“The universe is so divine.” Savaree “Sav” Hazard-Chaney noted the synchronicity as she sat in a waiting room with a copy of Motif when I reached out to her about creating the cover art. Hazard-Chaney is many things – a fiber artist, the entrepreneur behind TuftxPVD, a wife, mom of four, a music-lover, a champion of the PVD art scene, and an all-around creative individual.
Pre-COVID, Hazard-Chaney kept busy painting murals for the city of Providence. Then the lockdowns began and public art opportunities dried up. As she quarantined at home with the kids (“They were driving me crazy quick!”), she was introduced to the fiber craft of tufting through her children’s TikTok. “It was an instant connection for me. I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is just like painting but with yarn!’”
The artist seized the opportunity by putting some of her juiced-up pandemic unemployment payments towards a tufting gun – the ultimate tool of the tufting trade. Hazard-Chaney dove headfirst into the new-to-her craft, creating tufted pieces and taking them to art markets to share with the public. She sold some pieces and fielded a lot of questions about tufting. “Naturally, people were like, ‘How can I learn to do this?’ and I was like, ‘Great question!’ There wasn’t anything at the time that I was able to point people to, so teaching just sort of fell into my lap.”
At the time, Hazard-Chaney was part of the 2022–23 WaterFire Accelerate cohort – a year-long professional development program for emerging artists. She worked hard to turn that momentum into another opportunity to pilot her first tufting workshops – what would later evolve into TuftxPVD – in The Graduate’s Sweet Dreams Society studio space.
At a TuftxPVD class, HazardChaney walks participants through the whole process of making a tufted piece. A student comes in with a design idea and leaves with a finished piece. When people see the hours of planning and labor that go into a tufted artwork, they come to value it. “That piece is important to making sure that artists are being valued outside of their studios and when they’re stepping out in the community and selling their work.”
Hazard-Chaney glows with love throughout our conversation in her cozy Olneyville studio. She tells me about her wife, Cessa: “None of this exists without her. She works her own 9-to-5 and then comes in here and does whatever it is I need.” When asked about Providence, she tells me of the overwhelming support she has received. “When I got here, I didn’t consider myself creative. And the way this city just showed up and was like, ‘No, you got this. If you wanna do it, we’re gonna show up for you.’” She tells me about her immense gratitude for this season of her life and work. “I’m really starting to understand how I’m living some people’s dreams right now. Having the freedom to do this gives me the freedom to show up for my family and for the kids and in my community. So my other love is the love of being a creative.”
Grounded by love and inspired by her parents’ massive collection of music on cassette tapes, this month’s cover piece, Love Volume III, sets quite the mood. Pair your perusal of this issue of Motif with Hazard-Chaney’s curated “Tuft Love” playlist. Since TuftxPVD is booked for the next couple of months, she wanted to share the chill crafting vibes she creates in class with everyone.
Listen to “Tuft Love” here and check back periodically at tuftxpvd.com as new class dates are added. See more of Sav Hazard-Chaney on Instagram @artxbyxsav.
