Gobelin tapestries flourished in 17th century France.  The technique allows for intricate designs that have a painterly feel.  Plazter has almost 100 different colored yarns that she uses as a palette to create depth and dimension in her detailed hand woven tapestries.

Impressed by the people she encountered in her travels through life,  Bonnie Schultz Platzer focuses mainly on images of people in real life settings.  A Moroccan father and child, proud northern Togo women at market, an Amish boy hanging clothes, a grandmother and her grandson on Hope Street – these are the images that compel Platzer to make art.

She takes photographs of her subjects and refers to them for composition and color choices. Full-sized black-and-white photographs in reverse help her plot things out on the vertical loom. Then the weaving begins – each piece takes anywhere from four to six months to complete.  There are no computers, no assistants to help her.  This is one woman’s meditation on the people she has met throughout her journey.

The whole time she is weaving on her loom, she is weaving from the back side of the tapestry.  Platzer never sees the entire piece until she cuts the tapestry from the loom.  Hanging from the loom is a small mirror.  It is only in the mirror that she is able to see details of the tapestry from the front.