Lynne also speaks about the historical connection between weaving and early computing. Looms were among the first systems to use binary logic to create patterns, a foundation that later influenced modern computing through sequences similar to zeros and ones in code.
Lynne often invites visitors to sit at the loom and experience the process firsthand. During the Austin Studio Tour, blind and low-vision guests visited her studio through Art Spark Texas’ accessible art crawl for a tactile art experience. Each guest spent time at the loom, exploring the mechanics of weaving through touch and movement.
Her studio reflects her interest in learning directly from source traditions. Lynne has traveled to study weaving, fabric dyeing, and encaustic painting, sometimes referred to as painting with fire. Looking around Lynne’s studio, there are large textile works, encaustic paintings, and carved gourds throughout, with many pieces overlapping across mediums - gourds with basket weaving, encaustic paintings with fabric. Shelves and coat hangers hold wearable weavings, table runners, and colorful, custom pieces.
Lynne Brotman is a multi-disciplinary artist working out of Studio #117 in Building 1 at Canopy in East Austin. Her practice includes encaustic painting, weaving, and hand-carved and dyed gourds - with many works combining multiple techniques. We visited Lynne’s studio to learn more about her process and see how her background in psychology and her travels inform her current work.
When we arrived, Lynne was seated at her Japanese-style loom, designed in Osaka. The loom is smaller than a traditional floor loom but produces wide, richly colored textile pieces. She works in a spontaneous way, frequently changing yarns and colors as she goes, a method not commonly used in traditional loom weaving. Lynne primarily works with wool, silk, and linen - and as we thumbed through her finished pieces, the quality fabric was evident.
One brightly colored fabric piece currently on display in her studio has been in progress for nearly two years. Lynne describes her cartoon weaving process, which involves dyeing her own yarn, drawing the design on paper, and then translating that drawing into fiber. The physical demands of weaving are an important part of the work, particularly when working on the upper sections of a piece where her arms must remain raised for extended periods - making the work only possible in short bursts of time.
Lynne learned encaustic painting while traveling in Ireland with a San Antonio fiber group. One wall of her studio is dedicated to many of these works, featuring layers of wax built up with heat and carved back to create depth. The pieces glow in the sunlight coming into her studio - yellow ochres, golds, rich reds, and occasional accents of cobalt and metallic tones.
Lynne Brotman’s studio is located in Building 1 #117 at Canopy, 916 Springdale Rd. Guests are welcome to visit her studio in-person during Open Canopy, held every first Saturday of the month from 1 to 4pm.
