WGRI Programs 2020-2021
Submitted by Cathy English
Vice President, WGRI
Updated November 12, 2020
September 12, 2020
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Uzbek Ikat:
The personal saga of an exceptional cloth
Experience the exotic in your own hometown; travel to Central Asia in this multimedia presentation. We have all seen Uzbek Ikat on the runway in New York and London, now travel back to Uzbekistan with Marilyn to watch the process of its production. Each thread manipulated, dyed, and woven into exquisite cloth – trulyhand-crafted.
Marilyn Romatka – “My focus is living folk art crafts. I teach a wide variety, from painting techniques to weaving, the common thread being the techniques are all deep-rooted in a culture from around the world. You might say the techniques I teach have all survived the ‘test of time’. I have the best job in the world; I travel to various countries gathering folk art techniques, then return to the US to teach enthusiastic students!” You can learn more about Marilyn’s work on her website, Taproot Folkarts - http://www.taprootfolkarts.com/guild-presentations.
October 3, 2020
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Weaving with Wire
In 2019, I had the opportunity to take a course in weaving with wire. The class focused on creating objects using techniques including twining, braiding, soumak, knitting without needles and more, all from a metalsmith’s point of view. This led me to think about warping a loom with wire and see what the possibilities could be when combining handwrought metal pieces with woven cloth. This presentation documents my exploration of combining these very two different mediums and developing interesting and unique sculptural forms.
Judy Schaefer is a designer, metalsmith, and weaver. Form, line and curves make a strong statement in her work. Judy enjoys creating original pieces using metal sheet and transforming it into a moving, fluid object. Her evolution as an artist includes recently introducing handwoven fabrics using wire into her work. The dynamic tension of transforming the rigid into fluid forms, now includes generating fluid forms from their simplest elements: thread, fiber, and pattern. http://www.wroughtandwoven.com
November 7, 2020
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Loom Controlled Double Weave
The focus of the presentation will be on loom controlled double weave using 8 to 16 shafts. Color and design combines with blocks in profile drafting. I will share my simplified tie-up blocks that I’ve used in all my doublewoven works.
Gretchen Romey-Tanzer has been weaving for 47 years. She has earned a BFA and a MFA in woven and constructed textile design. Gretchen has been an exhibiting artist and teacher for over 30 years. She is currently running a weaving studio and gallery in Brewster, MA. https://tanzersfiberworks.com
December 5, 2020
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Painted Warps
Painted warps are beautiful, but they can be difficult to design. Painted-warp colors can change radically when woven, depending on your weft yarn colors and your choice of design. This seminar will teach you how to choose weft, weave structure, and sett to showcase the colors of your painted warp – either by preserving the original colors or by blending them with a carefully chosen weft color to bring out their beauty.
Tien Chiu is an expert weaver and color ninja. Her work has been exhibited in museums and featured on the cover of Handwoven. She is obsessed with color, and has woven hundreds of swatches and dyed over 2,500 yarn samples in a quest to understand color in weaving. She teaches online courses about color in weaving at www.warpandweave.com.
In addition to her color work, she is the author of Master Your Craft: Strategies for Designing, Making, and Selling Artisan Work, a book about the creative process in craft. She is a former President of the Board at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Her handwoven wedding dress is part of the permanent collection at The Henry Ford Museum.
January 9, 2021
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Red Sings from Treetops Challenge
Sally Rianhard will lead the unveiling of the member’s creations from the Red Sings from Treetops Challenge.
February 6, 2021
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Deflected Double Weave:
Connections, Layers, & Pockets
Deflected Double Weave is a weave structure that has regained popularity in the repertoires of contemporary weavers. Why is this structure appealing? How does it work? What else can we do with Deflected Double Weave? There are several approaches to designing deflected double weave patterns as well as different tie-ups to make it happen easily at the loom. Deflected Double Weave can also be combined with traditional double weave to create connections, layers, and pockets all in the same piece. This technique may be used to weave dramatic shawls, scarves, and cowls with a variety of fibers and colorways. A skeleton tie-up allows you to tie-up your loom just once for these exciting possibilities with Deflected Double Weave.
