A Constant Companion
In the high desert, American Craft magazine keeps two weavers connected to the wider world of craft.
By American Craft Council
February 15, 2025
In their studio south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, weavers Linda Running Bentley and Kipp Bentley create lush, durable wool rugs using a traditional rag-rug technique and offcut wool blanket selvedges from Pendleton Woolen Mills. Throughout the development of their business and refinement of their hybrid approach to weaving, American Craft has been a constant companion–and a helpful connector to the wider craft world.
Linda has worked with textiles since childhood, honing her skills in sewing, knitting, and stitching. She discovered weaving in 1999 at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she trained on a Rio Grande—style walking loom. As her interest and skills grew, she consulted craft books and magazines at the public library, where she worked as a librarian. With access to a wide range of art publications, she dove deeply into the “possibilities, images, techniques of working artists and makers.” Linda eventually commissioned her first walking loom and established a home weaving studio in Denver, Colorado. There she explored natural dyeing using plants from her neighborhood and the Denver Botanical Gardens and began weaving rag rugs alongside traditional wool works.
For Kipp, the love of weaving came later. He first tried weaving during a college art course in the 1970s but, emerging with only a small, place mat–sized tapestry, deemed it “exacting and tedious.” As he continued to explore all manner of traditional crafts in search of a primary artistic discipline, Kipp began reading Craft Horizons, now titled American Craft. “It provided a view into the world of people like me, and to what I aspired to become,” Kipps recalls.
Much later, Kipp rediscovered weaving as he supported Linda’s work by maintaining and repairing looms. When Linda received a substantial commission to create wool rag rugs for a Santa Fe gallery, Kipp returned to the loom to help, and discovered a newfound joy in weaving wool selvedges. Together, Linda and Kipp established Estambre Studios in Santa Fe in 2010.
American Craft magazine continues to provide Kipp and Linda with ongoing inspiration and a sense of connection not only to weavers but to craftspeople of all kinds across the country. “As makers, we can too easily become isolated in our work, so the magazine helps broaden our views and exposes us to the work of other folks we’d likely never encounter,” explains Kipp. Importantly, this increasingly includes “younger folks and people of color who are doing interesting work and forging new paths.”
For Linda, too, American Craft provides a source of inspiration across disciplines. Recent inspiration from the magazine has included works by Adam Pogue (textiles), Mabel Hutchinson (wood carving), and Susanna Cromwell (paper). “None of these has anything to do with professional weaving; each of these has everything to do with me and my work as a maker,” Linda reflects. As a former librarian, she also uses ACC’s website to locate articles, reference images, and connect with other art periodicals and organizations.
Upon receiving a new issue of American Craft, Kipp savors the longer features on individual craft artists. “I’m interested to get the backstories on makers and their work, how they came to be devoted to their particular crafts, and how they developed as artists.” Kipp is also interested in learning how they manage the demands of life. “Making money, being an engaged spouse or parent, and handling the business aspects of being an artist are daunting. So I appreciate getting an inside view into the lives of other working artists,” he explains.
American Craft is a point of connection to the wider craft community for both Linda and Kipp: seeing references to Penland School of Crafts led Kipp to take a summer weaving workshop there. “It was really good for me to be among a group of fellow weavers and to tap into new ideas and techniques, as well as to become part of the larger Penland craft community.” The Bentleys also appreciate the magazine’s listings of shows, exhibitions, and events that they might not have heard about—both locally and nationally.
Whether as a tool of research and inspiration in the creation of new work, or a means of mapping the ever-changing landscape of craft, American Craft has consistently accompanied Linda and Kipp in their ongoing growth as artists.
