Scott Norris weaves a story for Sawdust & Lint in Peterborough

A linen depicting Colonial-era weaver “Daniel Janes” in Scott Norris’ story. 

A linen depicting Colonial-era weaver “Daniel Janes” in Scott Norris’ story.  COURTESY IMAGE SCOTT NORRIS

Hand-woven linens by Scott Norris depicting a 19th-century wood stove and “Lissy Jones,” a character from his story.

Hand-woven linens by Scott Norris depicting a 19th-century wood stove and “Lissy Jones,” a character from his story. COURTESY IMAGE SCOTT NORRIS

A tapestry illustrating a page from Scott Norris’ story about weavers.

A tapestry illustrating a page from Scott Norris’ story about weavers. COURTESY IMAGE SCOTT NORRIS

Wayne Fletcher, left, and Scott Norris hanging a tapestry at Sawdust & Lint gallery.

Wayne Fletcher, left, and Scott Norris hanging a tapestry at Sawdust & Lint gallery. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Weaver Scott Norris with his tapestry at Sawdust & Lint. 

Weaver Scott Norris with his tapestry at Sawdust & Lint.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

A sampler by “Lissy Janes.” 

A sampler by “Lissy Janes.”  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Wayne Fletcher, left, and Scott Norris unload Norris’ handwoven linen tapestry outside Sawdust & Lint in early January.

Wayne Fletcher, left, and Scott Norris unload Norris’ handwoven linen tapestry outside Sawdust & Lint in early January. STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

Weaver Scott Norris at Sawdust & Lint. 

Weaver Scott Norris at Sawdust & Lint.  STAFF PHOTO BY JESSECA TIMMONS

By JESSECA TIMMONS

Monadnock Ledger Transcript

Published: 01-29-2025 1:02 PM

When Tory Fletcher of Peterborough’s Sawdust & Lint studio came across the work of fellow weaver Scott Norris, she was stunned. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Fletcher said. “I don’t think anything else like this exists. I immediately knew I wanted to bring it to Peterborough, and people’s reactions since it has been displayed in the gallery have been wonderful.” 

For the past six months, Norris has been weaving the words of a story he’s writing into a tapestry. He has also created smaller linens depicting objects and characters from the same story. 

Norris says he is not aware of any other weavers who have done exactly what he is doing.

“I am a weaver who is writing a story about weavers, and then I’m weaving the story,” Norris said. “There are so many layers to it.” 

Although he grew up in Ohio, Norris was always fascinated with New England history. About seven years ago, he decided to start writing a story about a family of weavers living in New England around 1820.

“I loved books like ‘Johnny Tremain’ and  ‘The Witch of Blackbird Pond’ when I was a kid; I always loved the illustration of life in those times,” Norris said. “Johnny Tremain is about a silversmith who becomes a hero. I thought, ‘Why couldn’t a weaver become a hero?’” 

Norris’ story centers on a father and daughter, Daniel and Lissy Janes, who are weavers living in  a mill town in the “textile belt” of Massachusetts in the early 19th century. The story centers on how industrialization coming to New England forever changed life for hand-weavers. Norris uses a technique called inlay to hand-create patterns in the linen as he weaves the larger fabric on the loom. 

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“I had a story, and I had this technique, so I thought, ‘Why can’t I create words in the cloth as I weave? Why can’t I write my own story and weave my story?’” Norris said. 

Norris began to weave the pages as he continued writing the story.

“I don’t know anyone who has done this with words,” he said. “Inlay has been around forever, in ancient India and Southeast Asia. There are extremely skillful inlay weavers in this regions; it’s a way to create complex patterns with looms. And, of course, there has always been writing in tapestry, but I’m not aware of anyone else who weaves words into linen, or anyone who has written a story and woven the pages. They may be out there, but I have not heard about it.”

The tapestry now exhibited at Sawdust & Lint studio took about nine months to create, including six months of actual weaving. Norris started by creating a draft on paper, and carefully spacing the letters and phrases using the rules of topography to delineate spacing.

According to Norris, weaving letters is exponentially harder than creating a pattern, as the weaver has to weave them backwards. 

“I work on the back of the cloth; it’s not what you see on the front. The words have to be oriented correctly. They are reversed. I’m weaving them in backwards, and they’re oriented the wrong way left to right as well as top to bottom,” Norris said. “It gets very confusing whether it is left to right or right to left. Some days, after hours of working,  I look at a letter ‘E’ and I honestly don’t know which way it is supposed to go.”

The smaller pieces depict the characters from the story, Daniel and Lissy Janes, as well as objects such as a Colonial-era loom, a woodstove and chickens. 

Displaying his work in Peterborough was a “full circle” moment for Norris, who was a MacDowell Fellow in musical composition in the summer or 1992. Midway through his doctoral studies in composition, Norris realized he wanted to be a weaver, and has been weaving ever since, as well as having a career in grant-writing. 

With one tapestry-size page of the story complete, Norris is eager to keep going on the story, and the weaving. Along with designing and weaving his own linen, he also hand-dyes all his own material. 

“I’m 68; I’ll never finish it,” he said with a laugh. “But I just want to keep weaving as long as I can.” 

Norris’ work is currently displayed at Sawdust & Lint Studio in Depot Square, next to the entrance of the Peterborough Community Theatre.