Laura Kamian McDermott

Tapestry Weaving and Fiber Art

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Bio:

I am a textile artist with a thirty-year history of showing up to my Richmond CA studio (or sketchbook!)  as many days of the week as I can manage. I use labor-intensive textile techniques to make work that insists on the value of creative labor. I believe in the power of the handmade to address social ills, support mental and community health, and bring out humanity's more positive traits. I use bright colors to abstract my domestic, natural, and architectural surroundings, with earnestness and humor. A Crockett, CA resident and San Francisco State University graduate, my work has recently been shown at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Richmond Art Center, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.

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My tapestry "Shelter in Place Self-Portrait with Wallpaper" is on display NOW in the "Selections from the 2025 Crocker-Kingsley" exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Exhibition dates: March 9th - May 4th, 2025. Museum address: Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street, Sacramento CA 95814. Museum hours: Wednesday - Sunday 10am - 5pm.

Come see my work and the other artists in the show (L to R): Me, Mari Emori, Judson Smith, Bing Zhang, and Stephen Galloway. (Not pictured: Karyn Gabriel and Jessica Teckemeyer.)

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I’m happy to announce my epic tapestry chronicling the Covid shutdown that I worked on from 2020 - 2024 will be included in the Crocker Kingsley Exhibition at Blue Line Arts from January 11 - February 22, 2025. Thank you to juror Grace Kook-Anderson from the Portland Art Museum for including my work. The design for this tapestry originated from a sketch I did when I lived in Portland!

About this piece:

This woven tapestry is based on an old charcoal drawing of my younger, somewhat unhinged and definitely unhappy self, sketching myself in the mirror in a room with wild wallpaper. I reclaimed and updated this design as a quarantine self-portrait in 2020, with the welcome understanding that I am now an adult better able to weather troubles and challenges and have a deeper sense of self-reliance and trust. Weaving helps. I have always loved Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” about a woman going mad while holed up in a room with wallpaper that alternately torments her and offers her solutions. I designed my wallpaper to be a place that I wanted to spend 2020, when I knew the act of weaving could see me through all that was being asked of all of us. Tapestry weaving can be a slow medium. This is a large piece- about 49" x 58", and my most detailed to date- 2020 turned into 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024… I finished this piece in Spring 2024.

About the Crocker Kingsley Exhibition:

Since 1940, the Crocker Kingsley Exhibition—presented in partnership with the Kingsley Art Club and the Crocker Art Museum—has showcased some of the most iconic names in American and California art, including Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, Ruth Rippon, and Gregory Kondos.

For the 2025 exhibition, we're thrilled to announce Grace Kook-Anderson, The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art at the Portland Art Museum, as the esteemed juror. Grace will be selecting works from submitted entries and awarding top cash prizes for 1st through 5th place.

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A video tour of Real! Live! Color! : a solo exhibition of tapestry weaving and textile art by Laura Kamian McDermott April 13th - May 18th 2024 at ar.ti.fact gallery in downtown Point Richmond. Thank you to everyone who came out and saw the show! I had a great time hanging out and showing you my work. Big thanks for all of the support from Betsy Kellas and Susan Shore of ar.ti.fact, and Arts of Point Richmond and Visual Artists of Richmond members!

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2 Spring Shows in Richmond, CA!

Real! Live! Color! Solo show of tapestry weaving and textile art at ar.ti.fact galley in downtown Pt Richmond April 13th - May 18th 2024.

I Make Art in Richmond Group show and zine organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler in conjunction with NIAD Art Center and the City of Richmond. Featuring the work of 10 NIAD artists and 10 non-NIAD Richmond based artists. April 5th - May 17th 2024.

Opening Reception for both shows on Saturday April 13th - at NIAD from 1-4pm, and at ar.ti.fact from 4-6pm.

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“Remnant,” 23″ x 24″, cotton warp and organic cotton weft, 2022. 

A design based on a fabric scrap leftover from quilting. The colors were chosen before the war in Ukraine but the connection is apt. This piece is about negative space, who is lost, who remains, whose stories get told. Every day we experience monumental loss. Today there was another mass shooting, no, not the one(s) from last week, a new one, just today. Lives lost, love lost, stories cut short. Whose values are we living in/under?

