Art: Happiness, Light & Contentment • by Sue Bleiweiss

I was one of those kids who just wasn’t interested in playing with dolls. I was always more interested in doing arts and crafts and can remember sitting for hours playing with paper and glue and scraps of yarn left over from my mother’s crochet projects.

I remember watching my aunt sew and being fascinated with the process of cutting up fabric and sewing it back together again. The first time I actually got to sit at a machine and sew was in a sixth grade home economics class. I was so excited and I remember my very first project was a pair of blue shorts with a drawstring waist. The teacher I had was incredibly patient and encouraging and I was so proud of those shorts!

A Different Direction
Like most people I spent years climbing the corporate ladder. I sewed off and on making mostly home economics items and some garments, and then 10 years or so ago on a whim I signed up for a weaving class because I was curious about actually making my own cloth to sew with. From the first moment I held the shuttle in my hand I was hooked. I didn’t realize it at the time but from that moment forward my life started heading in a different direction and two years later I would quit my “real life” job and I would become a full-time artist.

Later this year we’ll be adding a 600-square-foot studio addition onto our house that will become my new studio space, but in the meantime my studio is one of the spare rooms. Having a dedicated space right in the house means I don’t have to drive anywhere and I can work whenever the muse strikes. I work pretty intuitively and tend to let the fabric I’m working with inspire the process. I typically spend early morning through lunch in the studio because those are the times I find that I’m most creative.

An Urge to Weave
I have been fortunate in that my life has been without any real hardship or struggles. However, there was one incident several years ago when I lost a good friend to ovarian cancer. It was a long struggle and the morning that I got the call that she had passed I had an incredible urge to sit at the loom and weave. That day I warped the loom with a black perle cotton and wove a scarf in her memory. I wove the scarf, cut it off the loom, and finished the edges. I had chosen to weave it in black because I was feeling such an absence of light but when I stood back and looked at it on the work table I realized that the memory of my friend’s light would continue to shine in my heart always so I added some bright Swarovski crystals to the surface of the scarf to represent that light. The whole process took me all day and it was a very intense but therapeutic process.

Art Has Changed my Life
In general, I’m a very happy person, so I’d say I find myself creating art for myself every day! I’m not sure if I’ve been saved by art but it definitely has changed my life. It has presented me with some really wonderful opportunities and experiences that I would not have had otherwise. Since I’ve become a full-time artist I’ve met and made so many good friends whose presence definitely enriches my life on a daily basis and I’m grateful for every one of them. Art has not only taught me patience but it’s also given me the confidence to create for myself without worrying about what anybody else thinks of it. It fills my soul with happiness, light, and contentment and makes me grateful for each moment that I have.

To learn more about Sue Bleiweiss, visit her Web site at suebleiweiss.com.

Comments

[Judi]

This is so cool. Sun, great to see your face on this page as guest curator! :D

[Ellen]

I am sorry your lost a dear friend; Weaving your emotions into
art is needed to take time out to heal, to grieve, to express our and honor our souls! Thanks for sharing your story~!