James and the weaving studio

The Triform Weaving Studio

The Triform Weavery has been an inspiring therapeutic workshop for many students for over ten years. The weaving studio includes 12 large floor looms, all except one have been generously donated! Triform works with their own Icelandic wool, felting, as well as weaving rugs made from the roving. Students are learning to sew, weave, knit, crochet, wet felt, needle felt, dye fabric and wool, read basic weaving patterns and identify loom parts, according to each individual's ability.

One of the hallmarks of Camphill is to view a person with disabilities as a person uniquely and differently abled, and that these capacities can be interpreted creatively to give the student a way for his or her challenge to become a strength. James, a former Triform student is a great example of this.

James:

James was a former student in Triform for three years and has recognizable artistic talents, especially in beautiful hand writing, drawing and color-work . He has a need to be in contact with objects- particularly enjoying stripping bark from branches, with a highly developed sense of order. Because of these talents and strengths, James spent many hours working in Triform’s beautiful weaving studio. Virginia Dow, the weaving studio’s artistic and therapeutic leader, saw James’s talents as an opportunity to create a beautiful shadow box. By taking the ordinary sticks that James was already stripping down in his spare time, James could then wrap them with colorful wool. The wound, stripped sticks could the be laid together in a pattern and placed in a framed box on a colored background. The product was truly incredible. The ordinary had become elevated and transformed. James and his weavery leader were able to take the work of his autistic tendencies and couple it with a vision that made it possible for a beautiful product to emerge.