WOVENtranslations: Parallel Paths exhibit, through Feb

The Regional Emerging Artists-in-Residence have the opportunity to show work completed while in the residency.  At times I feel that I’m making little progress, but when I see my work together and remember the other 12 woven shibori scarves I made are not in the show, then it feels pretty darn good. Check it out […]

New Studio at Artspace

My residency has ended, however, I have not left Artspace.  They have offered a continuation program that allows me to stay for another six months.  I have moved upstairs to studio 217.  Please stop by to check it out and meet my studio-mate, Nancy VanNoppen.

Convergence 2012

Convergence is a bi-annual national/interneational conference for weavers, dye-ers, spinners, textile artists.  I was selected as a Student Assistant to participate at this gathering of people who love making anything fiber related. It was held in Long Beach, California July 17 – 21. My motivation for going was to participate in two workshops, led by […]

Currents: New work for First Friday

Now that I have a gallery space, it became evident I have been making relatively large textiles.  An opportunity presents itself.  This opportunity was about two feet of warp, left after a larger projects had been cut from the loom.  I hated to see it go to waste. I had the idea of a series […]

My Artpsace Studio: Moved in

The move is complete and just in time for tonight’s First Friday event.  I am in a great corner studio with lots of space.  Tom, my very handy husband has been painting, pounding nails into brick and hanging artwork from the highest heights to make a really beautiful studio space.   After today, the real work […]

Magic is happening in the woven shibori class

  We just completed our fourth week of weaving and dyeing last night.  The beautiful surprises that come with Woven Shibori are revealing themselves. In the previous weeks, we used fiber reactive dyes for the first and second rounds of dyeing. While the colors are spectacular, the price we pay is rinsing and more rinsing. […]

Awesome Weaving Journals

  The Weave-A-Journal class at Pullen Art Center ended with the most innovative woven designs. Here are several of the weavings from our class. The class included making the book with a wrap-around cover and loom pages.  After our book was constructed we spent three weeks weaving.  We started with basic tapestry techniques using yarn:  […]

Artspace, here I come

Very exciting news.  I have been selected for the Artspace Regional Emerging Artist Residency starting in July. Artspace is a non-profit visual art center dedicated to providing inspiring and engaging arts education and community outreach programs.  This unique organization is dynamic studio environment for over 30 professional artists (including me!).  They also offer a program […]

Woven Shibori Class: June 5 – July 19

Pullen Shibori samples

I am offering a woven shibori class at Pullen Art Center.  This is the technique I use to make scarves and wall pieces such as “The Storm”. Pullen Art Center has a weaving studio with pre-warped floor looms so we won’t be spending time setting up looms.  Rather, the looms are full of white cotton […]

Weaving Journal Class

I’m co-teaching a class on making a weaving journal.  Kathy Steinsberger, bookmaker extraordinaire, and I collaborated on a wrap-around book cover to hold the mat board looms.  It’s made of “pleather”, a canvas that has been coated with layers of paint, and is secured with a leather-ish thong. The books turned out really beautiful. We […]

Woven Shibori: how do I get those patterns?

I’ve been busy with a few new scarves.  These are lighter weight using a very fine 30/2 cotton or 60 threads per inch.  I start out with all white yarn…as always.  These scarves are woven with a pattern thread of sturdy nylon.  After the scarf is removed from the loom, I paint it with dye […]

Autumn Colors Ikat v1 is off the loom

I just cut off the first version of Autumn Colors Ikat (pronounced ee-kot).  Here’s a preview to satisfy your curiousity.   This series of ikat was inspired by our gorgeous fall colors in 2011.  The trees around Raleigh were absolutely brilliant last fall.  My friend Jenny captured the colors and I have used this photo to […]

New work at First Friday, Raleigh in April

Woven Shibori Scarfs

Fresh off the loom, a new series of woven shibori scarves.  These scarves are 100% cotton and each has a unique pattern. Woven Shibori is similar to tie-dye, however instead of using rubber bands to create the pattern, I make the pattern while weaving the scarf.  These scarves start with white yarn.  I weave 1/4″ […]

Autumn Colors Ikat

I have started a new weft-faced ikat project.  Ikat is a process where the yarn is dyed, in a pattern, before it is woven.  Once the weaving starts, a the pattern emerges.  Weft-faced ikat is all about color placement.  No warp yarns are exposed (remember, the warp is the long threads on the loom).  This […]

Welcome to WOVENtranslations

Hi!  I’m Mary Kircher, a fiber artist specializing in unique, hand-dyed woven artwork and wearables. My woven work translates imagery – photos, inspirations – off the two-dimensional grid and captures the essence of place or experience.  I’m inspired by many things, often the wilderness, but continue to find new patterns or colors that define my […]