Lessons on The Design Process
The Burial Blankets I have woven so far are as individual as the people who commissioned them, and so was the collaborative process of designing them together. I have learned that color is often the best place to start. This is where we tend have the strongest sense of what we want, and that frees us up to make rest of our decisions from a place of excitement and personal expression.

This process is also a chance for many people to research and honor their personal heritage and cultural relationship to cloth and textiles. Every region in the world has a weaving tradition, and the craft dates back since time immemorial. For some, bringing in our ancestors is a wonderful way to soften the topic of our own mortality.

Perhaps the most unique thing I’ve observed is the pace of the design process: Some people were eager to knock out their choices in a matter of weeks and make a deposit; others are still engaged in a slow contemplation after one or two conversations with me. As an artist, I am deeply familiar with a slow incubation of ideas and a sudden rush of production, so it has been really wonderful to facilitate both of those experiences for others.

If you have been thinking about a Burial Blanket of your own, please rest assured that the process has already begun! It starts in your imagination and will follow whatever timeline is right for each person. You can approach me anytime with questions, ideas, or next steps. As long as I have a loom, I will weave you a shroud!

Events & FAQs

In April, I hosted a virtual and in-person Open House where I gave tours of how a floor loom works and people who came to my house got to try their hand at weaving. One friend exclaimed, “It’s just math!” and another person compared the loom to a pipe organ, except instead of producing music it produces cloth.

In the online Q&A, someone asked if I would consider weaving a shroud out of angora collected and spun from their pet rabbit’s fur — never thought about it before, but yes I would! Generally, people express a kind of welcome surprise at the range of colors I will weave with. It seems that most of us expect a burial shroud to be plain, white, and gauzy, and they certainly can be — but so far everyone has wanted rich, deep, and even very dark jewel tones.

Another common question is whether I’ve woven my own burial shroud? The answer is yes… and yes! This spring I planted my first crop of flax to harvest and process into linen fiber, with the goal of producing enough of my own thread to weave my own from “seed to shroud.” In the meantime, I do have a cloth that would serve which I wove in 2018 for a memorial piece that will be part of a group exhibition in 2023 called “The Aesthetics of Loss.” (Details TBA)

Another natural side project that emerged was so many baby blankets! This off-shoot started as gifts for friends and quickly took off, just in time to raise a total of $300 for the National Network of Abortion Funds, in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. One was also used to bury my friends’ beloved dog — the first time one of my weavings went into the ground.

This summer I was invited to speak about art, ritual, and spirituality as part of Rec Center’s “Community Care” conversations and Hampshire College featured me in their alumni news. I was also interviewed for the ReFrangible podcast from UW-Madison’s Center for Design and Material Culture, for their episode “Uncomfortable Objects: Art and Death” (my part begins at 15:00). And in June I posted up with my very first vendor table at the Hyde Park Art Center’s Art of Pride celebration!

I also had the honor of giving an artist talk at the North Shore Unitarian Church as part of their series on death and dying. In my graduate school research on weaving, I was deeply inspired by Swedish weaver Birgitta Norström’s work with church congregations in Gothenburg making burial palls. This was an especially moving opportunity for me, and I hope to make more connections with religious communities in the future.

Studio News
In very exciting news: I upgraded my studio to house my Forever Loom — a 47” Glimåkra countermarche, purchased with a SPARK Grant from the Chicago Artists Coalition. It belonged to an elderly weaver who traded it for bobbin lace lessons from a young woman back in the 70’s. That woman is now retired (but still weaving bobbin lace!) and when I bought it from her she loaded up the truck with piles of sample cloth, weaving magazines, and other accessories. This loom is a major investment not just in the quality and ease of my work, but also in my body, since this type of loom is significantly more ergonomic than other floor loom designs.

I will close this update with my sincerest thanks to Hope Wang of LMRM, where the idea for Burial Blankets first really came into the world back in the terrible isolation of Winter 2020. If you are a weaver in the Chicago area who needs access to a loom, please get in touch with her!