Originally from Manhattan Beach, California, Lisa Hardaway has had an extremely diverse career as a musician, musicologist, photographer, ethnomusicologist, spinner/dyer/weaver and teacher. She has a BMus and MMus in flute performance (1981), and a MMus in historical musicology (1989) from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
Lisa’s interest in fiber arts began as a child. She learned embroidery, sewing, and crochet. Coupled with an interest in drawing and painting, she designed functional pieces that she wore and household decorative textiles. (She still makes most of her clothing). About 12 years ago, she taught herself how to spin yarn, and a few years later, she acquired a loom and began the process of learning how to weave.
Although she has woven very fine linen, cotton and wool, the spinning, weaving and dyeing of wool for rug making has become Lisa’s specialty. Inspired by the design and rugs of the Native Americans, Peter Collingsworth of England, and of the Swedish, she learned basic Navajo weaving techniques from Jennie Slick of Arizona, and learned the rug making techniques of Peter Collingwood from his son, Jason. She also studied traditional Rio Grande rug weaving and wool dyeing using natural dyestuffs at Tierra Wools, Los Ojos, New Mexico. She worked with Kate Smith and Norman Kennedy to learn repp rug weaving, Shaker weaving, and the use of synthetic dyes at the Marshfield School in Vermont. She also studied Swedish design on her own.
In a similar way that she combined her varied skills as a musician, photographer, and historian in the field of ethnomusicology, Lisa now combines traditional American weaving, contemporary English rug weaving techniques, and Swedish design in her work as a rug weaver. During her residency, she plans to further personalize her work by using images from her photographic archive and natural objects of significance. She will be with HCCC through May, 2017. To learn more about her work, stop by her studio on your next visit to HCCC.
