Lenore Tawney redefined how we see textiles, lifting them beyond craft into the realm of fine art. Watching archival footage of her in her Coenties Slip studio in New York City, circa 1960, long before I was born, feels like being granted a window into history.
Technology allows me to sit here decades later and witness her world: the light streaming in by her favorite chair, a feisty cat chasing stray strings, drawers of yarn meticulously sorted by color. These small, intimate details make my heart sing.
The clip also stirs memories of my own time in Jersey City, working in my 150 Bay Street studio overlooking the Hudson River. Like Tawney, I found inspiration in both the view and the rhythm of everyday studio life. Her practice reminds me how the simplest gestures, thread, light, and place, can transform into something transcendent.