But dwindled to a star, 1965

Lenore Tawney’s work was dynamic and melodious, and she described her threads as “like music moving in air.” One could imagine Tawney’s hands rippling through the air while weaving her luminous yarn in a manner not unlike the fingers of visionary jazz musician Alice Coltrane shimmering across her harp. On a visual level alone, the harp and loom could be kindred spirits, but there is more that bonds the history of these two pioneering artists. The women also shared the common thread of transcending sorrow through art as a spiritual practice. Both Coltrane and Tawney suffered the deaths of their husbands early in marriage and each found solace in their art as bolstered by centering rituals such as meditation and yoga. They each created new worlds built layer by layer on a path towards a higher plane.