Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild

Enjoying our new place at QEP CCC

2012-02-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

February is the date to have our first Guest at the New facility at QEP CCC

2012 has been a very important year for our Guild. Not only because we finally found a home, but also to bring back memories of all our years that have gone by. Our important and special library was finally unpacked to release the most wonderful collection of books, samples of weaving, technical information, etc.

We are now in the process of organizing, labeling, inventorying and putting our tools to work. Yes, Tools such as our magnificent 100 inch loom that has been like the sleeping beauty waiting patiently to be set u again. Like in the good times!

Here we see Elizabeth-Anne working hard to clean and give maintenance to oone of our spinning wheels.

Or maybe we see

Judith and Mary cataloging our fascinating one of a kind-out of print BOOKS!

All our Guild members will soon take advantage of the place. This dedicated Fibre Room at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre promises to be a fantastic all-in-one facility. it is up to us to make this space our creative HUB!

No lets get to weave, spin, dye, and more. We invite all to join us at the formal opening on March 23 2012, room 040 at QEP CCC in Bridge Road, Oakville, ON.

Exhibition at Hamilton Place

2011-10-20T19:39:00.001-07:00

Tuesday October 4th our Guild was invited to showcase some of the activities and artworks for the Gala during the 2011 Summit organized by the Tourism and Culture provincial representations.

The Summit is an annual forum for the tourism industry to share the latest trends, be exposed to new ideas and best practices, and network with colleagues. Entitled 'Taking Care of Business,' the 2011 conference theme will focus on insightful strategies to help us inspire and engage today's highly sophisticated and connected travellers and will include a series of keynote presentations and hands-on workshops.

Awards Gala Reception - Hosted by Hamilton, Halton, Brant Regional Tourism Association

3 of our members, Yamile Roa and Ixchel Suarez and Stella Tang presented some of her works in weaving and wearable art.

Below we see Yamile with a tapestry she is weaving for her son and will be given to him in December.

Members of the Oakville Art Society also participated in the exhibitions organized for the Halton Region displaying artists on site painting in acrylics.

More than 300 people attended the event. Great comments where given to our Guild, encouraging us to continue to preserve the traditional techniques in spinning and weaving through a contemporary lens.

Even though it was a one day event, which involved setting and picking up all the display, it was really worth the efforts.

September 2011Guest Speaker: LIne Dufour

2011-10-08T04:58:00.000-07:00

The past Month of September our Guild had the opportunity to invite one of the few artists in the GTA that still design and weaves tapestry:

Line Dufour is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. She also obtained her Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Guelph and a Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto.

Her tapestries have been exhibited extensively throughout Ontario and in New York. She has received numerous awards, grants and scholarships to pursue her weaving.

Line has extensive teaching experience with people of all ages. Not only has she taught weaving but she has also taught high school art (Waterloo Separate Board) and art history (Wellington County Board, Continuing Education).

Line Dufour creates handwoven tapestries for exhibition, commission and sale. In addition she also creates and designs handwoven, hand knit and fibre constructed scarves, shawls, and capes. Because of her passion for weaving and fibre,Tapestry Line Unlimited was created to encompass all the various aspects of her fibre related activities and weaving, through which she also offers for sale weaving supplies, materials and equipment.

Line shared with us part of her creative process, her philosophy towards the creation and the inspiration that lies behind each and every one of her pieces. Her use of colour as well as her technique shows her wonderful skills due to her background in Design and Art and the skills that are present in each one of her tapestries.

Line brought some samples of her work to share with our Guild members, who participated by asking questions during her wonderful lecture.

Her presentation took place at the facilities of the Oakville Art Society , which for the past year have been so kind to lend us one of its art rooms for our monthly meetings. We truly appreciate this generous gesture on behalf of the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild.

Tapestry weaving in the GTA specifically is not new. Wonderful examples of this medium can be admired all around the TDC (Toronto Dominion Centre)

Names like Tamara Jaworska or Marcel Marois,

was born in Saint-Ephram, Quebec, in 1949.
He currently lives and works in Quebec City.

These are some of the examples that are still there in the foyers of some of the buildings.

