I’ve been hearing quite a bit of praise for Tommye Scanlin’s new book, “The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver.”  My copy finally arrived Friday afternoon and couldn’t have come at a better time. After a (what my husband calls self-imposed) stress-filled week getting tapestries finished for a show, I was totally exhausted- and had no idea what I would write for this week’s blog post.

Saturday (yesterday) is usually the day I devote to writing a blog post. I normally sketch out an idea some time during the week- but this particular week I couldn’t seem to settle on a topic. Instead, I decided to trust something would come to me… And it did. 

We picked up our mail at the end of the long day-trip to Kansas City on Friday (delivering said tapestries) and there was Tommye’s book! 

Instead of writing, I took the next day off to immerse myself in Tommye McClure Scanlin’s words of experience, wisdom, and inspiration. What a treat. And so much more than I’d expected.

As I went from chapter to chapter, I found myself scribbling lots of notes. Quotes I wanted to remember. References she mentioned. Books to buy.

The Layout

One of the early challenges of writing a book has to be the decisions on layout. The progression from chapter to chapter. She welcomed us into her home and studio in these chapters, guiding us through her thoughts and processes in a well thought out progression.

Introductory chapters focus on how art has influenced her, becoming a teacher, discovering tapestry, and inspiration through nature. These are followed by seven chapters centered around a particular theme she has worked on throughout her career. Her work inspired by Kudzu, Fiddlehead Ferns, Feathers, Flowers, and Stones were all given a chapter to themselves with many photos and description of her process including multiple paintings and drawings. The chapter on walnuts and making pigments that follows  was also fascinating. (Particularly, on a  personal level, because I have been wanting to try earth pigments myself for a while now. Maybe this is the push I needed.) And then there is the chapter on tapestry diaries!

Journal entries and struggles of decisions and self-doubt are yet another chapter. And she puts herself out there. It’s a very honest portrayal of what many artists - and non-artists!- go through. Self-doubt creeps in. Hard decisions have to be made.

But wait, there’s more.  Appendixes include a wonderfully thorough primer for anyone wanting to give tapestry a go, instructions for a small pipe loom, a glossary and resources. Not to mention the footnotes and references throughout the book. I have more books added to my wishlist as a result.

No Place Like Home

I found myself thinking “Yes!” a lot, too.  I also draw from the natural world I live in, a lot of which comes from daily walks, so I could readily identify with much of her musing, interests, and discoveries. The smallness of a flower. The spotting of a new species. Had it always been there? 

Her “Why hadn’t I spotted those before” when she saw the fiddlehead fern emerging from leaf litter in particular resonated with me. Her fiddlehead fern weavings (Spirals, Chapter 9) are some of my favorite Scanlin weavings. I especially love “Once Upon a Time” and “Gray Dawn”, but she did 5 Fiddlehead pieces in all.  

In Chapter 10, Feathers, she says…

“I often think of feathers as “bird petals” because they remind me of the petals of flowers. Of course, I know that analogy is odd.”

Not to me. I think it’s beautiful.

And then, while working on “In Spirit”…

“One day when I was several inches into the weaving, just about halfway through the second of the four feathers, one of those moments came that sometimes happens - a moment when design seems to take/suggest/demand a new direction.”

Yes!  Those moments!

Then there is the chapter on Stones, and words from her early mentor Bob Owens:

“Don’t paint the water, paint the rocks.”

  One to remember!

The other quote from this chapter I cherish is

“… I believe that memory is held in stones as well as in human minds. The memory of ages and forces shows in the stones and is more permanent than the memories of humans can ever be.”

Me, too. 

I knew Tommye did a lot of research and I’d seen some of the paintings and drawings she’d done as she worked through a tapestry design from her blog and other articles, but I had no idea of the volume and variety of exploration involved in her designs. Tommye McClure Scanlin is both an artist and a teacher. And a poet. 

When I wrote to her to ask permission in the use of the photos - and to tell her how her book had touched and resonated with me, she said “…It seemed to me that some of my journey toward making what I’ve come to find meaningful would maybe be interesting to others. And even remind them of their own creative path.”

Thank you, Tommye. It is and it does.

She’s been quoted often for saying “weave every darn day.” 

I’ll close with one last quote from one of her journal entries (page 180)...

“ …Anyway — all this wondering this morning to get to the point that I don’t have any “creative”idea (yet) for any of the warps I’m putting on the looms— but I shouldn’t worry about that— let the cycle continue — don’t yet begin to feel frantic or frustrated. Do work toward the end goal of making tapestry. Every stage of the way is needed — get there by going there.”

“Get there by going there”… I like that.

Thank you, Tommye Scanlin, for writing this book. I’m looking forward to your next book, “Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond” even more now*!

*Affiliate links in this post.