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Community weaving project brings out creativity and fun for everyone

Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

A Luverne community weaving project engages the artist in all of us.
Luverne residents Lowell and Shirley Harrison have a simple “loom” at the trailhead building on the corner of Blue Mound Avenue and East Main Street, and they provide yarn for the community weaving activity.
Discarded T-shirts from Redeemed Remnants are cut into long, thin colorful strips, and anyone passing by the trailhead can pick one or more of the strips and weave between the baling twine stretched to form the loom.
Two wooden slats on top and bottom of the loom keep the twine and weaving in place, and the Harrisons have started a few weaves for people to follow and complete as many rows as they want.
“I thought this was a great idea,” Shirley said. “I just like the idea of people all contributing and weaving their lives into the piece.”
Community members are encouraged to add organic elements to the weave. For example, the Harrisons contributed dried moss and pine cones.
On a recent walk, Shirley said she found a strip of bark that she wove into the project, and she encourages “whatever you find” to be included in the community weave.
The Luverne community weaving project is a result of the Harrisons volunteering at the Stephen Foster Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida, where Shirley played her dulcimer and another couple set up a community weave project.
The Harrisons learned from the couple who encouraged visitors to add organic materials they found in the park to the weave.
“It was fun seeing what people think of doing,” Shirley said.
According to the culture center’s website, the ancient art of hand-weaving maintains relevance and power as a form of storytelling.
The story told by the Luverne project will be displayed in a public location to be determined at a later date.
Depending on when the project is finished, the Harrisons may set up another loom at the trailhead for the community to finish.

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