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Weaving Climate Data

Sat, Jun 26 / 1–3 pm

Join MAD Artist Studios resident Tali Weinberg for a two-hour, online workshop on transforming climate-change data into unique handwoven, abstract landscapes.

Tali will share examples of her own woven data landscapes and discuss her uses of weaving to interpret and archive data. Each participant will then create their own unique, color-coded weaving on a frame loom as we reflect together on our relationships to the places we love in the context of climate crisis.

Weavers of all levels are encouraged to join. This is an interactive program via Zoom meeting with a limited group size. Participants are encouraged to stay on camera so that everyone can be in conversation while weaving. When you register, you will have the option to indicate a place that is important to you. Tali will generate a personal dataset for each participant based on the info provided.

Materials needed

Yarn for the weft

  • 5 colors (or more!), at least 5 yards of each color
  • Feel free to use yarns you already have on hand, like remainders from knitting or other weaving projects. If you would like to buy yarn, tapestry wool is a relatively affordable way to buy small amounts of many colors.
  • We will use the colors to code temperature data for a specific place. You may want to select a set of colors that moves from dark to light or warm to cool. Tali recommends choosing colors that remind you of a place you love. Any variety is ok–choose what you like!

Pre-warped loom

  • Please come to the workshop with your loom already warped with a weaving width between 3” and 5.” White or off-white cotton is recommended for the warp.
  • You can use a small frame loom, a cardboard loom, or you can make your own cardboard loom.
  • Two tapestry needles with blunt ends. Tali recommends Clover Jumbo Tapestry Needles that come in sets of 2 and are available through most craft stores.
  • Pickup stick to make the weaving shed (could be a ruler, a bone folder, or a small strip of sturdy cardboard ½-1” wide x 6” long)
  • A printout of the data sheet that will be emailed before the program.

About the artist

Tali Weinberg draws on a history of weaving as a subversive language for women and marginalized groups to create a feminist, material archive in response to the worsening climate crisis. Through sculpture, drawing, and textiles, Weinberg traces relationships among climate change, water, extractive industry, illness, and displacement; between personal and communal loss; and between corporeal and ecological bodies. During her residency, Weinberg will twine, coil, and weave experimental baskets out of medical tubing, sutures, thread, and climate data, using petroleum-derived material to grapple with the intersections of illness and climate crisis. Weinberg’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Surface Design Journal, the Tulsa Voice, and Ecotone. Recent exhibitions include the University of Colorado Art Museum, 21 C Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, and the Center for Craft. Weinberg has taught at California College of the Arts, University of Tulsa, and Penland School of Craft.

Please review our health and safety protocols before you arrive. MAD strongly recommends all visitors six months and older are vaccinated against Covid-19 and visitors ages two and up wear face coverings, even if vaccinated. Thank you for your cooperation.

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