About Mountain Weaver
Kathy Wishnie is a self-representing artist, selling online since 2001.
My interest in weaving began as a young girl with a potholder loom and cotton loopers. I also got a little 2H loom
for Christmas one year. It came all set up with string warp and an inch or so already woven with pretty colors.
I had so much fun weaving on that loom until I got to the end of the warp. I had no idea how to put more warp
on the loom and actually wondered if the string was part of the loom.
In high school art class, I had a chance to work on frame looms, and the teacher recommended the book Weaving Without a Loom by Sarita R. Rainey. I bought it with my babysitting money, and it opened a whole new world for me.
One of my more elaborate projects was to weave a scarf on a long, narrow frame loom
I built out of my Dad’s plant stakes. I didn’t understand the fact that as I wove a longer piece,
the tension of the warp would get tighter and tighter and require a much stronger frame than the stakes
I used. It was so frustrating to have the whole loom slowly cave in and collapse as I wove.
While not entirely successful, these early experiments forged my love of weaving. By high school, I knew I wanted to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago because they had a wonderful Fiber and Weaving Department.
Else Regensteiner (The Art of Weaving), Lurene Stone, Meda Johnston and Jane Redman were the great teachers I worked with everyday. I still draw on many of the techniques and their philosophy of art and weaving for inspiration and confidence that I can weave what I am imagining.
Tapestries give me the opportunity for expressing imagery and my love of nature, especially the landscape and sky. Blankets and bags are so essential to basic human needs and go back throughout the history of man. I love that sense of necessity and the rich opportunity for creative weaving they provide.
For these same reasons, I use mostly wool. It is an ancient fiber and one that is renewable without hurting or endangering animals. Wool keeps us warm, cozy and comfortable through the winter just as it has our ancestors for generations.
My husband, Howard, and I live in the beautiful Gallatin Valley surrounded by mountains in southwest Montana. The majesty of my surroundings provide inspiration for my tapestries and blankets.
Thank you for visiting my website. I hope you found it interesting and maybe even found something you would love to have in your home, or for yourself or as a gift for a loved one.
Kathy Wishnie
info@mountainweaver.com
Express yourself with one-of-a-kind handwoven wool blankets, tapestries and accessories from the Montana mountains.
Kathy Wishnie
111 North Shore Drive #12
Belgrade, MT
59714
(406) 388-4573
info@mountainweaver.com
For centuries, tapestries have warmed and brightened the dreary, damp walls of medieval castles and estates. Today's homes are much more comfortable, but tapestries still bring tranquility and warmth to our décor through the beauty of fine art.
My tapestries are developed from my drawings of nature and from my imagination. When the design seems right to me, I begin to prepare the yarns and colors needed. The most lustrous long wool fleeces are dyed, often blending several colors in each yarn to give a rich depth. Then the yarn is hand spun on my traditional spinning wheel. After this preparation, the loom is warped and the detailed weaving begins, often taking a month to complete. As the image appears in weaving, design changes may be made to make the tapestry as perfect as possible.
Each completed tapestry is beautiful, a sound fabric to last forever, but it also feels nice to touch. Textiles have a tactile dimension that other wall pieces lack. They invite a viewer to come closer and look but also to touch.
You will love one of these beautiful tapestries in your home as part of your art collection.