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EarthLooms Span the Globe (see slide show)

Lubec, Maine, August 17, 2007 -- Maine Arts Commission Grantee Shanna Wheelock culminated her grant project, working with Susan Barrett Merrill of Weaving a Life, with an EarthLoom installation on her land in the easternmost town in the US, Lubec, Maine, just two weeks after the first EarthLoom project took place on the other side of the globe in Australia.

Mackay Festival, Australia

Australia: The Australian project was spearheaded by Pamela Hutley at the Mackay Festival of Arts in Mackay, Queensland, Australia.

Lubec, Maine EarthLoom project

Maine: Wheelock's grant from the Maine Arts Commission was given specifically for Wheelock, an art teacher in Lubec schools, to work with Merrill in creating all seven Weaving a Life Keyforms (the archetypal forms associated with stages of personal growth in the Weaving a Life approach), learning basic tapestry weaving techniques, and building an EarthLoom™ as the final project.

A group of family and friends gathered on a perfect August day for a day of building, lifting, stringing the loom with warp, preparing materials, and weaving. Framed by arching evergreen branches, the weaving is packed with reeds, goldenrod, beads, yarns, and plant materials.

At the gathering, a small ceremony marked Shanna's completion of her study with Susan Barrett Merrill with a certificate qualifying her as the first Weaving Circle Certified Instructor.