Kathe Todd-Hooker

Kathe Todd-Hooker’s Artist Statement

I love colour and the study of all things technical in tapestry and the historic aspects of tapestry weaving.  The challenge of weaving and putting together images that are collage-like and are symbolically powerful, personal and explosive in small contained spaces- and semi-controlled chaos keeps me coming back day after day… My love of puzzles, questions, mysteries and mazes are also apparent in my tapestry designs. The images in my tapestries are based on my journals, personal, familiar narratives and dreams. AND, then there are those I weave for the sheer pleasure of playing and experimenting with colour and technique. The challenge of choosing in each half pass… My personal preference is to work on a small scale and in a small format. Generally, 20-22 epi and seldom much larger than 15 x 15 inches or much smaller than 100 square inches. Materials are sewing thread and embroidery flosses. I, also weave the occasional large format/ large scale tapestry in wool.

When asked why I prefer to weave tapestry as my medium, the answer is uncomplicated-because I hate to paint! I like to work with imagery, but I don’t like the physical action of painting or other “art” media. My materials are things are materials that I have worked with since I was a child.  My Grandmothers taught me to honour small works and the textile arts and so I do in a medium that they never dreamed of-tapestry. Schooling taught me tapestry.

Kathe Todd Hooker’s Biography

Among the awards that Todd-Hooker has won are two Teitelbaum ATA awards-a second and a first. She has a BS and a MIAS from Marylhurst/OSAC and OSU in craft design and other minors-history, economics and CTRA. She works as an itinerant teacher of tapestry workshops, researching tapestry techniques and writing about tapestry since 1978. Todd-Hooker has published books and written books on tapestry-Shaped Tapestry, Line in Tapestry, Tapestry 101, and So Warped (written with Pat Spark). She has also written dozens of articles on tapestry technique, Russian Old Believers, and Journaling over the years. Todd-Hooker is the owner Between & Etc Tapestry Studio in Albany, Oregon, USA, and the internet business Between & Etc. (formally Fine Fiber Press) She designs tapestries, weaves tapestries, teaches, produces workshops, and sells and designs tapestry equipment and supplies. Her studio Between & Etc. is open to drop-in conversation, customers, and students on Wednesdays, by appointment and workshops, and private instruction.   Todd-Hooker blogs about her “Meanderings in Tapestry”. She is also the administrator of the tapestry list and the Facebook group -Small Format Small Scale-A place of our own. Her work is in private collections and has been exhibited extensively all over the world. She prefers to do speculative work to commissions and has worked as a contract tapestry weaver in the past.