For the past five months, community members Bonita Banks, Lisa Talbot and Kayla Wagner have been transforming a historic shed downtown into a working studio, where they are blending their shared passion for spirituality and creativity.
Built in 1945, Heath Cabin is tucked into the wooded hills behind the Alaska Wildberry Products Building. The cabin was home to the family who ran the business next door, and they did so until they sold it in 1975, when it changed hands several times. Today, the Wildberry Building is home to several organizations, and the cabin is a vibrant creative space and home to Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio. Within the log frame, around the original stone fireplace and with windows on all sides, Banks and Talbot work their looms, practicing one of the oldest crafts in history.
“Weaving is a functional art found in all ancient cultures,” says Banks. “Creating beauty as well as functionality, weavers have played an important role in families and communities, weaving clothing and bedding to protect from the elements and rugs and tapestries to insulate their homes. Weaving as a spiritual practice is not new. Weaving was created as a gift to the gods, as meditation, and as creators breathing new life into plant and animal fibers.”
Wagner, the non-weaver of the three, is her own passion: woodworking. In the future, they plan to add a woodworking studio in the basement, and the women hope to open the space to the community to host classes, workshops, and demonstrations.
A friendship blossomed between the three women several years ago, honouring their mutual spiritual practices: Talbot is a pastor at Homer United Methodist Church, Banks is a registered nurse at South Peninsula Hospital and Wagner is the district director for the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District.
“We are two very different women who originally came together to discuss our deeper spiritual practices,” Talbot said. “We didn’t know where we went to school or what our hobbies were. When I saw Bonita selling a loom online, I immediately bought one, and it wasn’t until we realized we were both weavers and that weaving was part of our spiritual practice.”
Banks has been involved with textiles since she was a child: she first learned to sew on her grandmother’s treadle sewing machine, which she still has in her home today.
“Fiber and thread have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Banks says. “I used to weave a lot as a child, making potholders and looms out of cardboard. My sister studied art at university and when she took weaving classes I was hooked. Then my grandmother bought me a table loom and I’ve been weaving ever since. There’s a lot of math involved even before you have the loom set up, and I love that part too. I went into nursing because I loved the technical side of it, but I also love making beautiful things with thread. I crocheted doilies as a child and heirloom doilies as a teenager.”
In her 30s, Banks mastered the craft and apprenticed with a master weaver for a year. She previously owned a clothing store in California, where she designed and sewed clothes, and later ran a furniture reupholstering business in Homer. Inspired by the changing colors, light and textures of the seasons, weaving has become a mindfulness practice for her.
“There’s something soothing about sitting behind the loom, stepping barefoot on the treadle and watching something beautiful fall before my eyes,” she said. “There’s a rhythm and magic, like a dance. Here, I pay attention to every thread that comes onto the loom. When I weave a baby blanket, I weave love, protection and care into it. The same with shawls. They’re not just bits of thread woven together. There’s intention and a piece of myself in everything I make.”
Growing up in a household of self-taught artistic aunts, including a painter who watched Bob Ross and a quilter who worked in a textile mill, Talbot began experimenting with fiber arts at an early age: one of her aunts taught her to crochet when she was four.
“My first project was crocheting lace edging for my mother’s towels,” Talbot says. “I invaded her linen closet and no fabric escaped me.”
Later, while teaching a fiber arts class as a teacher, one of her students introduced her to knitting. She began learning from books and videos and began knitting cowls and sweaters, which she continues to do to this day. Her first encounter with weaving began 20 years ago, when her husband gave her a loom as a Christmas morning gift.
“He knew I loved yarn, I loved being creative, and I loved working with my hands,” she says. “That morning, I read the instructions, started weaving, and soon I was hooked. I taught myself from books and YouTube videos, and always dragged my loom with me when I traveled around the country for work.”
Talbot is inspired by color, texture, and the tactile nature of the medium itself.
“My job involves a lot of time on a computer, but I find that experiencing different textures under my fingers calms me and helps me to return to my body,” she says. “The smoothness of the wood, the roughness of the wool, the rhythm of the beaters, the rack and the shuttle – weaving is a very tactical art, and to weave well requires the concentration of the whole body – hands, feet and brain – all of them.”