Janney Simpson began weaving in the early 1980’s. She teaches weaving at Wesleyan Potters in Middletown, CT and at The Barn in Gaylord, MI and relishes the "ah-ha" moment when new weavers throw a shuttle for the first time. Janney is a past President, Apprentice, and Weaver of Distinction of the Handweavers’ Guild of CT. Also a member of Complex Weavers and Japanese Textile Study Group, she enjoys sharing her interest in Sakiori weaving using vintage silk kimono. She has presented many workshops and lectures on Finishing and Embellishing Handwovens, Knitted Beaded Bags, Sakiori, Deflected Double Weave, and Weaving with Fibers of Micronesia. Privileged to be a student for four years in Laurie Autio’s class, Explorations in Advanced Weaving, Janney strives to create one-of-a-kind pieces using a variety of fibers and weave structures on many types of looms.
March 6, 2021
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Handmade Cloth: Exploring Ritual
In this Zoom lecture, Sarah will tell the fascinating, ancient history of Jewish Prayer Shawls and recount her own story of weaving them.
Sarah Saulson has been weaving since childhood. She has often taught at NEWS and just retired from teaching textiles at Syracuse University. This spring, she and her husband, dog & cat, happily relocated to their retirement home in Providence. Her work can be viewed on her website: http://www.sarahsaulson.com
April 10, 2021
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Split-shed Weaving
Deborah Silver will explain the split-shed weaving process, including how to form a split shed on different types of looms, and how to create a cartoon on cloth that will remain flat while weaving and not wrinkle when beating. She will introduce the myriad structures that can be woven using a split shed on only 4 shafts. Deborah will also present samples of her art and discuss the creative process. A short weaving demonstration will be included.
Deborah Silver is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She discovered her love of weaving while attending the Cleveland Institute of Art, majoring in Fiber and minoring in Drawing.After a weaving internship, Deborah learned the craft of antique furniture upholstery. She then combined her skills to open her own fiber art business. She worked closely with interior designers, creating site-specific Fiber commissions for private residences, businesses and religious institutions. Currently, Deborah designs and weaves art that combines her interest in tribal imagery with contemporary faces, focusing on shared symbolism, connecting with the past, and cultural understanding/misunderstanding from an individual, rather than societal, viewpoint. Using the split-shed technique, Deborah transforms traditional weaving structures into a signature method of hand-weaving using only 4 shafts. All horizontal yarns travel from selvedge to selvedge. Deborah’s weavings have been shown in numerous local and national juried exhibitions. In 2015, she received a Cleveland Jewish Arts and Culture Fellowship award. In 2017, she received third prize in the ARTneo national juried competition. She received the Complex Weavers Award and First Place at “Complexity, Innovations in Weaving” in 2018. Deborah is the recipient of a 2019 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. In 2019, Deborah published The Technique of Split-shed Weaving, a book that illustrates pictorial weaving using a split shed on four shaft looms. She also lectures and teaches workshops on split-shed weaving. https://www.deborahsilverstudio.com
May 1, 2021
Location: Meeting presented via Zoom
Weaving a Story –
Personal Expression in Handwovens
Weaving a Story is a design-oriented approach towards creating self-expressive and meaningful handwoven cloth. As weavers we often focus on the end product, however there is an alternative approach that allows higher creativity to lead the way. Anastasia will share step-by-step exercises that can connect you to artistic weaving.
Anastasia Azure earned her MFA in Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 and BFA in Jewelry Metal Arts at the California College of the Arts in 2005. She has participated in many artist residencies and travels the globe teaching imaginative textile and jewelry workshops. Presently she is developing a fair-trade, woven jewelry collection that will provide economic empowerment to Mayan women weavers in Guatemala. https://www.anastasiaazure.com
June 5, 2021
Annual Meeting