Tamara Jaworska

Immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1969. B.F.A., Honors, State Academy of Fine Arts, Poland (1950); M.F.A. Faculty of Design and Weaving, State Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland (1952)

Specter in Silver, 1984
Tapestry-gobelin: linen, hand-spun wool, mohair, silver thread, 2.15 x 1.8 m

Iridescent Marsh/Marais Irisé, 1985 by Paulette-Marie Sauve, Toronto Dominion Center, Canadian Pacific Tower: York Street entrance

“Paulette-Marie Sauvé’s Gobelin tapestry “Iridescent Marsh", is installed on adjacent walls of the west lobby of the Canadian Pacific Tower. Borrowing from elements of Bauhaus design, she has created irregular triangles of exuberant color, representing her interpretation of the Canadian landscape (Flora growing in marsh areas).

Seen from outside, these shapes provide an interesting diagonal play with the horizontal and vertical framework of the Mies van der Roe architecture.

In this four building complex, there are two other pieces: Sun Ascending, 1985 by Kaija Sanelma Harris in the TD Tower and Grande Ville, 1985 Joanna Staniszki in the Royal Trust Tower. Both of who have busy well established careers are easily accessible through their dealers and websites. Joanna Staniszki metal work was profiled in the Summer 2005 Surface Design, Journal of the Surface Design Association. As of this posting date have yet get the information about their pieces or images.

More tapestries in the central lobby north of the elevator core of this building, Infinity by Sofia Dlugopolska (west side of lobby) Untitled by Jacqueline Lescott off the balcony to the south of Infinity and an untitled tapestry by Maria Ciechomska on the east side. Information about these artists has not been found and the obvious source of it, building management often considerate nothing more then decoration if they notice it at all. This is unfortunately indicative of attitudes about public art in general. [1]

I would like to invite all the textile lovers to come out sometime to Toronto and take a look at these pieces before they are gone. We know by some members of the textile Museum of Canada that years ago there where even more. Some were removed while the building was under remodeling or for maintenance, but some never went back to their places where they where hung.

Tapestry is an ancestral technique yet a contemporary medium to transcend in art. By appreciating this medium we encourage young artists to pursue working into this wonderful technique. Spinners have also a very important role in all of this productions. Traditional and/or orthodox weavers still like to work only on natural materials. If hand spun available is definitely the best choice. By creating original hand spun yarns, tapestry weavers have even more materials into their palette to work with.

[1] Quote from the TD Centre brochure

Fascinating use of new textiles!

2011-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Amy Dover, one of the Docents at the Textile Museum of Canada shared with us this fascinating link on new fibres. Just couldnt wait to share it with you all. Enjoy it!

http://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_lee_grow_your_own_clothes.html

Artist Talk: Peter Harris and defining Tapestry

2011-05-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

An afternoon with Peter Harris at the Oakville Art Society.

Display of technique and skills in the art of Tapestry weaving!

Members of the Guild and guests from Cambridge, Mississauga, Burlington and Georgetown enjoyed the visit and the interesting lecture:

A tapestry is like a unicorn… nobody has actually seen one,

but everybody knows what one looks like. by Peter Harris

Friday April 29 the Guild had the opportunity to challenge all our definitions of tapestry though the insight view and research of Peter Harris, wonderful tapestry weaver from Ayton, Ontario, who kindly accepted our invitation to share a bit of his expertise in tapestry.

Peter Harris has been interested in the weaving of Kashmir for a long time. The relation of techniques like embroidered, patched, or woven into one same garment. He also offers workshops for those interested in this fascinating technique of historical importance.

Quote from Peter from the beginning, when we started to get immerse in the theme"I don’t remember having any particular awareness or understanding of the word “tapestry” until I learned how to weave tapestry in the early 1980’s. Then when I’d begun to make tapestry my own, I noticed how frequently this word for a rare and arcane practice appeared in all kinds of commentaries about all kinds of non-textile things, and often with some additional reference to weaving thrown in as a bonus. The word “tapestry” has a currency and commonly-understood meaning far out of proportion to its actual production in the present era. Now for me it’s always accompanied by a flash of recognition, like a familiar face in a subway-train window. One of my favourite sightings is in an interview by Studs Terkel with Bob Dylan: “There’s one song, the only way I can describe it is as a great tapestry – ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’.” All true, but how does the word for an anachronistic craft come to be used today with such confidence and respect?".

Peter is a fantastic tapestry weaver who started in this art and craft almost 30 years ago. His backgroud though is in philosophy and literature, so we could understand his interest in the readings of visual images through different mediums, and it was through tapestry that he developed his main interest.

This tapestry, Enchanted Forest is full of weaving challenges, symbolisms, colour changes and blends and intricate design that alltogther creat a piece of Art.

