Rosemary Riedel O’Brien

Name: Rosemary Riedel O’Brien

Studio location: Dartmoor, England

Website / social links: wildroseweaving.com, @wild_rose_weaving, wildroseweaving

Loom type or tool preference: Rigid Heddle Loom, Navajo Spindle, Spinning Wheel

Years weaving: 3

Fiber inclination: Wool and all natural fibres

Current favorite weaving book: ‘Mirror of the Universe’ by Lenore Tawney

 

 

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

In the Spring of 2018, and after following a sign on a lamp post in Brighton, I was led to an Exhibition called ‘Weaving and the Wild Feminine’ by Imogen Bright Moon of Bright Moon Weaving studio. A Woven Sanctuary of Beauty, Raw femininity and profound creativity, I had never witnessed an art form that had such resonance with my heart song. Imogen and I stayed in touch, and she generously gave me a cardboard loom, drop spindle and skein of yarn — the tools that opened the door to my onward creative journey.

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 consider my practice to be a devotion to the Goddess, to the Earth and all life. I would say that all of these titles resonate, yet I am not fixed to a single one, nor a definition at all.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

I had been studying lichens and fungi from an illustrative perspective for many years throughout my studies. After meeting Imogen I can remember fumbling some scrap wood and rusty nails together so as to make myself a tiny frame loom in which to continue my studies of the organisms that rest beneath the flowers through texture and making. I had always been drawn to textiles, yet unaware of the technique of weaving. I connected immediately to the wave-like rhythm of feeding weft between warp, the in-breath and out-breath of individual threads coming together to form a whole structure. The setting for the making of my first weave was at a train station, such an urban liminal space, yet the process of weaving offered an insight into patterns of the landscape, the makings of the universe, and so I could have been anywhere — deep in the ocean or high upon a mountain top.

 

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?

My process begins with an inspiration, concept or form that has come into my awareness. I usually work with it spiritually, in the form of ritual or ceremony to present my desire to connect with the theme (usually an animal, element or feeling) and then draw up some sketches and prepare my materials. The design process itself is mainly intuitive, I don’t stick to a plan as such but often have an idea of what the outcome may look and feel like. My commissions are centered around the individual and are made to entirely encompass the essence of that person, whereas my seasonal collections are often centered entirely around my experience of the natural world as well as words and concepts that are relevant to me at the time.

This year is my first responding to a year long study of a title, in this case, ‘Weavings for Transformation; a Homage to Change’ and it has served as the backbone to all work I have so far produced. Ethical, traceable and sustainable fibres are key to my process, and due to the landscape I live in this often means that Wool is the fibre I work with most. I have a few connections with different farms and projects and have been lucky enough to form strong bonds with their flocks of sheep.

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

As mentioned, my work is made in devotion to the goddess, the All Mother and the interconnectedness of everything and all life. Central to every stage within the work is the concept of Weaving as Ceremony, Making as prayer. To strip it back to its raw core, the work is a homage to Aliveness, to the very air that we breathe, the water in our blood, the earth in our bones and the fire in our bellies.This work aims to cocoon its owner in strength, beauty, a sense of home and beyond that aims to serve as a form of Woven Medicine, honoring the Weavers, Spinners and edge dwellers of All Time.

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

Each part within the process has such a different energy and conjures up a unique magic that it's so hard to compare. What came to my heart instantly was the feeling of flow during the weaving stage, after the fibre preparation is complete, the yarn is spun, the design is flowing, and I have time to find a deep flow state. It's a liminal place really, the sense of filling up the space that the warp has created, the sense of drawing up a textile from another realm with no preconceived ideas of how it should look or show up in the world. It's a birthing process, and there's a certain sense of euphoria that comes with that. For those precious hours and sometimes days, time can expand and contract and all else stands still.

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?

I do sell my work and that makes up the majority of my living. I was so lucky to have Imogen as a mentor who also has experience selling her work. Her mentorship and wisdom within this area have allowed me to enter the world of selling art with firm boundaries in place. Naturally There have certainly been times when I found it hard to separate the anxiety of earning enough to pay the bills from the beauty and mystery of the weaving itself — yet due to the support of artist friends and helpful books I am often able to distinguish between the two and find grounding again.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

My inspiration can be found within the pattern of a shell, the vision of an unknown world, the way ancient words seem to be held within my bones, the flight of a buzzard, the feeling of soft wool on bare skin, or the flow of the river. Inspiration is bursting from the seams within every corner and upon every path. When I reflect upon my work, there is certainly a theme that ties each piece together, and I feel it's a reverence to the Natural world, a recognition that we are everything and all life — each being is so deeply interconnected and the act of weaving embodies this with so much clarity and ease.

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

I feel part of a clan of Weavers here in the Uk, a myriad of Sisters who share this Woven work, and I admire and love their unique ways of working within this ancient craft. My dear friends Imogen Bright Moon and Lily Aisbitt Waugh were my first connections to the Ancient ways of Spinning, Weaving and Natural Dying. Both of these deeply creative and powerful Artists embody a profound connection to the Divine and to the Earth in ways that spread beauty and much needed vitality in pure abundance. Both have been deeply inspiring to me to create from a place of free and untamed expression, and remain key allies and cherished Sisters upon this woven road.  

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

A hard question and thought to bare! I was an illustrator for many years, and I still am. I can get lost in the act of drawing for hours and days upon end, and feel that if Weaving were no longer an option I would eagerly re-immerse myself within the mystical ways of pen on paper, wood or bone.