dahiistlł'ó [loom] By Artist Eric-Paul Riege

dahiistlł’ó [loom] is a work about the beliefs and rituals I have with the loom. Looms cradle histories. . . process. . . meditation. . . survival. . . creation. To be  mentally and physically present at a loom is to exist within beauty. The loom itself acts as a border between the physical and spiritual realms. The weaver creates a dance between warp and weft, mind and movement. This is a sacred place for the weaving to exist. A relationship with the loom is one of mutual respect. The performance of weaving is a dance: the comb is the drum beat, the rhythm; the batten keeps the movement; the shed are footsteps; the weft is the past.

By setting up the loom in dahiistlł’ó [loom] there is now a space for stories to be told. The warp invites anyone to visualize their own story and history to exist before them. For each viewer, this is now a space for only them. Like a harp waiting to be played, the strings say, “Come over, feel me, play me, share with me your love and your beauty and your pain, and let me cradle your story.”