Sarah Harste ’10 learned to weave about five years ago during her first winter in Ohio.
“I had no idea that winter lasted past February,” says Harste, a Georgia native. “I was growing pretty desperate to find activities I could do from the comfort of my heated room.”
That desperation turned into a creative career as a fiber artist, something Harste says no one in her life — including her — saw coming.
“I think anyone who pursues a liberal arts education is excited by the idea of learning about and experimenting with subjects outside their comfort zone,” says Harste. “That conditioning of wading in the unfamiliar — and figuring out how to get familiar with it — prepared me for this very unexpected transition.”
Now Sarah Harste Weavings shares space with a floral subscription business in a burgeoning neighborhood in Columbus. Her studio is bright and overflows with colorful yarns.
“I love playing with color combinations. So many people are afraid of including bold colors in their home or wearing bold colors, but I think a love of color is innate in all of us,” Harste says. She encourages the people who come to her workshops to take risks and enjoy the experience. “So many people have a fear around their creativity or are overly critical of themselves. It’s a confidence boost to make something from start to finish in an afternoon. Especially in this age where so much of our day-to-day lives require us to be on computers and phones, a lot of my students express that they are starved for time spent making something with their hands.”
Harste appreciates the pace and patience that weaving and macramé require. “It’s as much about the process as it is about the finished product,” she says, which is one of the reasons she joined the 100 Day Project on social media and committed herself to making a woven wall hanging every day for 100 days.
“You know you’re going to get backed into a corner creatively at least a few times. Having to make another piece day after day means that you get bored really easily with the styles you’re comfortable using, and you have to branch out and try new techniques just to keep your sanity,” Harste says. “The great thing was that I started to look forward to getting bored during the challenge, because whenever I was bored, I ended up trying something so outside my comfort zone that it was thrilling to see how the piece unfolded.”
After Harste’s #100daysofmacraweaves, she exhibited all 100 pieces chronologically. “It was like walking into an explosion of color and texture,” she says. “The whole experience felt like my wedding day: a blur of emotions, heartfelt moments of connection and the thrilling and stress-inducing realization that all these people are here to celebrate you and your experience.”
Find Harste’s weavings online at shesgotthefever.com.
By Jo Ann Brasington ’89