Community Weaving Project

This project invites each participant to write a message on a piece of fabric — something that is difficult to talk about out loud. As each writer weaves their message into the loom, it becomes hidden within the folds of fabric. The words are no longer visible, but the feeling of release and containment remains. Their message lays next to someone else's fabric, held safe, secure, and private.

The purpose of this modality has evolved and expanded since Stephanie first incorporated the floor loom in her art therapy office in 2010. The early intention of the loom was for positive self-statements. Stephanie invited her clients to write things they liked about themselves onto strips of fabric, which were then woven into the loom. Ultimately, as different people encountered the loom, it became clear that documenting affirmations was not what everyone needed. Stephanie realized that it was the "containment" that made the experience so powerful, not the content. The loom became a community diary.

Children and adults began documenting precisely what they needed to write — not just what they needed to say, but what they needed to be "held" for them. The loom became a holding container for an infinite range of messages: loving or celebratory, secret or painful, concrete or existential.

"The Secret Weave"