Allyson Rousseau

Name: Allyson Rousseau

Studio location: Montréal, QC

Website / social links: allysonrousseau.com, @allyrous

Loom type or tool preference: Handmade frame loom

Years weaving: 7

Fiber inclination: cotton, wool, anything thrifted

Current favorite weaving book: The Art of Weaving by Else Regensteiner 

 

 

1. How did you discover weaving and was what your greatest resource as a beginner?

I began weaving in my final year at Guelph University. I was in the studio art program but there were no textile or weaving courses so I just sort of got started on my own outside of class. One of my first woven pieces ever was a 4-piece weaving with a continuous design flowing throughout. I submitted it for a drawing assignment and I remember sitting in the critique thinking, wow why did I think this was a good idea. Anyways, long story short, this is when I realized that I had to keep weaving. I am entirely self-taught which is likely why I still use all of the same simple tools and looms. I don’t really remember any of the resources I used if any honestly. I remember having a hard time finding resources for the type of weaving I was doing. It wasn’t “trendy” yet. 

2. How do you define your practice – do you consider yourself an artist / craftsperson / weaver / designer / general creative or a combination of those? Is this definition important to you?

I think about this question every time I’m in a social setting when someone asks what I “do”. I usually tell them that I’m a fibre artist, and when they stare at me waiting for me to describe what that means I then say: I weave, I make weavings. The title I’ve given myself as a fibre artist and designer is what makes the most sense to me, but I don’t really feel that it’s important to define with any one word. Sometimes I make things that aren’t weavings, and sometimes I have a hard time calling myself an artist at all. I think I’ll always flip flop with this question. 

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

I was sitting at my little Ikea desk in my one-bedroom apartment in Guelph, looking through booooooom.com and came across a feature of Mimi Jung’s work. It was only 5 images, but it was crazy eye-opening for me. It was the first time I had ever seen contemporary weaving- meant to be hung on the wall as art. I became kind of obsessed with the idea of learning how to weave after that day, and was gifted a small peg frame loom that Christmas. I started weaving just about every day after that.

4. What is your creative process, from the initial idea to the finished piece? Are there specific weave structures, looms, or fibers that are important to your process?

It all starts with the fiber selection for me. I buy most of my fiber materials at thrift stores, so I’ve got a fun little collection of vintage and dead stock mystery fibers. I’ll pull a few colours that I want a new piece to revolve around and then go from there. I never work from sketches unless I’m working on a commission with a client. I’ll have an idea in my head and I’ll start weaving (from top to bottom) with the base/background colour. Most of my work has a very strict grid-like structure, with focal elements either smack in the centre or evenly spaced apart. I use many raised rya knot areas in my work, so I’m always making sure that the piece is measured correctly so that I’ll have the right number of warp strings to fill with knots. I use different (handmade frame) looms for different series’ of works. For example, I have one loom that I use to make bookmarks, another loom that I use to make “Snacks” and now “Beans”, and other larger looms that I use to make flat gradient and custom pieces. 

The most important and consistent elements to my process is that I use frame looms that I make myself, and a metal weaving needle- no matter how large the piece is. With these tools I’m able to control the precision to a really dense, fine detail.  

 5. Does your work have a conceptual purpose or greater meaning? If so, do you center your making around these concepts?

No it doesn’t. I want my work be to looked at and enjoyed. I think that’s the designer in me. 

I’m sure on some level the ideas I have and the work I make is in response to things I’m dealing with personally though. Weaving is therapeutic for me, so my work probably absorbs whatever energy I’m sitting with while I’m making it. 

 

6. What is your favorite part of the weaving process and why? What’s your least favorite?

My favorite part: When the balance feels so good. When the placement of colour/overall palette feels so good. When a piece that is random in design (various coloured rya knots), looks really interesting after I’ve trimmed it all down- the “reveal”. 

My least favourite part: When I’ve not been present in setting up the warp and there aren’t enough warp strings to create the shapes or fill in the knots. Having to scrap all of that time. Weaving takes a lot of time (especially on this small, precise scale). Time isn’t necessarily money with weaving, but when you lose hours like that it hurts.

Also, blisters from trimming so much rya. 

7. Do you sell your work or make a living from weaving? If so, what does that look like and how has that affected your studio practice?

Yes I sell my work and I work full-time making it. I’ve been making a living off of my work full-time for almost 4 years now. At the beginning I made much less money off of it, worked very very long days, and was very stressed. Still, I was determined to make it work. A few people told me to just get a job, because it couldn’t have been worth all of the stress. Also how could that stress have been good for the “art”? 

The business side of things has gotten easier and less stressful with each passing year as I learn more and grow. I’ve always kept expenses low to afford my thrifty life, and almost two years ago my partner helped me make a few online video classes. This was something I was very against for so long. I felt like I would be giving my practice (my secrets) away, but what it ended up giving me was time. It’s passive income where I don’t have to make or ship anything. It literally affords me the time to spend weeks making a piece that may or may not sell.I thought it would turn my practice into a business but what it really did was separate the business from the art so that I could just make the art. 

8. Where do you find inspiration?

I’m never looking for it- I think it finds me? I see or imagine a visual and think to myself, I wonder if I can weave that? But nothing figurative. It’s all very abstract and pretty playful. I really like the idea of making a weaving that doesn’t really look like a weaving (if you can ignore the fringe)- if you stand far enough away or squint just right.Most of my work is the result of just plain exploration. I try things out and the work I share are the ideas that worked out. 

9. What other creatives do you admire – weavers, artists, entrepreneurs – and why?

I’m drawn to female artists that have ignored or overcome their stereotypical gender roles in order to make a living as an artist. I’m really inspired by women who just did what they wanted unapologetically. A few to note: Anne Truitt (sculptor, painter), Agnes Martin (painter), Tove Jansson (illustrator, painter, author). Books I love on each: Daybook: The Journal of an Artist, Anne Truitt, Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon, and Tove Jansson: Work and Love.

I love to read biographical works on female artists- I find it really interesting and comforting to read about their unconventional realities and how some navigated motherhood on top of it all. 

10. If you could no longer weave, what would you do instead?

In starting to think about the idea of becoming a mother in the next few years I’ve become really interested in birth work. In an ideal alternate universe I would go back to school to study midwifery. I would need to complete some math and science credits first though (art school included neither), so it’s more realistic that I would become a doula.