Previously, both women hand-woven products from their homes; Talbot for her company, Raven Fed Designs, and Banks for her company, sit.breathe.weave. It was five years ago that Talbot, wanting to tackle more intricate weaving projects, noticed Banks’ larger loom for sale. As their friendship grew and they were inspired by each other’s creativity, they talked about having a studio together and began actively searching for a space. When Wagner suggested they consider renting the historic Heath Cabin last fall, they loved the location and decided to go into business together; Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio was born.
“We are very different weavers in that the objects we make are very different, but what we share is a sense of playfulness and that weaving feeds our souls,” Talbot said.
The two women have multiple weaving machines in their studio: Talbot has two floor looms and it can take her three weeks to a month to make a blanket, for example, while Banks has three floor looms in her studio and it can take her more than 30 hours to make a number of shawls.
“The primary purpose of this space is to be a working studio,” Talbot says. “It’s where we get creative and make wearable art and luxury handcrafted goods. It’s something different to have a place free of the distractions of home life. It’s the time and space for us to weave with intention.”
The studio is inhabited by Talbot, who stops by after work most days to spend an hour or two at her loom; Banks, who is soon to retire from her job as a nurse, weaves most weekdays and six to seven hours a day on weekends. The space has inspired both Banks and Talbot to experiment and blend weaving with other art forms: Talbot has produced watercolors, cards, and pendants, and Banks has produced Dorset button earrings.
“We’d like to thank the current owner, Rhonda Benon, for supporting our efforts and being a patron of our arts,” Ms Talbot said. “The building had been vacant for some time but has since been beautifully refurbished. She is thrilled and affirmed to be able to carry on the spirit of Hazel Heath, the original Wildberry owner, and run a women-owned, creative business out of the shed.”
In addition to finding a space, Wagner has also put in the effort to build a yarn rack, help maintain a trail that leads from the parking lot into the woods, maintain the landscaping, etc. With a creative background in woodworking, she plans to one day build a woodworking studio in the basement.
“I’m happy to be a part of bringing this space to life,” Wagner says. “The beautiful thing for me is seeing them weaving, learning where the materials came from and getting excited about it all.”
Banks and Talbot hope to introduce Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio to the community and plan to participate in First Friday Art Walks and potentially offer classes in sewing, weaving and upcycling clothing in the future. They are also interested in bringing their portable looms to venues and events where local residents can enjoy weaving together and hosting community weaving projects.
“Weaving may seem difficult, but it’s a very simple process that just requires taking it one step at a time,” says Talbot. “The classes may help people get started on their own loom, become familiar with the tools, and see how this art fits into their lives. I hope this healing and creative space will resonate with other like-minded people who weave, do yoga and meditate. It’s about a spirit of friendship and connection.”
Combining their passions for spirituality and creativity, Banks, Talbot and Wagner have converted a historic downtown cabin into a working studio, nestled in the wooded hills between Wildberry and Cosmic Tie. Community members are invited to a studio opening event on Friday, June 21, from 5-8 p.m., which will include light refreshments and a tour of textiles in various stages of completion. There will also be a display of finished products by both artists: shawls, kitchen towels, baby blankets, scarves, bags and earrings by Banks, and scarves, shawls, wool blankets, wall hangings, table linens, multimedia cards and necklaces by Talbot.
You can access the studio by parking in the semicircular parking lot next to the Wildberry Products building on Pioneer Avenue and walking through the woods, by parking in the Wildberry parking lot and walking up the driveway and across the lawn, or by parking in the WKFL area and walking along the Lee Street trail.
You can find Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio on Facebook and Instagram at @kindredspiritsweavingstudio, Talbott and Raven Fed Designs at ravenfeddesigns.company.site and on Facebook and Instagram, and Banks and sit.breathe.weave at sbwhandwovens.com and on Facebook and Instagram.
Fiber artist Bonita Banks weaves a shawl on a Toika Countermatch loom at Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio, which she co-owns with Lisa Talbot, in Homer, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Photo by Christina Whiting
Lisa Talbot, Kayla Wagner and Bonita Banks of Kindred Spirits pose in front of Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio, a converted historic cabin in downtown Homer, Alaska, on Sunday, June 16, 2024. Photo by Christina Whiting
