In my Elements course, we have monthly critiques where we get together and share our work, give and get feedback. It’s proven to be invaluable to many of the students.

In the February 2022 critique, two of the participants, Nancy McRay and Cindy Dworzak - independently - were working on the techniques of Silvia Heyden, inspired by her book, The Making of Modern Tapestry. Their tapestries intrigued us - and I remember at one point, I blurted out “We should do a study group!” - and before the critique was over we were making plans to do just that.

Below are the works Nancy shared; the first shows her inspiration to the left and her interpretation on the right.

And below is her second piece.

In this same critique, Cindy Dworzak shared a large tapestry that she had begun using Silvia’s techniques.

You can see the half rounds, one of Silvia’s signature techniques, in these works. Cindy’s work also includes the triangles (in shades of blue) along with the half rounds.

Our first Silvia Heyden Study Group met a few months later in May of 2022 with a focus on Triangles and Half-Rounds, the first chapter in Silvia’s book, The Making of Modern Tapestry. We had set up some guidelines beforehand, mainly that we would all stay committed for an extended period of time. I think we decided on 2 years initially, and we would all need to purchase the book if we didn’t have it already. The plan was to work through the chapters one by one.

Here are a few images from the first meeting:

Cindy Dworzak, half rounds and triangles

At out next meeting we had even more participation as the spark began to take hold and grow.

Christa Weitbrecht

Cindy Dworzak

Donna Andersen

Eileen Van Bronkhorst

Janet Mathews

Nancy McRay

Nancy Wohlenberg

This was just the beginning. There were over 20 more meetings to come. The group ran for 4 years, ending recently, and it has been truly inspiring. One of the things that culminated from the devotion of this group was the desire to both share and seek out more information about Silvia and her work.

This prompted me to put in a proposal to the American Tapestry Alliance’s membership publication, Tapestry Topics, on the work of Silvia Heyden. It was planned, announced, and drew so many responses that it became a double issue. There are a lot of wonderful articles from a number of students, colleagues, and family of Silvia’s- check it out. (But you do need to be a member of ATA…) You can see what many of the group went on to do under the influence of Silvia in Spring 2026 Homage to Silvia Heyden Pt 2.

Now a short plug for the Elements class where this all began. You can follow the entire journey of our study group when you join the Elements of Art Through Tapestry class. in addition to the regular content, of course - plus all the monthly critiques that have come to pass (nearly 5 years worth) and all that are yet to come. We may have ended the focused study group, but the explorations continue in the monthly critiques.

Silvia Heyden Study Group: the early works