Handwoven Prayer Shawl

Hello! I'm Sarah Saulson. Welcome to my website.

I started weaving as a child in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and have pursued fiber arts as my full-time profession for more than three decades, for most of that time in Syracuse, NY. Now I live in Providence, Rhode Island. My fiber arts practice is based at Hope Artiste Village, a historic weaving mill repurposed into a space for artists and entrepreneurs in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. My practice includes both studio work in complex weaving, dyeing and spinning as well as teaching nationally and internationally.

Handwoven prayer shawl close view of fabric

Galleries

Recently, my studio practice has focused on one-of-a-kind Jewish prayer shawls (talitot) woven on commission. I see them as combining original woven patterns produced on my computer-assisted loom along with the deepest respect for the long-standing, beautiful traditions so intrinsic to Jewish ritual objects.

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Demonstrating weaving during a workshop

Workshops

Over time, I find I’ve evolved a teaching philosophy for weavers. My goal is to help participants build a conceptual framework that they can then apply to their own weaving . . . to empower themselves, shaping their own weaving destinies by having thinking tools that help with answering the weaving questions they may encounter in the future.

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Handwoven cloth

Publications

For many years, my projects have been published in Handwoven Magazine and other Interweave Press books. My column in Handwoven, “Now We Are Eight” was designed to help weavers transition from simple weaving to more complex projects making use of eight-shaft looms.

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