Ruth Gowell has been weaving since her apprenticeship in Denmark in 1970. In 1978 she began exploring the possibilities of warp face weave with very fine rayon – an exploration that continues to this day. She works both in small scale (10″ x 10″) and on larger weavings. The small scale weavings are done on a narrow warp (11″ wide) and 9 yards long. Fifteen to twenty weavings are produced from each warp. She dyes viscose rayon with fiber reactive dyes in color progressions; these progressions usually involve 20 or more colors between the two end colors. Each color shift becomes a layer of warp, and currently 5 layers of warp are used in each series of weavings. Often one of these layers will be a metallic yarn, and layers of black and white rayon are also common in her work.
A workshop in fused glass in 1999 led to the purchase of a kiln and an exploration of the technique of fused glass. An immediate love of iridized glass and the possibilities of pattern and texture have resulted in the development of platters and bowls which continue her exploration of color interaction, color gradation, pattern and texture.
Website
http://www.ruthgowell.com
