Meet This Artist: Author and Weaver Robin Hall

The Chatham Arts Council is investing in artists through our Meet This Artist (MTA) series, introducing you to 12 Chatham County artists each year in a big way. The fine folks at Hobbs Architects in downtown Pittsboro are powering our Meet This Artist series this year. Architecture is art, and the Hobbs crew values art in our community. So, take a look. Meet your very inspiring neighbors.

As part of the Chatham Arts Council’s JumpstART commission for ClydeFEST 2025, writer and textile artist Robin Hall created a multi-piece fiber arts project honoring her son Israel and the “twenty-something” generation coming of age in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through handwoven scarves, spun-yarn wallhangings and more, Hall pays tribute to Israel—a courageous young adult navigating mental health and identity with compassion—and four of his classmates, now scattered from Chatham County to Los Angeles and Argentina. “All of these pieces will be linked or woven together in some way,” she wrote in her project proposal, “as their lives are also woven together.” We sat down with Robin to talk about her muse, her materials, and the ever-evolving journey of making art and raising a family.

When was the first moment you knew you were a creative?

That’s a good question. As a kid, we were always creating things. My mom had me sewing at a young age, and my grandpa taught me how to crochet. Every single summer when I would go visit them, he would teach me. And then I would forget, and he would teach me again. I learn things the hard way sometimes.

I did a lot of quilting and playing with fabric, and once I turned 12, I started making all of my dresses for church. I remember what it was like trying to understand how it all worked—picking things apart and figuring out how to put it together, choosing colors. It was really exciting for me to make something beautiful—or not even beautiful exactly, but something new.

I also loved baking. I don’t mind getting messy if it means making something different. I love taking different ingredients and mixing them together to make something else. But the thing I loved most when I was younger was creating stories.

What was your school life like? Did you study art at all formally?

I did, but not until my 40s. I went back to school and got an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. That’s it as far as formal education in the arts—oh! I did take a sewing class in my undergraduate, but otherwise, I was very heavily science-focused.

And I’ve taken a lot of independent weaving classes, for instance, but I didn’t get any beautiful certificates out of it. I just have a lot of curiosity and enjoy teaching myself things.

What else inspires your art?

I really think a lot about textures. I sometimes work with another artist, Anna Ferrin. We actually paired up for a JumpstART commission at ClydeFEST 2024. She’s a ceramics artist, and so she makes these wonderful vases, and then I weave on the top. I love the difference in texture and style—what the texture of, say, pine straw can add to the pottery base.

We just wrapped ClydeFEST 2025, and the JumpstART walkabout was a great success! Tell us a bit about your project and muse.

So with this year’s theme, “The Locals at Twenty-Something,” we’re focusing on the twenty-somethings. My oldest child is a twenty-something. He’s a COVID-era graduate, and so I thought it would be really fun to highlight him and some of his close friends from his graduating class. They’ve all gone on very different journeys than I feel they initially planned. Some of them are continuing school, some of them are serving in foreign countries, and some of them are still at home.

And so, because I love to weave, I’ve been doing different pieces based off of these kids. My son has had a very unique journey. He’s had some mental health trials, but he’s also discovering so much about himself as an adult. He is just finding out who he is and what he loves and where he wants to be. So for my son, who has realized that he is bisexual, I made a rainbow scarf. And he loves it! He wears it all the time. That was my initial project, but he also loves Dungeons & Dragons, and so I also tried weaving with metals.

My son has a good friend that is in South America, and I was able to source wool from there. I made my own yarn from it and created a “blooming leaf” overshot pattern. It looks a lot like butterflies. They have traveled, and now they’re coming back home with ideas.

Like a true Hero’s Journey, yes!

I feel like these kids go out into the bigger world, and then they make our world—well, “bigger” might not be the right word—but they bring so much enrichment.

I feel like my life has been enriched by knowing these kids in their unique expressions, by seeing them go out and serve the world. I get to explore through them. It’s been really fun to think about these kids and what kind of project might match up with—I keep calling them “kids.” These grown-ups.

These youths.

Yes. Exactly, these youths.

I can definitely see how that would be an expansive experience, to learn from them and have the relationship become more like an exchange. And you have four other children. What are their ages?

Yes, so my oldest is 21, and then I have two girls, 19 and 17, and two boys, 13 and 10. This is the last year in elementary school for my youngest, and then my daughter who’s still at home will be graduating and leaving soon, so our family is gonna shift. I’m going to be the only girl at home—except for my dog and all of my little hens.

Lately, I have just been having fun experimenting. Like, I wouldn’t say I’m a professional yet as far as weaving goes. I’m still learning a lot at the loom. I do sell my baskets and that kind of stuff, but I’ve never sold anything that I’ve woven on a floor loom. I’ve been weaving for four years, and I feel like there’s so much still to learn, and that’s very exciting.

So, it’s kind of like how I practice and teach yoga. I think the reason that I love yoga is—well, one reason is the meditative properties, the slowing down—but also that there is always more to learn.

Tell me a bit about your writing.

I am a published author. I have a picture book out that’s called “The Littlest Weaver”. It’s a story about a young girl and how art helps people heal from loss. And I’m very excited—next year, from the same publishing company—I have a second book coming out called “Cock-A-Doodle Dino”. It’s about a boy who becomes afraid of his backyard chickens when he realizes that chickens are descended from dinosaurs.

I’m also working on a graphic novel right now about volcanoes. I’m kind of crazy about volcanoes. I think they’re super intriguing, and there are so many positive things that come from them. We usually think about them as natural disasters, but they are a big part of the formation and recycling of Earth. And there are such interesting things that people have created as a result of massive eruptions—such as the invention of the bicycle.

It’s been really, really interesting to write a script. In my MFA program, I learned how to do short stories, novels and poetry. I could have spent a unit on graphic novels, and I didn’t. And of course, now here I find myself working with my publisher on a graphic novel. But I love it. It’s a really exciting and interesting way to collaborate—plus I get to share all the cool stuff that I love about volcanoes.

Do you have any advice for folks who might have trouble balancing multiple responsibilities, trades, and hobbies?

You might not like this, but I don’t think balance is a real thing. Even as a yoga teacher, we’re always in need of adjustment in one way or another. Sometimes we’re gonna have a season where we’re more focused in different areas.

But I will say this: fill your cup. Like, I need to create. And a lot of times, it’s from 5 to 7 a.m. That is my creative time. For some people, that’s not gonna be their creative time. The important thing is to give time to yourself. Even if I’m not creating, I’ll be up early writing morning pages, reading or just enjoying the quiet. If I have that quiet, then I can create, and give to my family what will also fulfill them and make all of us happy. A happy mom makes a happy family.

When I had younger kids, it was worth it for me to sometimes find babysitters that could watch my kids so that I could go take a pottery class, for instance. Also, I think it’s about recognizing that you’re not always going to be doing everything all at once, and that some things will leave and come back around. Right? Things shift, and you find what fills you.

Where can people find out more about you and your work?

I am on Instagram @robinhallwrites and @robinhallweaves, and I also have a website, robinhallwrites.com. Those are the easiest ways to find me. If you want to see the works I do in collaboration with Anna Ferrin, that is Hyacinth Ceramics. I teach classes at Triangle Weavers Guild. My last one was actually the day before ClydeFEST, so it’s been wild! But sometimes the pendulum swings that way.