Peter analyzes the medium and quotes:

"Tapestry has come under modernist critique for being a derivative art form, because of the historical specialization between artists and weavers, and the extent to which a modern artist-weaver’s design is pre-planned before the weaving begins, so that it resembles a process of translation or adaptation. But in fact, seldom is the weaver’s work so subservient to the designer’s that the weaving does not transform it in some way expressive of both. Tapestry weaving has a repertoire of effects that eloquently bespeak textile, as well as limitations for mimicking some sorts of mark-making in other media.

Peter finishes his talk with an interesting reflection:

"So much for the most commonly asked question, “How long did it take you to do this?” to which the answer should be, “It was over too soon”. The perennial issue among weavers – the internalized version of the second question we hear most often, “Can you make a living at this?” – is, how can we gain the critical acceptance for tapestry as work-of-art that would offer the possibility of professional success? In my view, that is to chase a receding, capricious, increasingly irrelevant prize. Historically, tapestry participated in cultural expression in ways that don’t necessarily conform to the occasion of modern gallery-going, where people expect to find certain kinds of objects enshrined. These same people, if they went to view stained-glass church windows, whether as tourists or as part of their religious observance, would have very different expectations. Everyone who seeks to give cultural expression through their skills, needn’t try to beat their way into the art world, but should try to situate their contribution as naturally and easily as they can in their personal and community lives. We should not be trying to alter our coat of many colours into a skimpy but fashionable accessory. The fact that tapestry has its own rich and widely recognized meaning is a tremendous advantage. "

Thank you Peter. We sure can take many reflections reading "between the warps".

We wish you luck with your piece which will be presented in Mexico during the events from the VI International Bienial of Textile Art hosted in Mexico.

The exhibition Encounter Mexico-Canada: Contemporary Textile Art will be presented in the Anahuac University, School of Design.

Come back soon and share with us your wonderful tapestries.

Welcome Peter Harris

2011-04-13T21:52:00.001-07:00

Come join the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild to our monthly meeting on April 29 at 2:00 pm. where we will be glad to share with you a wonderful artist talk by Tapestry weaver:.
Peter Harris
http://tapadesi.com/
http://tapadesi.com/tapestry-gallery-tour-slideshow/

in his own words:

As a blog is supposed to be written in the present tense, I get just one chance to explain how it begins. Longer even than my dedication to tapestryweaving, has been my affinity for South Asia. I first travelled there overland in 1972-73, through many places now more difficult. The photo of me was taken in 1978 by my Nepali host on the front step of a farmhouse, on a hill overlooking

Pokhara on one side, and the Annapurna range on the other. I homed in on one of my photos of the mountains, for my first journey through a woven tapestry wallhanging a few years after. It felt like I had climbed the mountain, stitch by stitch. Years later when I revisited the same vantage point, all the details of the view clicked into place

Come join the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild to our monthly meeting on April 29 at 2:00 pm. where we will be glad to share with you a wonderful artist talk by Tapestry weaver:.

Peter Harris

http://tapadesi.com/

http://tapadesi.com/tapestry-gallery-tour-slideshow/

Tapestry weaver since 1982, better known for his study of the tapestry design and weaving techniques used in the historic Kashmir shawl. Tapestry is also a great metaphor for connecting the world meaningfully.

Talk:

"A Tapestry is like a Unicorn...Everybody knows what one looks like, but nobody has ever seen one."

The essential character of tapestry, and why the word is so widely understood and used metaphorically, but rarely about woven textile. Peter Harris will share lots of illustrations from some artists and from his own work. Two excerpts have since been published (about the definition of tapestry in the CTN newsletter, and the modern tapestry artist's dilemma, in Fibre Focus) but not the main thesis, which is about visual storytelling strategies.

RSVP. Free for members.

$ 10.00 CAN Non-Members

where: Oakville Art Society, (to whom we thank the support to the OHS for our Monthly meetings)

Time: 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Oakville Art SocietyOakville Art Society

Place page

560 Bronte Rd

Oakville, ON L6L 6S1

(905) 827-5711

Get directions

Hoping you will share this with your Guilds and fibre friends I sendyou my best regards.

Ixchel Suárez

Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild

President

http://oakvilleweaversandspinners.blogspot.com/

“As long as we have memories, we have yesterday. As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits.
As long as we have ART today is beautiful.”

Elizabeth Anne Kukurs on Tartans and more

2011-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hi to All.

It is a new year and our Guild is busy preparing ideas and projects not only for the next 5 Counties Seminar, but also to promote our Guild for our new space in the new facility of Queen Elizabeth Park.

