Online/ Talk / Weaving
Endless Pattern: Weaving, teaching, and design on the BoomLoom Boss
This session will explore the capabilities of the Boss, an award-winning handheld loom that creates complex weave structures and patterns like a multi-shaft loom but has just two pieces and sets up immediately. Traditional looms require that you configure structure first, discover woven patterns later. The Boss lets you explore pattern directly and intuitively without tie-ups, treadles or drafts. The small size and simple interface makes it a powerful, accessible learning tool for material exploration and creative practice, with a range from beginner to expert in one tool.
Designer and founder Lauren Puchowski will discuss the loom and related digital patternmaking tools as a way to expand access to the design language of weaving. We'll examine the creative possibilities in traditional structures such as twill, monk's belt, krokbragd, rosepath, waffle weave, and doubleweave. We'll also touch on applications in public art and personal practice, the loom's active online community, and uses in grade schools, universities and for artists with disabilities. The session will conclude with a Q&A, for a total length of no longer than 60 minutes.
Lauren Puchowski is an artist and maker from North Carolina. Not a weaver, she began experimenting with shedding devices on tiny handheld looms as a way to make weaving an image closer to the gesture of line drawing. A prototype with a rotating heddle bar produced a diagonal rib; that became the basis for the Boss.