Katie Swanson Textiles

 

          

 

Although she is a long-time knitter and hand-spinner, Katie didn’t take up weaving until she and her husband moved to the valley in 2006.  Currently, Katie is weaving wearables (scarves and shawls) and items for the home (rugs, throws, towels and placemats). One blessing of having a dedicated studio space at home is having the room for multiple looms.  Katie likes to have several projects going at the same time, just for variety, and to give ideas time to percolate. Beyond that, she is most inspired by color and by the texture or “hand” of the cloth she can create with weaving.  This is determined by the type of fiber being used:  wool, silk, Telcel and cotton threads, and the wonderful, colorful wool selvage materials she uses for weaving rugs. Katie likes to set out yarns for an upcoming project on a table and keep changing around the color combinations. She loves that moment when she adds in a new color or two and suddenly, her brain just says “Yes!!”

Katie’s work can be seen at Winthrop Gallery, an artist-owned cooperative gallery, located at 237 Riverside Ave. in Winthrop, Confluence Gallery & Art Center at 104 Glover St. in Twisp, and Valley Goods on the Twispworks campus.