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My “Marchers” is included in Radical Regeneration @sjmqt ! On view through October 16th. Hours Friday-Sunday 11am - 5pm and First Fridays 6pm -9pm. Let’s go! About the exhibition: “This theme of renewal, repair, and revitalization considers the changes we have collectively endured in the last two years, and, in many ways, the changes we are still processing. In light of lessons learned after times of perseverance, this exhibition considers how moments of cultural disruption can create opportunities for personal or collective change.” Juried by @adiamillett (at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChINlhUpdH-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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I will be at #tapestryweaverswest SHIFT exhibition this Saturday 3/5 from around 3pm-5pm, come on out and say hi! I’ll also be there during the reception on Friday 3/11 from 5pm-8pm with other artists in the show. I helped organize this exhibition of 20 exquisite tapestries addressing major recent shifts in all of our lives: climate catastrophes, social uprising, the isolation of the pandemic. Let’s reconnect. Gallery hours Thursdays-Saturdays 1pm-8pm, 1337 Fourth St San Rafael. @artworksdowntownmarin #tapestry #tapestryweaving #weaversofinstagram #textiles #fiberart #weaverfever (at Art Works Downtown) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaqCJvGv1Fj/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Tapestry Weavers West new exhibition SHIFT opens @artworksdowntownmarin this Friday! Show runs from 2/4 through 3/19/22. I’ve got a couple pieces in it, let’s plan a visit! SHIFT: an exhibition of contemporary tapestry addressing the recent dramatic shifts in our lives. Juried by @christinekoppes Participating artists: Chelley BonDurant, Bobbi Chamberlain, Kate Colwell, Marcia Hanson Ellis, @janettemgross104 , @pointarenajennie , Stephanie Hoppe, Laura Kamian McDermott, Heather Larsen, Sarah Michael, @artyonat , Care Standley, @kathetoddhooker , @sueweilart , @amawertz #tapestryweaversofinstagram #contemporarytapestry #weaversofinstagram #artworksdowntown #tapestryweaving #shift (at San Rafael, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZaMh3UP-7j/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Just a few more chances to see my “Jagged Skylines of Car Keys”, Armenian Alphabet pieces, and other tapestries and textile works as my @richmondartcenter show comes to a close next week. Open Saturday 11/13, Thursday 11/18, and Saturday 11/20 from 10am to 2pm (and Fridays by appointment). I’m available all 3 days, so let me know if you are planning a visit, I’d love to come meet you and give you a tour! I will be forever grateful to RAC, @amydotspencer, @leslieplatosmith, and @smoralesphoto for having this show during this time of gradual reopening. It has been so lovely to catch up with friends and family after this long shutdown by making small intimate visits to the show (and a couple of larger ones!). This experience will be a very special memory for me. Thank you everyone who has come out. ❤️💕❤️ #richmondartcenter #reentry #tapestryweaversofinstagram #weaversofinstagram #richmondca #armenianalphabet #silverjews (at Richmond Art Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWLgMhRp4YY/?utm_medium=tumblr

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My show “Opossum Magic” at the Richmond Art Center has been extended through Saturday 11/20, come out and see it! I’m 10 minutes away, let’s make a date! Gallery hours are Thursdays and Saturdays 10am to 2pm and Fridays by appointment. Opossum Magic is a 3 person show with me, @smoralesphoto and @leslieplatosmith #tapestryweaving #tapestryweaversofinstagram #weaversofinstagram #contemporarytapestry #richmondartcenter (at Richmond Art Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVjjZMvpzLS/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Opossum Magic opens today @richmondartcenter ! Me, Steven Morales, and Leslie Plato Smith. Open Thursdays and Saturdays from 10-2, hours expanding as covid hopefully improves. My “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys” and other tapestries are included, as well as some Armenian Alphabet words and a lovely orange I-cord. Come out and see it! @leslieplatosmith @smoralesphoto #tapestryweaving #contemporarytapestry #richmondca #silverjews #davidberman #opossummagic #weaversofinstagram (at Richmond Art Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTn-8yylbGt/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Here is the latest entry in my “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys” series, tapestries inspired by a line in a Silver Jews song. For this one I continued to look to the album covers for color inspiration (forever thankful to @lanactrlaltdelrey for this idea) and took some liberties with the Starlite Walker colors. I hit a milestone with this tapestry- it’s the first time I needed to put on my reading glasses to do the finishing. Don’t need em yet tho for the actual weaving! “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys- Sand”, cotton warp and weft, 11” x 10.25”, 2021. #tapestryweaversofinstagram #tapestryweaving #weaversofinstagram #contemporarytapestry #silverjews #davidberman #richmondca (at Richmond, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSXgGyVphFH/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Just finished this commission for a sister Silver Jews fan (and sister Laura!) @lanactrlaltdelrey , who requested a “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys” tapestry woven with colors from Silver Jews and Purple Mountains album covers- such a brilliant idea! Thanks for breaking me out of my usual color palette, Laura! This green is fantastic and I loved working with all these colors and weaving this for you! I used pearl cotton for this one, it gives the right amount of album cover shine. 8epi, 12/12 seine twine warp, weft bundle of 6 strands 10/2 pearl cotton. “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys- Album Cover Colors,” cotton warp and weft, 9.5” x 10”, 2021. #tapestryweaversofinstagram #tapestryweaving #silverjews #davidberman #weaversofinstagram #contemporarytapestry #richmondca #purplemountains (at Richmond, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMVWI8mJKIG/?igshid=in0yyny2rlpp

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This one is now mounted and finished and listed in my Etsy shop (link in bio)! “Jagged Skyline of Car Keys- Royal Blue”, cotton warp and organic cotton weft, 9” x 11”, woven in 2020. #tapestry #tapestryweaversofinstagram #tapestryweaving #weaversofinstagram #contemporarytapestry #abstractart #silverjews #davidberman #richmondca (at Richmond, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK7LL8opx2N/?igshid=2udh1zlb2hau

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These mini tapestries are now listed for sale in my Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/laurakamian)! $75 each, free shipping. They are mounted on 6 inch square plain white canvas stretcher frames, ready to hang. Here is what you are looking at: 1. The Work Parking Lot: Reflections in a MiniVan. Designed from a sketch from my office cubicle days- I took a break sitting in my car and sketching the reflections in the General Manager's MiniVan. You do what you gotta do. Hang it in your office! 2. My Old Bedroom. An abstraction of my old bedroom in Emeryville. 3. Studio Ceiling (Turq). An abstraction of beams and air vents in an old studio. 4. Studio Ceiling (Dark Teal). An abstraction of beams and air vents in an old studio. #tapestry #tapestryweaversofinstagram #weaversofinstagram #tapestryweaving #abstractart #richmondca (at Richmond, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIY6RzGpcO5/?igshid=gbt4cnqbxt29