Arts This Week: Lauren Williams at New City Arts
By Sage Tanguay
Date: 02/07/2025 - 02/26/2025
Sage Tanguay 00:00
New City Arts opens a new exhibition for the month of February featuring the weaving art of Lauren Williams, entitled “Pattern & Plain Weave. For Arts This Week, we chatted with Lauren about her work.
Lauren Williams 00:19
My name is Lauren Williams. I’m a weaver and an art teacher. I’m brand new to Virginia. Moved here this summer, and I’m teaching right now at an elementary school in the county, and I’m weaving at New City Arts, which is right off of the downtown Mall.
Sage Tanguay 00:36
Okay, awesome. And you have a show coming up?
Lauren Williams 00:39
Yes, yes, I’m really excited. It’ll be up for the month of February, and it’s a collection of new weavings, all inspired by and based on some historical patterns. So they’re large scale, hand woven coverlets, which is like a type of, you know, bed spread.
Sage Tanguay 01:00
How did you initially get into weaving and, like, fabric arts?
Lauren Williams 01:04
Yeah, absolutely. I fell into it, like, a little bit by accident. I was getting my teaching credential and needed, like, an extra art class, and there was a weaving class that was available right away. I got there, and it was just like, everything clicked. It’s like, a little cheesy to say, but it felt like all of a sudden I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been, you know, looking for.’ And so I started with that class, and then I just, I kept, kept going, you know, when I when I think about it and reflect on it now, fiber has always been, like, a big part of my life. My mom is an incredible knitter, and so there was always yarn everywhere growing up, and so I didn’t latch onto that. But then I think once I fell into weaving, it felt kind of like, ‘Oh, wow. This has been here, and I’m discovering it in my own in my own way.’
Sage Tanguay 01:58
Lauren will also be offering classes over the course of the exhibition.
Lauren Williams 02:02
On Saturday, February 15, I’m gonna do a weaving on a frame loom workshop. So if you’ve ever wanted to, like, learn how to make just a simple tapestry. It’s free and open to the public. There’s limited amount of space, so you do have to RSVP. And then I’m gonna do another weaving workshop, but for kids the following Saturday, so February 22 and that’ll be really simple, weaving on like a handmade loom. All kids are welcome. Ages eight and up are probably great. And then if you want to bring a younger kid just with like a grown up, grown up, hands-on supervision is good.
Sage Tanguay 02:41
Could you speak more to the theme of this exhibition? You mentioned, like historical patterns?
Lauren Williams 02:46
The works are all woven in a weave structure called overshot, which is a way of creating, like, more complex and oftentimes curved designs. I first saw examples of this, like, when I first started, was like, Oh my gosh. Like, this is, I want to learn how to do this. What is this? This structure was used a lot in creating, like, these really intricately woven coverlets. So, like a way of, sort of creating this art piece that is both an absolute work of art, but also sort of like this really wonderful, useful object that could be used in the home. And I was really excited about thinking about that kind of duality of this thing that that you use every day and can look at and can be washed, but also is, like, this really beautiful piece to have.
Sage Tanguay 03:44
If someone is interested in learning more about fiber arts or getting involved, what is your kind of recommendation?
Lauren Williams 03:50
Yeah, absolutely. Well, sign up for the workshops. You know, I’m still new to the area, but there are some fabulous yarn stores around, so, you know, sort of start to explore that. And I think what I really like about weaving is that, like, the entry point is one that is quite like, accessible. You don’t need any fancy tools to get started what I’m gonna do in the workshop. You truly you can just use, like, a really simple frame, and you could use, like, just leftover kind of yarn you have around, or even just things that you find at The Scrappy Elephant or a place like that. So that the entryway is really accessible. And that was my entryway, and if you like it from there, then you can keep getting more complex and adding more details. But it’s a nice place to start, and oftentimes can be one that is like a calming kind of practice.
Sage Tanguay 04:45
Pattern and plain weave will open on Friday, February 7th, with a reception from 5 – 7:30pm, The exhibition will be up through February 26th. More information about the show and gallery hours is available at https://newcityarts.org/exhibitions/lauren-williams.
Arts This Week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more at pvcc.edu
