I think of myself primarily as a craftsman. I have a real passion for working with my hands; I love the feeling of reaching mastery of the material and I enjoy the challenge of somehow letting the material become something that is new both to itself and to me.

I have woven tapestries for about twenty years and made dryer lint paper for about five or six. At the University of Lund I wanted to become an art historian and later here in Chapel Hill I thought of myself as working in Public Health in some capacity. So I can't say that all my life I knew this is what I wanted to do - I fe...

I think of myself primarily as a craftsman. I have a real passion for working with my hands; I love the feeling of reaching mastery of the material and I enjoy the challenge of somehow letting the material become something that is new both to itself and to me.

I have woven tapestries for about twenty years and made dryer lint paper for about five or six. At the University of Lund I wanted to become an art historian and later here in Chapel Hill I thought of myself as working in Public Health in some capacity. So I can't say that all my life I knew this is what I wanted to do - I fell into it more or less by accident.

I always approach a tapestry - or a collage - as a problem to be solved. There are always constraints to begin with in terms of the material, both for the tapestry and for the paper of for the box, and these are usually decisive in determining the direction you move with the design. You might want visual excitement or you might want harmony or you might want tension - within the constraints you set up for yourself you have complete freedom.

Anita Wolfenden
Chapel Hill, NC
919.942.4609
www.mindspring.com/~awolfenden
Email: awolfenden@mindspring.com