MORE than a POTHOLDER: Imaginative Weaving - Brief Article

Arts & Activities, Dec, 2000 by Howard Hull

Weaving has sometimes been thought of as too simple to be used as an art activity. As teachers of art, we suspect there is some justification for this. If we remember the potholders and place mats we made during the early grades where everybody's was identical and creativity was a word not found in our teacher's vocabulary, we could be inclined to think so ourselves.

Whether there is an art specialist available or not, weaving doesn't have to be so unimaginative. Elementary classroom teachers are very capable people, and can teach art much better than many are given credit for. Sometimes it is just a matter of reflecting on what has been taking place, and whether or not it is a valid activity for children.

Weaving is a craft form that has been around for thousands of years. It involves the crossing of two sets of strips of something over and under each other. Lengthwise strips are called the "warp" and those that go across are called the "weft." Many utilitarian items are made using this process. All kinds of materials can be woven.

When we were small children, perhaps we watched our grandfather make baskets and chair bottoms from thin strips of hickory wood. They were solid and serviceable, but not artistic. They were not meant to be. Each new one looked exactly like the old one. He had a formula--and it worked well for him.

Some elementary teachers also have formulas. The potholders this year look just like those made last year. Why don't we just throw out the potholders and place mats and give the students an artistic experience using the weaving process? We'll keep the yarn and add a few other types of string. We might need it for a strip of color later.

Let's start with paper--several kinds, including paper bags, newspapers, wallpaper samples, magazines and our old friend, construction paper. Then, we need to throw out the notion that paper weavings have to be square or rectangular, or that they have to be nice and even on the sides and ends.

Also, they don't have to be pure. We can glue small pieces on top of strips, glue a skinny strip on top of a fat strip or punch holes in strips so the underlying color will show through. We can cut zigzag strips, curvy strips or snake in a bit of yarn that we saved. We can set up alternative rhythms or colors, or cut photographs from magazines, slice them into strips and weave those strips of photographs adjacent to strips of solid color. We can draw on strips with crayon, cut sandpaper strips to introduce a different texture or weave several small sections within a large space.

We can do all these things and many more, and when we are finished, we can tack or tape them to the wall, or hang them from the ceiling so that both sides are visible. Weaving is only simple if we make it that way. If we do that, it isn't art. It is just process.

Howard Hull recently retired from his position as Professor of Art Education at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he taught for 34 years.