History:
This detailed woven hanging is a sampler of overshot pattern weaving, characteristic of the Southern Appalachians. Made by Lyndall Toothman, better known as Granny Toothman, it serves not only as representative of her beautiful work, but also illustrates how weaving traditions from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were carried into the modern era. Around the Great Depression, traditional mountain crafts like weaving experienced a resurgence in Appalachia, but took advantage of modern fibers. This piece is a blend of both wool and acrylic, or man-made yarn, and is colored with chemical dyes rather than the natural dyes of earlier decades. Like Marinda Brown’s Overshot Woven Coverlet, this textile seamlessly blends old traditions with the new.
Description:
A woven hanging made from wool and acrylic threads. The background of weaving is gray with wide stripes of brightly colored designs. The woven designs vary from stripes, blocks, and circular patterns. Each strip is a different color. The colors include red, lime green, pink, periwinkle, burgundy, cream, black, grey-blue, gold, teal, maroon, pale green, orange, lilac, dark green, pink, blue, and purple. The end of hanging is fringed with 2.5″ gray threads. The top of hanging is folded to form sleeve for wooden dowel.
