The President of the Board of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles just released a letter that they are in dire financial straits, and are trying to raise money, or will be forced to close the doors.
Author Archives: sarahnopp
Complex Weavers 2014 Seminars: in Tacoma
Complex Weavers just released a Save the Date announcement for 2014. This will be right next door in Tacoma! Definitely worth taking a look at: http://www.complex-weavers.org/seminars2014.htm
Update regarding ANWG Conference Registration
Update regarding ANWG Conference Registration:
Our 2013 ANWG NW Weavers Conference Registration will open Tuesday, Jan. 8, in the evening, sometime between 6pm and 9pm, Pacific time, for those planning to attend the conference only or to attend the conference and also take a workshop. Workshop Only registration begins on Jan. 15.
Before you register on-line, it is critical that you carefully read the on-line registration instructions that will be posted our website. That information will be available tomorrow evening when we open registration with our Registration Open webpage. The Registration Open webpage will NOT be posted until registration opens.
We will send out a newsletter Tuesday when registration opens with a link to the webpage so that you don’t have to keep checking the website.
Grant Award!
Thank you to the committee that recommended my application to ANWG, I was awarded one of the Grants for the Conference in June. So thank you Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds judges too!
As a first time Conference attendee, this is a HUGE help. It will be great to have this focused time with other weavers. I am looking forward to getting too many ideas and getting worn out.
I recognize a lot of names in the Instructors section, mostly through my involvement on Weavolution, and I am interested in too many of the seminars being offered, of course. But after reading through all the classes many times, I printed out the schedule and class calendar and circled my first choice schedule, and second choice too, just in case. Now I just have to wait six months!
Thank you again, all my Guild members, you who helped me get up the learning curve in the weaving world and encouraged me to apply for the Grant. You are an amazing group of creative people, and I am truly thankful that I found you all.
- Sarah Nopp
“NWxSE: A Collaborative Small Tapestry Project of Northwest and Southeast Weavers”
(Press release from Harbor History Museum)
Intricately Woven Small Tapestries on Exhibit at Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor
The Harbor History Museum’s newest temporary exhibit “NWxSE: A Collaborative Small Tapestry Project of Northwest and Southeast Weavers” opens on September 15, 2012. This cross-country exhibit showcases the works of weaving artists from Puget Sound (“NW”) and the southeast United States (“SE). The exhibit runs through January 20, 2013.
More than 40 small tapestry pieces will be on display, showcasing the incredible talents of tapestry weavers from Tapestry Weavers South and Tapestry Artists of Puget Sound (TAPS). Internationally known weaver Cecilia Blomberg will be demonstrating tapestry weaving on the exhibit’s opening day, Saturday, September 15, from 1 to 2 pm.
The small tapestry format is conducive to experimentation for the contemporary weaver. Small tapestries tend to be of finer quality than large ones, and are more time consuming to weave. Smaller tapestries also provide the opportunity to appreciate the workmanship close-up while larger tapestries are observed from a farther distance in order to see the whole design. Smaller works also feel more intimate to the viewer.
The two tapestry groups joined forces to develop this collaborative project. The goal was to present a wide variety of work while restricting tapestry artists to the same format. The exhibit first opened at the Gaston County Museum of Art and History in Dallas, North Carolina on Feb.18, 2012.
In addition to the tapestries, museum visitors can watch videos showing the complex process involved and the skills needed by the weavers to create their woven works of art. Hands-on activities will provide an opportunity for exhibit visitors to try their hand at tapestry weaving.
In addition to the small tapestries in the Special Exhibitions Gallery, local weavers from TAPS will display larger tapestries in the museum lobby. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday 10 am to 5 pm. Visit www.harborhistorymuseum.org for more information on this new exhibit and other exhibits in the museum.
The Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society, dba Harbor History Museum, was founded in 1963, and opened a museum in 1973. Our mission is to create opportunities to experience the heritage of the greater Gig Harbor communities. We do this by collecting, preserving, and sharing this area’s history. The museum is open April 16-January 31, Tues-Sun, 10am-5pm, except major holidays; winter hours are February 1-April 15, Weds-Sat 10am-4pm, Sundays 12pm-4pm.
Banner at the Fair
The letters we wove to spell out our name has been assembled as a banner and is hanging in our space at the Fair.
All letters and bands were handwoven by members of the Olympia Weavers Guild.
Olympia Weavers Guild display at the 2012 Thurston County Fair.
Ten articles
I have conducted some very interesting research into various aspects of weaving and textiles and fibers and all the attendant concepts that come along for the ride. I have become quite taken with the journal Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture. It offers strongly researched articles, from across the fiber spectrum, written with depth, making connections to many of the concerns of contemporary life. I have saved all the articles I have read and have gone back to reconsider more than once. As a student at Evergreen, I am able to access it easily as a digital archive. But it is rather obscure otherwise.
I just discovered that Textile is celebrating its 10th anniversary and are offering ten of their articles free to all to read, without need for subscription, so I can share that with you all.
The link to the articles: http://www.bergpublishers.com/Portals/0/journals/2012_10articles_TEXTILE_website.pdf
They selected one article from each year of publication and include the following topics:
Webs of Wrath: Terrible Textiles from the War of Troy, by Lois Martin
Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Great Britain, and America during the Greater East Asian War, 1931-45, by Jacqueline M. Atkins
Collecting the Contemporary: “Love Will Decide What is Kept and Science Will
Decide How it is Kept”, by Sue Prichard
Hiding the (Fabric) Stash: Collecting, Hoarding, and Hiding Strategies of Contemporary US Quilters, by Marybeth C. Stalp
Needled Women: Representations of Male Conduct in Mapula Embroideries, by Brenda Schmahmann
Pecha Cucha: Lace, by Catherine Harper
The Interpretation of Surface: Boundaries, Systems and Their Transgression in Clothing and Domestic Textiles, c.1880-1939, by Victoria Kelly
Women, Cloth, Fluff and Dust in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, by Elodie Neuville
Touching the Hem: The Thread between Garment and Blood in the Story of the Woman with the Haemorrhage, by Barbara Baert
White, the Color of Whispers: Concealing and Revealing Cloth, by Kathleen Connellan
I hope you all enjoy the articles as much as I have.
-Sarah
ANWG Conference Instructors!
The list of the Instructors for the 2013 ANWG Conference is out and it is a great line up!
Here is the list directly from the website.