Sheila O'Hara, weaver

August 17, 2010, Lower Lake, California: Weaver Sheila O’Hara of Lower Lake is among exhibitors in the 17th Annual Quilt and Textile Exhibition, open FREE to the public through August 28, 2010 in the Weaver Auditorium at the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum, 16435 Main Street, Lower Lake California.

A Lake County artist, Sheila is always on the lookout for scenes that might translate well into tapestries woven on a hand jacquard loom, one that allows the weaver to create more complex designs. Driving back home from a Weaving Guild meeting in Ukiah, on Hwy 20 just before the town of Upper Lake, Sheila caught a glimpse of a black horse in a meadow of bright yellow wildflowers. She pulled over, parked her car by the side of the road and clicked a few shots with her digital camera just before the battery died. Returning home she was happy to see that she had captured the scene that she turned into a lush, textured cotton tapestry titled "Horseplay.”

The artwork speaks of the beauty of Lake County with bright sunny days, lush spring scenery and the cleanest air in California . Sheila is happy to have moved to Lower Lake from Oakland, CA , in 2000 with her husband, Bill Fredriksson. She has been weaving her tapestries and teaching weaving classes in her home studio since 2001.

Weaving is an ancient art. Sheila said, “The first “fabrics” of skins and furs led the way to hand woven basketry and then true hand weaving on looms. Today hand weaving is done on simple floor and table looms by people all over the world. There are also mills filled with industrial power looms churning out yards and yards of fabric for everyday use such as clothing, art and household items. Hand spinning and machine spinning provide yarn for production of items whether woven, knitted, crocheted or felted. If one chooses to learn to weave by hand, then one learns the ancient magic of interlacing threads to create cloth. When children see how cloth is made, light bulbs go on inside their heads and big smiles come across their faces. They grab the shuttle and start weaving as if a dormant instinct has come to life.

“Weaving provides a great creative outlet yet it also requires a certain amount of patience. One can't be in a hurry to weave a project. A 3' x 6' rug can take from 40 to 100 hours depending on the type of weave structure used and the size of the yarn. The finer the yarn, the more time one needs. Once it is all set up, there is something very satisfying about throwing the shuttle through the shed to make row after row and watch the yarns become cloth. The shuttle is usually made of wood and carries the weft yarn. The warp yarn is measured out on a warping board and then wound onto the loom and the threaded through the heddles. One can have anywhere from 3 threads in an inch to 100 threads in an inch. It all depends on what type of cloth one wants to make.”

According to Weaving - A Handbook of the Fiber Arts by Shirley Held, "Few other human endeavors enjoy such glamorous origins as the art of weaving. The history of the fiber arts features jealous goddesses, spiders, dragon's blood, betrayals, spells, sleeping princesses, heroes, and long lasting love. The vocabulary of weaving and spinning has interpenetrated our modern language: the thread of life, the fabric of society, a spinster aunt.

“While myth points to the significance of the fiber arts, we turn to anthropologists and archeologists for a systematic account of the probable evolution of the craft. Fiber structures predate recorded history, reaching far back into the Paleolithic period when tools beyond rocks and sticks did not exist. Fiber products are perhaps the most perishable of all artifacts but in 1998 a cloth relic was found in Turkey that radiocarbon dated the piece at 8,000 BC."

Sheila O’Hara’s tapestry, “Horseplay,” along with many other artworks by her students and Lake County Quilters will be displayed at a FREE exhibit at Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum Quilt and Textile Exhibition, Lower Lake, CA through August 28. "Horseplay" will also be on view at the Lake County Fair , Lakeport, CA , in the Clothing and Textile Building from September 2nd to 5th, 2010 .

For further information contact Sheila O’Hara, (707) 994-0790 www.sheilaohara.com


		Internationally Acclaimed Weaver, Sheila O’Hara, FEATURED IN THE FREE Quilt and Textile Exhibition at Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum thru August 28 and at the lake county fair – September 2 through 5, lakeport, california August 17, 2010, Lower Lake, California: Weaver Sheila O’Hara of Lower Lake is among exhibitors in the 17th Annual Quilt and Textile Exhibition, open FREE to the public through August 28, 2010 in the Weaver Auditorium at the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum, 16435 Main Street, Lower Lake California. A Lake County artist, Sheila is always on the lookout for scenes that might translate well into tapestries woven on a hand jacquard loom, one that allows the weaver to create more complex designs. Driving back home from a Weaving Guild meeting in Ukiah, on Hwy 20 just before the town of Upper Lake, Sheila caught a glimpse of a black horse in a meadow of bright yellow wildflowers. She pulled over, parked her car by the side of the road and clicked a few shots with her digital camera just before the battery died. Returning home she was happy to see that she had captured the scene that she turned into a lush, textured cotton tapestry titled "Horseplay.” The artwork speaks of the beauty of Lake County with bright sunny days, lush spring scenery and the cleanest air in California . Sheila is happy to have moved to Lower Lake from Oakland, CA , in 2000 with her husband, Bill Fredriksson. She has been weaving her tapestries and teaching weaving classes in her home studio since 2001. Weaving is an ancient art. Sheila said, “The first “fabrics” of skins and furs led the way to hand woven basketry and then true hand weaving on looms. Today hand weaving is done on simple floor and table looms by people all over the world. There are also mills filled with industrial power looms churning out yards and yards of fabric for everyday use such as clothing, art and household items. Hand spinning and machine spinning provide yarn for production of items whether woven, knitted, crocheted or felted. If one chooses to learn to weave by hand, then one learns the ancient magic of interlacing threads to create cloth. When children see how cloth is made, light bulbs go on inside their heads and big smiles come across their faces. They grab the shuttle and start weaving as if a dormant instinct has come to life. “Weaving provides a great creative outlet yet it also requires a certain amount of patience. One can't be in a hurry to weave a project. A 3' x 6' rug can take from 40 to 100 hours depending on the type of weave structure used and the size of the yarn. The finer the yarn, the more time one needs. Once it is all set up, there is something very satisfying about throwing the shuttle through the shed to make row after row and watch the yarns become cloth. The shuttle is usually made of wood and carries the weft yarn. The warp yarn is measured out on a warping board and then wound onto the loom and the threaded through the heddles. One can have anywhere from 3 threads in an inch to 100 threads in an inch. It all depends on what type of cloth one wants to make.” According to Weaving - A Handbook of the Fiber Arts by Shirley Held, "Few other human endeavors enjoy such glamorous origins as the art of weaving. The history of the fiber arts features jealous goddesses, spiders, dragon's blood, betrayals, spells, sleeping princesses, heroes, and long lasting love. The vocabulary of weaving and spinning has interpenetrated our modern language: the thread of life, the fabric of society, a spinster aunt. “While myth points to the significance of the fiber arts, we turn to anthropologists and archeologists for a systematic account of the probable evolution of the craft. Fiber structures predate recorded history, reaching far back into the Paleolithic period when tools beyond rocks and sticks did not exist. Fiber products are perhaps the most perishable of all artifacts but in 1998 a cloth relic was found in Turkey that radiocarbon dated the piece at 8,000 BC." Sheila O’Hara’s tapestry, “Horseplay,” along with many other artworks by her students and Lake County Quilters will be displayed at a FREE exhibit at Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum Quilt and Textile Exhibition, Lower Lake, CA through August 28. "Horseplay" will also be on view at the Lake County Fair , Lakeport, CA , in the Clothing and Textile Building from September 2nd to 5th, 2010 . For further information contact Sheila O’Hara, (707) 994-0790 www.sheilaohara.com
"Horseplay" by Sheila O'Hara