Tuition in Tapestry Weaving, Drawing and Design, with Marilyn Rea-Menzies
Marilyn is an experienced tutor of tapestry weaving, drawing and design, with an established reputation as a master weaver within New Zealand and overseas. She is a relaxed and friendly tutor and the one-on-one tuition, ensures that your studio experience will be enjoyable and productive. Marilyn has had many students, from New Zealand, Australia and even America, come to her for the experience of learning to weave tapestry.
Marilyn also offers two day workshops and one-on-one tuition for local people in her studio. You may book in for 4-6 days tuition in drawing and painting also.
If you are new to tapestry or other art disciplines the following may be an experience for you that you will never forget.
Spend from 3-6 days at the Marilyn Rea-Menzies Art Studio/Gallery in Westport on the amazing West Coast of New Zealand. You will enjoy a unique art experience – a total immersion in tapestry, drawing, or design.
For 6 hours of tuition including morning and afternoon tea, the cost is $120 per day per student. The student will be required to bring their own lunch. All weaving materials included, plus the use of a frame and bobbins, but students may purchase a tapestry frame and bobbins if they wish to take them home.
A Studio Experience
Three to six days tuition in tapestry will enable you to develop the skills to create designs and weave your own tapestries.
You will learn about
- warp yarns
- weft yarns
- how to design a small tapestry and make a cartoon
- how to put the warp on to a tapestry frame or loom
- and also learn some of the tapestry techniques necessary to weave a good tapestry
You may go out to take photographs or do some sketching for ideas for your tapestry, depending on the weather and time available. You will have access to Marilyn’s quite considerable library and have lots of discussion on ideas, on how other artists work and will be inspired by all you do in this studio experience.
What you will learn during this Studio Experience?
Motel accommodation is available close by and there is plenty of other accommodation, such as backpackers and B&B’s, available in Westport.
Westport is a lovely small town on the banks of the Buller River. It is very close to nature, with the river flowing out to sea just a couple of kilometres away from the centre of town. Native New Zealand bush is nearby in the Domain and beautiful beaches only a 5 or 10 minute drive by car from Marilyn’s studio.
Where to stay
Click here to contact Marilyn about booking a Studio Experience
“I stayed with Marilyn in early February this year, at her place in Westport and did a 5 day crash course in Tapestry Weaving. I learned so much from Marilyn and completed a sampler, then we put a warp onto a small portable loom which I took home with me to Rotorua, along with some printed Tapestry weaving notes. I worked on my first tapestry during Covid and completed it in June. Marilyn was a great teacher, and when I had a query I was able to message her, and she could help me out which was really good. Not only is Marilyn a very skilled and creative weaver, but she also spoiled me with beautiful home cooked meals and was a wonderful host! I loved our walks and tiki touring around Westport, which is beautiful and an interesting place to visit.
I thoroughly enjoyed staying with Marilyn and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a short Tapestry course like this to anyone out of town, who’s keen to learn tapestry weaving.”
Testimonial from Jan Miller
You will be taken by master weaver and practicing artist Marilyn Rea-Menzies for short strolls into the local bush, along the river and beaches, to find inspiration for a series of designs that can be woven as tapestry. Images from nature have dominated themes in tapestry and other textile mediums for hundreds of years, and you will be acknowledging this continuum in the workshop.
This three-day workshop covers a range of design and tapestry techniques, commencing with your own collection of either sketches or photographs as a starting point. Marilyn will guide you to translate your images into compositions of one, or a small series of works using the design and technical and aspects required for weaving tapestry.
Tapestry Weaving inspired by the fascinating New Zealand bush and beaches of the West Coast, Buller District.
NZ Textile Experiences Workshop
24 May 2024, 10am - 26 May 2024, 4pm
This workshop is open to beginners and for those with prior tapestry weaving experience, who under Marilyn's tutorage will take your artistic abilities to the next level. Everyone will work at their own pace.