For me, tapestry is an expressive medium and I work from imagery drawn from my encounters with the natural world. In tapestry, image making is joined with the tactile and soft qualities of cloth. This marriage of visual and tactile is essential in my creative process.
I have long been interested in combining pictorial imagery with the structure of cloth.
I designed my very first tapestries so that both warp and weft played an active role in image. Then for many years I wove traditional tapestries where the image is created solely with weft. Now working on a Jacquard loom I feel like having returned back to my early works but this time using the latest tools in hand weaving.

Birch Grove
28" x 28" ( 71 x 71 )
Handwoven Jacquard Tapestry
Photo Credit Ken Mayer Studios

Kaija Rautiainen studied textile art in her native Finland. She is known for her linen tapestries. Exhibitions include American Tapestry Alliance Biennale V in 2004. Her work is published in Fibre Art Design Books and in B.C.Tapestry Book.