Pamela Abad

Name: Pamela Abad

Studio location: Cuenca, Ecuador

Website / social links: pamelaabadvega.com, @pamelabad

Loom type or tool preference: Four harness floor loom

Years weaving: 2.5

Fiber inclination: cotton and wool

Current favorite weaving book: Olga de Amaral’s Desarrollo de un Lenguaje (Developing a Language), and always revisiting Peter Collingwood’s The Techniques of Rug Weaving and Rug Weaving Techniques: Beyond Basics

 

 

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

For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in fibers and textile crafts, but weaving came later in my life. My background is in photography, and for some time I had become disillusioned with how fast paced the production of photography is, it gave me a bit of anxiety as I was unable to keep up with that speed. During that time when I felt completely lost and unmotivated, I found an old frame loom and started weaving without knowing anything about it. I thought it would be easy to learn, like other things I had done in the past, but I found it rather complex and intriguing— something I had to figure out and hopefully master one day. Weaving has become a way to slow down, and this is something I value greatly about this craft. 

The greatest resource has been the internet— weaving books I have found at archive.org. Also, patience has been key.

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 find those definitions unimportant, as one can be many things at once. But regardless, I call myself an artist or multidisciplinary artist, as besides weaving I also work with photography. Although, nowadays I find myself weaving more than anything else.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

I am a self taught weaver, so I felt VERY confused and amused. I had zero understanding of anything—sett, bubbling, tension, etc. and I could not understand why some bits of yarn kept getting trapped—I had no idea of the concept of meet and separate. Not to mention my first experience with a floor loom, I thought it was a contraption.

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?

At the moment I am concentrating in weft faced fabrics in plain weave, although I have also explored knotted and inlay techniques. My creative process starts with a bit of pain and frustration, as I don’t have a background in drawing, painting or designing. So at the beginning I am always faced with the challenge of coming up with something interesting. If there's a will there's a way, I remind myself. Since I lack an inherent ability to draw, I have instead focused on practicing my skills at automatic drawing, and developed an ability to find something worth weaving amongst all the nonsense. As soon as I have something that excites me enough to transfer to the loom, I go for it, I don’t weave samples (I am stubborn), and I hardly change the design while I’m weaving.

Since I started weaving I have only used wool and cotton. The reason why I’m interested in wool is because it's a natural fiber available here in Ecuador, but unfortunately of little demand in comparison to synthetic fibers. Ecuador has an amazing tradition in relation to natural fibers and natural dyes, but nowadays it's become harder and harder to find artisans who produce these materials. In order to source my wool, I have spent a great deal of time contacting communities of weavers from the Ecuadorian Andes and wool and alpaca mills all over Ecuador (there are just a few). Throughout my quest to find wool, I have met incredible people, amongst them a group of older women from a small community who spin wool with a drop spindle—each skein has its own personality.

 

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

I am fascinated by folklore and superstition—something I have explored through photography, and when I started weaving I had the necessity to set myself a brief that would allow me to learn and practice different techniques with something clear in my mind. I thought about traditional pyrotechnics from the province I was born here in Ecuador—a craft which in itself contains much symbolism and meaning. This subject served as a starting point and as a visual guide, with the hopes that time will allow me to find my own interests and voice. But for some time now, I have drifted from that starting point and I am solely focused on the exploration of colour and shape.

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

My favourite part of the process is when I’m weaving and then getting to see the end result. My least favourite would be what's in between—dressing the loom and coming up with a new design. Although, with time I am starting to find every aspect of it enjoyable.

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 am open for commissions, information about this can be found on my website. Hopefully one day I’ll become a full time weaver.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

I am always making notes of things I listen to in interviews and documentaries about weavers and other artists. I find the life and artistic journey of an artist to be incredibly inspiring—their approach to their work, their processes and obsessions. I recently saw a video of Olga de Amaral, To Weave a Rock, where she talks about how solving problemas is part of her creativity and how the process itself is what gives her ideas. Sheila Hicks said: Small insignificant things, like an insect crawling across a table and squatting on a flower, can make an indelible impression on me, and it becomes something that might be twenty meters long. Words like these, of someone I admire, helps me continue with my practice without feeling a sense of vertigo.

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

I am forever in awe of the works by Olga de Amaral, Lenore Tawney, Sheila Hicks, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Ingrid Hellman-Knafve, and every single woman at the Bauhaus weavers workshop—they are all legends and an endless source of inspiration.

There’s so many contemporary weavers I admire, Brent Wadden, Sue Spooner, Dee Clements, Miranda Fengyuan Zhang for their use of colour, Christabel Balfour for the simplicity. 

I admire every single Azilal rug weaver from Morocco that has ever lived, I am absolutely fascinated by their use of color, originality and technique.

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

Something creative. I also wouldn’t mind baking all day to make a living.

Do you have any upcoming exhibits, talks, or events the community should know about?

In December I will be exhibiting a couple of pieces at N24 Gallery Art Fair in Quito.