With the move to Alert Level 2 on 14 May 2020 in New Zealand and the re-opening of THE BACH gallery to the public, weaving recommenced on the tapestry again.
Naoko started working on the left hand side of the panel - a "basket weave" pattern acknowledging the traditional Maori craft (Raranga -the art of weaving) For Maori, raranga evokes strong feelings of unity and togetherness; the weaving together of the people into their families (whanau) tribes (iwi) and into the Maori nation, and spiritually, the weaving together of all of creation into a single indivisible living wholeness.
Meanwhile, Julia continued to work on the central area - the "water and mangroves"
It was nice to "get back to normal" be able to do some weaving, chat to customer's some who were visiting the area but mostly people who live locally and share our community tapestry venture with them.
Felice Croft and Maia Harris-Slade took some time out of their day to try some weaving on the Harmony looms.
Felice thought it was an awesome idea and was glad to be able to take part!
Linda le Fleming, visiting from New Plymouth enjoyed having a go at weaving as well.
Emily and Alan left a lovely comment in our visitors book, saying they appreciated hearing about our tapestry project and loved that it was "History in Action!"
JULY 2020
As we weave from the bottom up, Naoko and I have wound down the tapestry again. This makes it easier to sit and weave comfortably. Here are some close-up photos of where we are up to...
Thanks for stopping by and checking on THE BACH Community Tapestry Project. If you are in Whangarei, call in to the gallery at the Town Basin and see it for yourself. If you would like to try some weaving, let us know and we will show you how to do it!
