Weaver Tony Bible continues to perfect his craft

COSHOCTON -- Local artist and weaver Tony Bible, of Warsaw, is always looking for new ways to hone his artistic abilities. The opportunity in early June to go to the Stowe Basketry Festival in Stowe, Vermont, was an intense experience, he said, that gave him opportunities to take classes and learn from exceptional teachers of weaving.

While at the festival, Bible, a weaver who has evolved from a craftsman into an artist, was able to learn new techniques for creating ribbed and silk-infused baskets, and even weaves jewelry items, he explained.

"I consider weaving to be like a language. The more techniques or dialogues, so to speak, that I learn, the more ways I can express myself as an artist. It's like additional tools in my toolbox," Bible said.

The ribbed basketry technique he learned is a traditional style that primarily uses rattan reed, reminiscent of old egg baskets, he said. "It's a traditional technique that gives the weaver the tools for weaving in a sculptural way."

The silk-infusion technique involves infusing silk over the surface of baskets after they are woven that is much like a skin, and recreates an elegant design, Bible said. "It's really pleasing to the eye and to the touch, as well. It's very elegant," he said.

Bible learned the two techniques by attending a week-long workshop at the Stowe Basketry Festival made possible by the Judith Drury Scholarship that he was awarded from the festival and from the Ohio Designer Craftsmen Scholarship he was awarded at the Ohio Craftsman Museum's Best of 2015 exhibit in May. There, he also received the Award of Excellence in traditional craft.

Bible has been weaving for more than 20 years. He discovered his love for the craft when he began working as a weaver at the Longaberger Co. in 1993. During his 17 years with the company, he worked his way up from weaver to project coordinator to product designer, positions that he said gave him insight into what customers wanted and the artistic quality of the weaving process.

When Bible left the Longaberger Co., he decided to pursue weaving as an art. "One of the differences between what I used to do and how I weave now is that I used to use a wooden form," explained Bible of the weaving process at Longaberger. "As an artist, I find myself using my hands, and letting the material do what it wants to do. The process makes each piece unique."

To evolve as an artist, he had to stop expecting perfection and control at every step, Bible said. He decided to enroll in the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he earned a master's degree in fine arts in 2014. It was an eye-opening experience that he said set him free as an artist.

"I'm trying to make work that appears to have an organic origin, more like a living being than merely an object. I think that's the beauty of it," he said. "Instead of looking at the material as a means to an end, I began looking at it as a relationship. The material has a voice."

Bible's artwork has been displayed locally, throughout the state, around the country and even internationally. The Dogwood Festival and the Pomerene Center in Coshocton, the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus, the National Red Cross Museum in Washington, D.C. and Fibremen 4 International Fibre Arts Exhibition in Kherson, Ukraine are just some of the many areas where his artwork has been exhibited.

He is also participating in the Columbus Invitational Art Competition online through the Roy G Biv Gallery in Columbus, where followers can vote for his artwork through the gallery's Facebook page through Wednesday.

Bible will teach digital media design at COTC this fall. He is also an educational programming researcher and art teacher at the Pomerene Center for the Arts in Coshocton, and helps children in kindergarten through eighth grade explore the world through art in Anne and Tony's Art Club with Pomerene Center artistic director Anne Cornell.

She said prototypes of Bible's artistic creations using the techniques he discovered in Stowe will be on display at the Pomerene Center from the end of July through the holidays. Those interested can view the artwork and place orders, she said.

"Tony is an incredibly hard worker and avid learner. He puts so much of his heart into both learning and working, and this is evident in the artwork that he has created. It's is just beautiful," Cornell said.

You can get more information about Bible's artwork by visiting the Pomerene Center for the Arts at www.pomerenearts.org where you will also find a link to Bible's website.