Those who have been following me for a while know that it took me quite some time to openly and confidently declare outside of the weaving world that I weave. I was always a bit afraid that others would find it old-fashioned and outdated. But if I hadn’t already gotten over that fear, I am now completely cured of it after yesterday. Because being a guest lecturer for two days at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam gives you a whole different perspective!
The first contact with Severine Amsing happened a year and a half ago; she asked if I could teach her students how to weave letters. Of course, that was possible! And over the past two weeks, it finally happened: for two Tuesdays, 18 students immersed themselves in double-faced tablet weaving to learn how to weave letters. It was a completely different experience from the groups I usually teach—different age, different backgrounds, different expectations, and everything in English.
That’s why I left for day one feeling quite nervous, but that feeling disappeared within ten minutes of arriving. What an amazing atmosphere! The English was no problem, and I had a solid grasp of the tablet weaving terminology. Until the moment I wanted to day a very common Dutch sentence, that had nothing to do with tablet weaving. 🙂
The enthusiasm, the way of learning, and the curiosity of the students were incredibly stimulating. They asked all sorts of questions—not just about weaving techniques but also more personal ones. But what I found most inspiring was how they absorbed knowledge. After a fairly structured instruction on day one, things went in all directions yesterday. One student was designing, another was experimenting with colors in the warp, a third was trying to change the structure by flipping the tablets (“because I think those little V’s are so ugly”). And I navigated through it all, answering their questions while learning from their approach: just do it and see what happens. Make your own “mistakes” and discover that sometimes you need to tie your threads. But by not blindly following that rule, they also created interesting new structures. Structures I now want to experiment with myself!
It also made me reflect on two questions that often come up in Weefnetwerk, the Dutch association of weavers: how to encourage young people to start weaving and how to preserve Dutch weaving terminology. Encouragement? That wasn’t needed for this group—they will keep going and pass it on themselves! And do I mind that languages are all mixed up, like: “Marieke, can you also weave a structure like a “platbinding” (plain weave)?”
No, these are young people who love weaving, learning it in their own way, in a language that suits them. That’s what matters to me, and that’s what I enjoy so much—sharing a passion and working on it together.
Because “we older folks” definitely have a role to play. We have knowledge that they don’t have yet. And if you can connect with their way of learning, they will absorb that knowledge like a sponge (“You’re here for one more day, so I’m going to ask you everything I want to know!”). But flexibility is key. So if a student asks, “Can you also make a double weave?” your answer shouldn’t be, “It’s possible, but that’s not what we’re doing now.” It should be, “Sure, look at what happens when you place the tablets on the corners instead of the sides.” And then they place the cards on the point and respond with: “Wow, that is sick!” And something that is sure that if they call something “sick” it is not outdated at all, on contrary.
Thank you, Severine, for the invitation (and for two of these pictures). Thank you, TXT students, for the amazing experience. And thank you, Maren, for decorating my loom—a beautiful memory of two wonderful days.
