For Kate Kilmurray, handweaving is a form of embodied meditation. Weaving is part of her daily practice. Kate teaches workshops and leads an online community, Weaving Way Community.
Kate, tell us about yourself. What led you to start practicing weaving?
I am a fiber artist who has been practicing and teaching yoga and meditation for more than thirty years. My experience of weaving is one of deep presence, awareness, and ritual. After retiring from my yoga studio several years ago, I now run a successful textile business in Ojai, California, forging new terrain within the art of handweaving.
For me, handweaving is a form of embodied meditation. Making beautiful handwoven textiles helps me to tap into my inner stillness and creativity, and I teach others to do the same via my workshops; to slow down, engage the rhythms of the body, and access a state of wholeness and flow.
Several years ago I unearthed a forgotten item from my childhood; a simple 7 x 7 inch metal handloom. When I rediscovered weaving, I remembered something that we, as a culture, find easy to forget; that we can always access inner stillness and peace through simple, embodied practices.
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In an effort to provide an antidote to our over-digitized world and to champion tradition within a contemporary palette, I am working to transform a practice previously thought of as a children’s activity. My handweaving work is creating an important medium that has depth and presence for the 21st Century; pioneering new techniques, application of sustainable materials and development of pattern form to reinvent handloom-woven work for the modern age. I’m honored that my work has been on the cover of Real Simple magazine and featured in Elle France, Little Looms, Selvedge, LA Times and 805Living.
How do you find weaving helps you tap into inner stillness, peace, and creativity?
When I focus my attention on the process of weaving I am able to eliminate other distractions. Slowing down and following the natural rhythm of my breath helps my whole body relax. When my hands are involved with the loops and the loom there is a further deepening of my attention to color, texture and pattern that nourish my creativity.
How do you incorporate weaving meditation into your daily routine?
Weaving is always part of my daily routine. After a morning of yoga or Pilates or hiking, then I weave. The wonderful thing about handweaving is that you can take it with you anywhere. The loom is small, portable and light, making it ideal for weaving out in nature, in small moments between jobs at home or while travelling.
Weaving is also a significant part of how and why I connect with people day-to-day. During the pandemic, I created the Weaving Way Community, a free-to-join group which meets once a month via Zoom to allow handweaving practitioners from all over the world to come together, share stories and expand their knowledge. A wonderful success, the Community now has hundreds of members and it is truly uplifting to see the projects, collaborations and innovations which are made through people connecting via our monthly talks program.
What is your mission with your workshops?
My mission is to help others to slow down, to find peace, to connect with themselves and to explore their creative weaving voice. My workshops also allow me to build a wider community of like minded women who support and nurture each other in all aspects of their lives. I also welcome guest teachers to join me during the year and offer workshop recordings online to make them as accessible as possible.
Where do you source the weaving material?
Harrisville Designs is my main source for cotton loops and then I seek out natural plant dyers to create specialty loops for my weavings. I am always on the lookout for new and unusual sources to add variety to my palette. I have a special section on my website of curated loops to make these available for my community and I also teach how to make loops from your loved socks to help give these fibers a second life and save them from landfill.
You recently published your new book ‘The Weaving Way – a journey of a handweaving community’ Could you share with us what we can find in your book and your inspiration on writing it?
The book is a celebration of the importance of handweaving in our society. Where women’s stories in craft are often marginalized and undervalued, this book champions and centers them; showcasing the weavers’ workspaces, weaving methods, where they seek inspiration, what materials they use, how they weave and most importantly, why they weave. It contains over 70 color pictures, highlighting the variety and depth of our fiber art, as well as personal essays helping the reader to understand how handweaving can help us navigate life-altering moments, including grief, retirement, education and health issues, as well as punctuating and reflecting our everyday.
I was inspired to curate this book by seeing the incredible work being shared and created by members of my Weaving Way Community. I wanted to uplift and champion our journeys in this craft and help to put handweaving on the map as a serious art form. The feedback I’ve received from readers has been truly incredible and the first print run of the book sold out in under a week. It is humbling to know that I am not alone and that by reading the book, other fiber enthusiasts are helping to make sure these stories are told.
Collaborating with other weavers for your recent book sounds like a unique experience. Can you tell us about the collaborative process and how working with others influenced your creative approach?
It has been amazing to see how each contributor to the book produced such varied words and images to represent their stories, even though all of them were sent the same brief and set of questions to help move them to begin writing and creating.
I knew I wanted to hear about the weaver’s inspiration, the environment in which they weave and crucially why they weave, but I think the experience really helped the contributors to delve into how weaving can be a physical manifestation of deeper emotions and life-altering experiences.
The book features stories of grief, poetry, even how weaving helped one contributor to stay calm in a storm at sea. Even though this was a book about a visual art form. The words were important, as important as the imagery and I worked closely with a designer to ensure that the page layouts helped to give attention and solemnity to both.
Where can people buy your book, find your online classes and workshops?
My website is always open at www.katekilmurray.com and as well as my book and workshops, I also sell a wide range of weaving accessories, curated loops and books and patterns. My handweavings are available for purchase and you can become a part of the Weaving Way Community by signing up to my newsletter via my website homepage. Please do follow me on instagram @kate.kilmurray for my latest news and updates.
Interview posted August 2024
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