and teaching more than conducive to work. The other amusing thing about a studio is that it impresses people! 

I've been taken more seriously when I had a studio even when most of my work was created outdoors or in my kitchen and living room. 

I think it's a marker of some kind to nonartists, and I was often asked for invitations to visit. Which I declined, it not being a social space.  And I never showed work in progress anyway.  

I notice that now that I've moved my materials out of the loft in this house, given a lot away, and am making art everywhere, some people assume I've given up making art at all.  

I'm guessing they think it's like going to the office. Give up going and you're probably not working. I wonder if the changing location of work, with technology and the pandemic will shift this assumption. I guess we'll see. 

It also implies a demarcation between making art and living everyday life, like the difference between workplace and home. But I like my art integrated into everything else in my life.  Art is more a way of living than an occupation for me. 

But that's me! Not everyone's cuppa tea.

I like very much how each presenter on T and T triggers thinking, and not always about the art they're showing!