A First for a Fiftieth

Today was the fiftieth birthday celebration for Plainsboro Public Library, scene of so many art and other adventures!  it was a grand reunion of artists, library staff past and present, local dignitaries, and the gallery was transformed into a panorama of the libe's history in art and in the town.

My partner in crime and collaborative art, Bill Bauer and I did our weaving and music collaboration, to an amazingly rapt and large audience.  This was a first for both of us, and for the library.

Dead quiet throughout!  and a nice round of applause when we came to a stop, or rather when the tapestry did.  No recording, and neither of us wanted one, since we both felt this was a kind of zen moment you can never curate nor recapture, just be there, be in it.  We were both quite pleased at how it worked out, Bill doing a great intuitive piece of work at the piano which flowed around the work I was doing very very well, and there were plenty of interested questions afterwards, too.  

There's a distinct danger that we'll do something of this nature again!  Before we rolled away the completed tapestry, I took a picture of the back and actually quite liked it as an artwork.  So you can see it in these pix,too.  

 Here's the Traveling Journal, unfurled, from different angles.

The library staff had work on exhibit here, too.

 And there was cake!  three cakes, one depicting each building the libe has occupied.

 Artist interestedly studying the journal and the community tapestry, also created on the earthloom last year.

 DONE! Finished, finito.  Except for the finishing... Before we rolled away the completed tapestry, I took a picture of the back and actually quite liked it as an artwork.  So you can see it in these pix,too.  

And here's the back, or verso, to put it poshly.

I really like this view. But when I do the finishing work, I may hang a piece of linen as a backing.  I still have to cut the warps, remove the leashes, and secure the warp ends, then put a casing on the back for a dowel top and bottom, to hang it.  That might be another event, probably fun to watch the culmination of the Artist in Residence idea.


But now I'm going to have a nice glass of wine on the patio.