106 Martin Street
Dahlonega, GA 30533

Bittersweet Tapestry Studio

Media: Fiber

I use the slow medium of tapestry weaving because I love the surface of flat woven tapestry, the intensity of color as interpreted in yarn, and the significance of each movement of the weaver's hands to the finished work. My tapestries are based upon ideas and images that are meaningful to me; the glorious natural world of north Georgia and western North Carolina provides many of those.

Tommye McClure Scanlin has been weaving for over thirty years, exploring many different techniques of creating images through the woven structure. In 1988 she began her journey in tapestry weaving and her tapestries have been exhibited nationally and internationally since 1990. In 2011 her work was exhibited at Quinlan Art Center, Gainesville, Georgia and in "New Traditions in Textiles," an invitational exhibit at the Bob Owens Gallery, North Georgia College & State University.

In 2010 her work was selected for the exhibits "Eye Dazzlers" in conjunction with Convergence, Albuquerque, NM and in "American Craft Today" at the Bascom in Highlands, NC where her tapestry was awarded First Place. In 2009 her work was exhibited in Sterling, Scotland in "Weaving Within" with members of the British Tapestry Group; with other members of Southeast Fiber Educators Association in "Conversations", Gray Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC and St. Andrews-Sewanee, Sewanee, TN; and with members of Tapestry Weavers South in "Woven Visions," Anderson Arts Center, Anderson, SC.

In 2009 Scanlin was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for "...dedication to craft education" by the Georgia Art Education Association.  She was also granted a Life Membership in Southern Highland Craft Guild in 2009.  

Her work is found at Allanstand in the FAC, Asheville and at Piedmont Craftsmen Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC.  She welcomes commissions of tapestry works. In addition to her studio work, Scanlin teaches weaving in several venues, and in 2012 those included John C. Campbell Folk School, for Seven Hills Handweaving Guild, Tallahassee, FL,  and Arrowmont School of Crafts (upcoming in June).  She will return to John C. Campbell Folk School in February, 2013.  Also in 2013 she will be teaching at the Florida Tropical Weavers Conference (March) and at Penland (July-August).  She also offers private lessons at her studio in Dahlonega, GA.  

In addition to being an active teacher of weaving she is also an active learner who is often is a participant in workshops and classes.  She is a Fellow of the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and has had artist residencies there as well as at the Lillian E. Smith Center.

For more information about Tommye Scanlin's tapestry work, please visit her blog called Works in Progress or her website at this link.