Wall Hanging

The Musqueam, and other Coast Salish peoples, come from a long tradition of weaving. Although contemporary weavers weave for a variety of reasons, several of the weavers at Musqueam have expressed that their weaving enables them to connect with their ancestors and at the same time leave a cultural legacy for future generations. Many weave primarily for personal use and for gifts to family and friends, while others weave as a profession and sell their work to art dealers and museums. In recent years, Musqueam weavers have also received commissions from large corporations, such as Paramount Studios and the Vancouver Airport.

This weaving by Joan Peters and another weaving by Debbie Campbell (1776/1) were woven on the same loom, at the same time, using the same warps. Joan worked on one side of the loom, while Debbie worked on the opposite side. This is Joan's first large weaving, and it features traditional design motifs.

contemporary art; weaving

The wool used in this weaving was roved, spun and dyed by the weaver. It was woven using double strand twining on a two bar loom (continuous warping). There was about one month of preparatory time, during which the wool was spun, dyes were chosen and the wool dyed, and the design conceptualized. The designs, however, were not mapped out in advance and improvisations were made during the weaving process.

Woven wool hanging with striped designs and fringe. The rectangular hanging has stripes of various widths in brown, blue and yellow. In the centre stripe are diamond motifs in black, blue and brown. There are stripes with a wave motif in the centre and along the upper and lower edges. On the sides are bands with black diamond motifs on yellow, gray and blue ground. The upper edge has a white fringe, the lower edge has white knotted loops.