Now that there is attention given to artists’ plights in WNC, I need to talk about climate change. I’ve talked about ending Nice Threads several times in past posts, and while I’ve tried to go back and update those posts, it’s easier just to briefly explain again why. And why I changed my mind.
In 2016 I lost my studio* and had to stop making the felted clothing that had been the focus of my artwork for 20 years. Climate change and nearby real estate development combined to force runoff water into my hillside basement and created a mold problem that I could not mitigate on an artist’s income. I had bought this house specifically for this basement space, because it was so perfect for large-scale felting and dyeing. In the end, I had to borrow a large amount from savings to hire a mitigation company to gut it, and I had to sell the house this year to pay my depleted savings back. My Social security is not enough to live on, so if I want to eat when I’m 80…
Anyway, I had started making felted bags, a smaller product, when I only had my kitchen to do felting but the work on the house forced me to move temporarily to Hickory. Then the pandemic came and the craft market stayed in limbo til around 2022. You can’t sell festive clothing if no one is going out! So, in the long hiatus, I made stuff that could be done in rented rooms, simple items everyone needs. I started spinning again, and knit and crochet projects came up when I wanted to see what my yarn felt like as a finished item. Bathroom dyeing. Outdoor carding. Hand work done outdoor on the deck or huddled in the cozy couch. It’s been healing to continue to make things.
I have a massive bin of hand-dyed fleece ready to be carded, spun and done up by hand. I love to spin and ply with a spindle, so there is always a texture to my yarns, giving them a cottagecore look. My finished items have that same look. I don’t do too much fancy stitching, because I like to show off the yarn. There will likely be a mistake somewhere in my handwork. It follows in the Indigenous tradition of leaving a flaw in to keep the maker humble. Life is humbling these days.
The next several years are in question. I have started a willow farm on the side, trying to diversify and stay ahead of the game. That will take a few years to get going. But I am still making and selling handmade fiber goods. That bin of fleece isn’t going to spin itself!
Thanks for supporting WNC artists!
*And, regarding Climate Change and the loss of my studio.
Specifically, the influx of wooly adelgid in the grove of some 30 hemlock trees uphill from me was caused by increased heat and rain in the area. Once those trees were removed, nothing stopped the runoff in my direction. In fact, the flooding in the Black Mountain area has been bad and getting progressively worse since about 2012, so 12 years before Helene made people notice. Even earlier, in 2005 the day after Katrina ran through WNC, I was booked for an outdoor craft show in Lake Lure, the next valley or so down Highway 9 from Black Mountain. Lake Lure is right next to the now-famous Chimney Rock. (both were wiped out in Helene). I had been registered to camp at an RV park just down the road in that earlier Chimney Rock, but when I arrived that morning, the park had been flooded overnight and everything lost, so I had to stay 45 minutes away in a park in Hendersonville. So flooding has happened in the mountains before, and rivers overflowing from mountain runoff during extreme rain and wind events are the culprit. More rain, more flooding. More climate change, more rain. Fewer areas to shelter from hurricanes on the east coast, drought and blizzards in Middle America, wildfires and water shortages on the west coast. Did I leave anywhere out?
