The Weaving Project involved hundreds of visitors who contributed to this community art project.
During the summer of 2019, the Wiscasset Art Walk (WAW) hosted a Weaving Project in a small, vacant gallery in the middle of Wiscasset Village during the June, July, August, and September events. Thanks to the generosity of gallery owner Richard Hasenfus, what started as a single hands-on creative session, became a season-long happening.
At each WAW, people were invited to enter the gallery, choose from a brilliant array of fabric strips, ribbons, sparkly netting, plastic and cardboard debris, buttons, cookie cutters, and sweet medallions, to create unique ‘strands’ of braided materials.
The next step was to weave the braids onto a structure of bright orange plastic construction fencing, courtesy of the Town of Wiscasset. Weaving participants were given the option of taking their hand-wrought strands home with them, but almost no one did. To the surprise of the Weaving Project volunteers, adding a personal strand to what was becoming a community tapestry was a hugely important part of the experience.
By the end of the summer, the 4’x5’ weaving took on a magnificent beauty with all the stories and quirkiness imbedded in the creation by more than a hundred ‘guest artists’ who represented a multitude of ages, races, genders, abilities, and backgrounds.
An art teacher so enjoyed the simplicity and non-threatening feel of the project that she was taking it back to her school to implement. A young man who worked with at-risk teens would be doing the same. One family, with four children from infant to pre-teen, came multiple times because it was fun for the whole family. Women coaxed their reluctant husbands; adult children with their elderly parents, local town leaders, and lots of visitors and neighbors all took part!
The guest artists came from Wiscasset and regional communities, places all around the state and New England, far-away states like Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, and California, and unexpected places like Mexico and Canada, UK, Germany, Russia, and South Africa.
The Weaving Project of 2019 became a community coming-together.
And now it’s shared with you!
