Communal Threads

Reciprocal Weaving with April Camlin

The Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (SMCMoA) invites you to participate in reciprocal weaving with April Camlin. Based in the William Keith Gallery, Camlin's workshops are open to visitors, faculty, students, and community members, who will help construct and create a woven fiber work for the forthcoming Spring 2027 exhibition, Interwoven.

Inspired by the writings of Robin Wall Kimmerer, reciprocal weaving is when two people weave together as one at the loom, becoming each other's right and left side, respectively. This is a cyclical process in which one partner treads for the other, allowing the other to weave, and then they treadle for each other. Through this process, we will create work for the exhibition together while processing the grief that we experience as we navigate living in our complicated bodies in a society with an unjust and unnavigable healthcare system.

Grounded in socially engaged artistic practice, the residency explores weaving as both a material process and a framework for collective strength, bringing participants together through sustained acts of making and conversation. Workshops happening during this residency, which coincides with the open enrollment period for federally subsidized healthcare, will focus on helping people understand and respond to the changing landscape of our healthcare system under our current administration. Camlin’s interdisciplinary work examines disparities within the healthcare system, highlighting the social, economic, and structural inequities that shape experiences of care. Residency hours will be held from October 11th through November 21st.

Open to individuals of all experience levels, the project offers an opportunity to engage directly with contemporary artistic research while contributing to a work that reflects the diverse perspectives and experiences of the broader community. Please fill out this google form to sign up.