This last Friday of January, our Guild had our first meeting of 2011, and what a pleasant idea to invite Elizabeth-Anne to present the History of Tartans. Coming from a Scottish background, Elizabeth Anne was able to share her legacy through these wonderful pieces of textiles, full of history, colour and design.

The English word tartan is derived from the French tiretain. This French word is probably derived from the verb tirer in reference to woven cloth (as opposed to knitted cloth).^{[note 1]} Today tartan usually refers to coloured patterns, though originally a tartan did not have to be made up of any pattern at all. As late as the 1830s tartan was sometimes described as "plain coloured ... without pattern".^[5] Patterned cloth from the Gaelic speaking Scottish Highlands was called breacan, meaning many colours. Over time the meanings of tartan and breacan were combined to describe certain type of pattern on a certain type of cloth. The pattern of a tartan is called a sett. The sett is made up of a series of woven threads which cross at right angles.^[5]

Today tartan is generally used to describe the pattern, not limited to textiles.^[5] In America the term plaid is commonly used to describe tartan.^[6] The word plaid, derived from the Scottish Gaelic plaide, meaning "blanket",^[7] was first used of any rectangular garment, sometimes made up of tartan, particularly that which preceded the modern kilt (see: belted plaid). In time, plaid was used to describe blankets themselves.^[6]

Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns. (Tartan is also known as plaid in North America, but in Scotland, a plaid is a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder or a blanket.)

She started her talk by sharing some information about the first recorded samples of Tartan weaving dating back to 5 Centuries BC. This of course was related to the Soay sheep.
It is believed to be a survivor of the earliest domesticated sheep kept in northern Europe, and it remains physically similar to the wild ancestors of domestic sheep, the Mediterranean mouflon and the horned urial sheep of Central Asia.^[1]

It is much smaller than modern domesticated sheep but hardier, and is extraordinarily agile, tending to take refuge amongst the cliffs when frightened. Soays may be solid black or brown, or more often blonde or dark brown with buffish-white underbelly and rump (known as lachdann in Scottish Gaelic, which is cognate to the Manx loaghtan); a few have white markings on the face.^[2]

The Dress Act of 1746 attempted to bring the warrior clans under government control by banning the tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture. When the law was repealed in 1782, it was no longer ordinary Highland dress, but was adopted instead as the symbolic national dress of Scotland.

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the highland tartans were associated with regions or districts, rather than by any specific clan. This was due to the fact that tartan designs were produced by local weavers for local tastes and would tend to make use of the natural dyes available in that area. The patterns were simply different regional checked-cloth patterns, where of the tartans most to one's liking - in the same way as people nowadays choose what colours and patterns they prefer in their clothing. Thus, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that specific tartans became associated with Scottish clans or Scottish families, or simply institutions who are (or wish to be seen as) associated in some way with a Scottish heritage.^[1]

It is generally stated that the most popular tartans today are the Black Watch (also known as Old Campbell, Grant Hunting, Universal, Government) and Royal Stewart.^[2] Today tartan is no longer limited to textiles but is used on non-woven mediums, such as paper, plastics, packaging, and wall coverings.^[3]

Elizabeth-Anne shared some traditions of her own family, like relating the colour of the stripes of the tartan of her clan, which is called Mac Bean (written in Gaelic as MacBheathain)
Tartan have different names depending on the clans and origins.

The naming and registration of official clan tartans began on April 8, 1815, when the Highland Society of London (founded 1778) resolved that all the clan chiefs each "be respectfully solicited to furnish the Society with as Much of the Tartan of his Lordship's Clan as will serve to Show the Pattern and to Authenticate the Same by Attaching Thereunto a Card bearing the Impression of his Lordship's Arms." Many had no idea of what their tartan might be, but were keen to comply and to provide authentic signed and sealed samples. Alexander Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald of Sleat was so far removed from his Highland heritage that he wrote to the Society: "Being really ignorant of what is exactly The Macdonald Tartan, I request you will have the goodness to exert every Means in your power to Obtain a perfectly genuine Pattern, Such as Will Warrant me in Authenticating it with my Arms."

Today tartan and "clan tartan" is an important part of a Scottish clan. Almost all Scottish clans have several tartans attributed to their name. Several clans have "official" tartans. Although it is possible for anyone to create a tartan and name it any name they wish, the only person with the authority to make a clan's tartan "official" is the chief.

