Entertaining and engaging, Jason's talk was also at times quite challenging. Of particular interest to me as someone who doesn't design in the "accepted" (and seemingly required) way, was the fact that he, too, simply sits with a blank piece of paper and designs from his head. For this reason his designs are simply numbered rather than being given inspiration-based names. Given that it can take me as long to name a new colourway as it can to design the thing I found this most liberating!
Jason described some of the innovations that he and his father had developed to enhance and speed up the weaving process. I am not a weaver - nonetheless, looking at Jason's stunning designs I can appreciate the benefits of the shaft-switching technique, even if I don't understand how to do it! Jason also explained loom adaptations to enable very long warps to be used without disrupting the tension of the weaving (a bit easier to grasp this one!).
In addition to an inspirational slideshow Jason was very generous in bringing samples and allowing them to be photographed. Here are some photos I took - they don't do the rugs justice in any way and I would heartily recommend a look at his gallery on the website.
What I like about his work is the limited use of colour (usually two colours per design) and how he exploits the geometry of the woven structure to create an almost Escher-like interplay of lines and shapes. It was interesting to see how he combines a basic series of geometric shapes to create larger rugs and new designs. All Jason's rugs are woven on a standard width warp. Smaller rugs use fewer warps, leaving the excess unused alongside the main weaving. Large rugs are woven in pieces and painstakingly hand-stitched together.
Choice of colour, too, is interesting as it can really change the design. Take a look at designs #99 and #99A and #88 and #88A to see these two design in alternative colourways - they look strikingly different. The geometric shapes create an illusion of movement and 3-dimensionality (I think I made that up but you know what I mean). Check out the rug on the home page and designs #4 to #9.
I hope that some time I shall be able to take a class with Jason as I gather from my fellow guild members that he is as talented a teacher as he is a speaker.
