Newark Fiber Artist Joanna Ettorre Display at Stacey’s Space…
A Note from Jo…
There is nothing more satisfying for me than using what I have learned about the world to let myself be moved to create harmonious fabric with nearly no planning. It’s a balancing point for the mystery of living, as we all do, picking through tangled balls of threads.
After 19 years, I am still fascinated by the way one bright thread can balance fabric that has dulled to mud color, or a deep color can anchor a piece too intense in its brightness. With a very active mind and training in verbal skills, it is therapy and education for me to silently spend hours seeing one thread at a time, selecting them in couples and trios, and building them deliberately for a harmonious fabric.
A wise critic once invited me to look at ancient mosaic tiles in Mediterranean ruins and temples. He was correct that I would find the building of mosaic tiles one at a time to be a wonderful containment for years of experimenting with how small things, carefully created, become part of vast and harmonious wholes.
Techniques:
I knitweave and needlefelt a tapestry base, and often embellish with gemstones and beads by crocheting and embroidering, or cutting a window to let in the light and the air. The best thing about these techniques is I can start quickly to capture an inspiration, and then adjust the results, like a painter would dab at a piece that isn’t quite finished… until it is. And that inspiration can be outdoors, in beloved spots like Dawes Arboretum or Lake Erie, since my techniques are highly portable.
I’m proud and grateful to be able to share this work with you, a patron of River Road Coffee, since we share a love of things carefully created and thoughtfully presented. I welcome questions by e-mail to my website, and invite co-creative custom projects. I can often be seen working on these pieces on the patio here, and at Makers Market on the southwest corner of the square, most Saturday mornings here in Granville.
In light and harmony,
Joanna (Jo) Ettorre
Balancing Point Creative Studio
