to: Craft > #22 - Woven Paper Bookmark
Section of a nautical chart circa 1980, indigo-dyed by Heather K. Powers. 8 ½” x 11 ¾.”
Woven Paper Bookmark-Instructions
Heather Powers
1. Cut postcard lengthwise into two 2” strips. See marks on front side.
2. Cut twelve ¼” x 2” strips and six ½” x 2” strips from the unmarked half of the postcard. These will be weft strips, in two sizes.
3. Cut five vertical lines along the long marks on the remaining half with an X-Acto knife to create six warp sections.
4. Starting at either end, insert ¼” weft perpendicular to warp sections, alternating weft over and under warp strips. Push the weft snugly toward the bottom using the tip of the X-Acto blade.
5. Insert a ½” weft above the previous one. This time, begin weaving under, then over, reversing the pattern from the previous weft. Push the weft snugly toward the bottom.
6. Continue alternating narrow and wide weft strips, over/under vs under/over, until you reach the opposite end. Push each weft against the previous one. The final weft might be snug; push it into place with the tip of the X-Acto blade.
7. Secure loose weft ends on both sides with glue or tape to prevent your bookmark from catching, tearing, or coming unwoven.
Contextualization
Visual information and maps in particular are an area of ongoing interest for me. Mapping and reading the land, our surroundings, and our ideas has been a constant thread woven through the program. Beginning with our first on-campus residency at Warren Wilson College, in August 2019, we walked and “read” the forest with Dave Elum. With Namita Wiggers we used visual thinking through mind-maps and constellations of ideas. And in January 2020 we created maps of downtown Asheville with Yasmeen Siddiqui. Finally, as we entered lockdown due to COVID-19, I began to consider how maps symbolized our connectedness and disconnectedness through laylines, the compass rose, and segmented areas marked off to separate us. These were a few specific ways that maps have helped me think through places and ideas.
Further Reading
Anderson, Benedict. “Census, Map, Museum.” In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. New York and London: Verso, 2006, 163–185.
Maps, now mainly considered a form of geographic visual representation and scientific tool, were and are useful for communicating the spatial arrangement of places and for navigating from one location to another. Prior to the reproduction of printed maps, handmade maps charted not just boundaries and land formations but a cosmology of place, tying ideas about place to their visual representation. These “cosmographs” included strange representations from odd perspectives, distorted scales, and sacred symbolism. Yet the history of printed maps has a complex link to imperialist colonization as it renames, reimagines, and classifies places. Now we think of maps as representations of reality, but historically they were quite the opposite and purportedly anticipated rather than represented spatial reality. In considering the complex history of maps and their functions, I am further interested in their deconstruction and reconstruction as a symbolic method of understanding how we can reimagine our cosmology and interconnectedness globally.
Heyenga, Laura, ed. Art Made from Books: Altered, Sculpted, Carved, Transformed. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2013.
This book brought my attention to the sacredness of books as objects. We sometimes do not feel at liberty to deface or deconstruct them. In this case, I wanted to create an invitation to deconstruct and transform an object into something else.
Biography
Heather Powers
She/Her/Hers
By Mellanee Goodman
Entry into the Critical Craft Studies program was a serendipitous experience for fiber artist Heather K. Powers, who lives in the southeastern United States. Upon her first visit to the Warren Wilson campus for an “open classroom” discussion of the inaugural Class of 2020’s critical engagement with craft, Heather knew that she needed to enroll in the program. Heather’s research is not centered in one place but is an exploration of the physical spaces of craft studios. Her research approach includes close and conscious observation of textile practices as understood through her situated experience and embodied engagement with materials and processes. As Heather interacts with craftspeople around the world, she looks to their studios to better understand the stories and identities of craftspeople. Throughout Heather’s time in the program, tending to her garden, growing vegetables and flowers, and processing her own indigo have brought her joy and a sense of grounding in a disconnected time of pandemic. The act of tending to nature is an act of self-care, freeing her from the constraints of the virtualscape.