Loominations

From 1975-1985, my weaving was created under “Gallagher Originals.” Then, in 1985 after a marriage break-up, I actually sold or gave away my looms (I had at least 3!), my yarns, weaving books and other paraphernalia to pursue higher education. After getting a BA (Honours Sociology) and M.Ed (Adult Education), I found employment with an IT company first (1999), then with a non-profit economic development organization (2002) where I met employers and people looking for work. And through this job, I met a weaver who was looking for a job, but was also selling a loom! I hadn’t thought about getting back into weaving, but when opportunity knocks, sometimes it’s just meant to be! I had married Eric LeBlanc in 1996, and we went to look at the loom. Driving back home after seeing the loom, I wondered to myself “how am I going to tell Eric that I want to buy the loom” when he said to me “you’re going to buy that loom, aren’t you?” I was amazed at how intuitive he was (and is)! So while I was at work the next day, he returned to pick up the loom and we set it up in my “loom room” (or as I refer to now, “Studio 1”).

In 2003, I decided that I needed a new weaving identity/brand. One night, I woke up with my new name:  “Loominations,” and have been weaving under this pseudonym since then.

Since I bought that first loom, I have acquired more looms and sold a few of them until I was happy with my collection. Today, I have a 45” 8-harness Leclerc loom, a  60” Leclerc Gobelin tapestry loom, a Mirrix tapestry loom, a Schacht Arras tapestry loom, the Fibre Arts Network (FAN) loom (60” 4-harness Leclerc loom) is housed in my gallery as well.

What do I create under Loominations? I’ve always love to create unstructured wearables such as jackets, tunics, ponchos, vests, shawls, scarves and much more. I also weave blankets and occasionally I weave coverlets.

I have always been intrigued with computerized weaving and learned Jacquard weaving at the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles (MCCT) from Louise Lemieux Bérubé. For over 10 years, I spent at least one week of my vacation in Montreal so that I could design Jacquard pieces and leave them to be woven by the technician. However, after Louise retired, I was no longer able to go to MCCT, and I realized that purchasing a small Jacquard loom was too costly. So today, I focus on weaving on my 8-harness loom and on tapestry weaving.