#477 Summer Dawn

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In this work, Lessman-Moss sought to push her work with patterns to a heightened extent by putting stripes in both the warp and weft threads. She found it was a satisfying challenge to introduce additional systems of pattern, and to get everything to work together. The wire inserts reappear after a long absence-the artist moved away from them after turning to newer digital jacquard looms because, while she concentrated on other technical problems, it didn't occur to her that they could still be included. A digital loom company she worked with mistakenly thought one of her weavings featuring metal was done on their loom, and after being corrected they responded "Well, but it could have been," and that led to exciting new possibilities yielding satisfying variation. The metal gets tangled and kinked easily and is generally difficult to manage. When handled successfully, it appears just as smooth and pliable as thread, perhaps less natural but also lighter and ephemeral, changing in appearance as a viewer moves and reflections shift.