SNO-CRUSH: Kathleen Aaker

 

Kathleen Aaker wove her gauzy, linen shirts in a simple design.  She's been wanting to weave something to wear for a long time, and she's found it.   The stripes are the weft, and the warp/selvedge edge is the hem. The design is ingenious, and they look great on real people!

Since she lives on a boisterous creek (the South Fork of the Bad Axe)  the sound of rushing water surrounds her.  She calls her studio, Riverweave, and the mostly silk scarves she weaves, with deliberately slipped wefts are meant to look  rivery.  I think she loves and hates that river.   She has said that the river is too noisy, keeping her awake sometimes.  The river is also wild at flood times,  sometimes leaving her stranded, so it's not hard to imagine it influences her weaving.

She and her husband planted a native grass prairie on their farm, and she weaves that grass, harvested at the end of summer, into long repp weave table runners and wall hangings. The repp weave is perle cotton, the grass, Native Big Bluestem.  They are a beautiful setting for a harvest table.  She wove one in white wool and prairie grass for her daughter's wedding table.

Finally, are her little Kats, pieced out of wool scrap.  Meant as toy dolls, they have very long arms, the better to drag them by.