Clan/Family Histories
- MacBean/MacBain/Bean

Origins and Early Years
The name MacBain and variants has its origins in the Gaelic "betha" or "beatha" meaning "life" (similar to "uisge-beatha" the water of life, or whisky). It may have been, however, that it was from the Gaelic "bheathain" meaning "lively one". An early version of the name was Mac'ic'Beatha or Macbeth - who was later to gain fame when William Shakespeare wrote about him. Like Macbeth, many of those with this name came from Moray and the northern Grampian mountains.

When the powerful families of Moray were eventually made to acknowledge the authority of the Scottish monarch in the reign of Malcolm IV, many of them moved to other areas in the north. Legend has it that a MacBean settled in Petty, near Inverness in the 14th century and established his family under the protection of the clan Macintosh. The MacBeans also joined the Chattan confederation of clans, of which Macintosh was a major part.

Construction

Each thread in the warp crosses each thread in the weft at right angles. Where a thread in the warp crosses a thread of the same colour in the weft they produce a solid colour on the tartan, while a thread crossing another of a different colour produces an equal mixture of the two colours. Thus, a sett of two base colours produces three different colours including one mixture. The total number of colours, including mixtures, increases exponentially with the number of base colours so a sett of six base colours produces fifteen mixtures and a total of twenty-one different colours. This means that the more stripes and colours used, the more blurred and subdued the tartan's pattern becomes.^[5]^[8]

The sequence of threads, known as the sett, starts at an edge and either repeats or reverses on what are called pivot points. In diagram A, the sett reverses at the first pivot, then repeats, then reverses at the next pivot, and will carry on in this manner horizontally. In diagram B, the sett reverses and repeats in the same way as the warp, and also carries on in the same manner vertically. The diagrams left illustrate the construction of a "symmetrical" tartan. However, on an "asymmetrical" tartan, the sett does not reverse at the pivots, it just repeats at the pivots. Also, some tartans (very few) do not have exactly the same sett for the warp and weft. This means the warp and weft will have alternate thread counts.

Diagram A, the warp

Diagram B, the weft.

Diagram C, the tartan. The combining of the warp and weft.

COLOUR: SHADES AND MEANING

The shades of colour in tartan can be altered to produce variations of the same tartan. The resulting variations are termed: modern, ancient, and muted. These terms refer to colour only. Modern represents a tartan that is coloured using chemical dye, as opposed to natural dye. In the mid-19th century natural dyes began to be replaced by chemical dyes which were easier to use and were more economic for the booming tartan industry. Chemical dyes tended to produce a very strong, dark colour compared to the natural dyes. In modern colours, setts made up of blue, black and green tend be obscured. Ancient refers to a lighter shade of tartan. These shades are meant to represent the colours that would result from fabric aging over time. Muted refers to tartan which is shade between modern and ancient. This type of tartan is very modern, dating only from the early 1970s. This shade is said to be the closest match to the shades attained by natural dyes used before the mid-19th century.^[10]

The idea that the various colours used in tartan have a specific meaning is purely a modern one. One such myth is that red tartans were "battle tartans", designed so they would not show blood. Many recently created tartans, such as Canadian provincial and territorial tartans and American state tartans, are designed with certain symbolic meaning for the colours used. For example the colour green sometimes symbolises prairies or forests, blue can symbolise lakes and rivers, and the colour yellow is sometimes used to symbolise various crops.^[2]

Thank you Elizabeth Anne for this wonderful presentation.I would have loved to see more members in your presentation.
Of course this is not Woodstock or what so ever!

But it is important to be there and take advantage of what all of us have to share with the Guild. If this Guild is to grow as we would love to we must be integrated and willing to participate as actively as we can in order to have a wonderful Fibre Room at QEP soon to open in January 2012!

I am sure through this presentation many of us will have more inspiration and ideas for our project to come for the 5 Counties Seminar.

Start creating and have a wonderful year 2011!

Until next post.

New facility for the Arts

2011-01-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

Queen Elizabeth Park is a facility being re-built in order to alocate the art groups in Oakville. Soon to be opened, it is a facility that promisses already a fibre space, same one we are trying to work with the Town to move into and get our Guild working regularly, offering not only monthly meetings but also workshops, lectures and spinning and weaving opportunities to All the Oakvillians.

Colourful member!

2010-12-01T21:07:00.001-08:00

Here you see Merilee!

This is our las meeting of the Year, sonce some of our Members are planning to enjoy this Winter Break away from our Town.

This of course did not stop us to get together and show some of the works our members are creating, like this part cape that Merilee brought to show. I just love all her bright and colourful designs she always has on her. This time she shared with us this interesting shape:
a square in the centre and then from there on you just go around and around. Isnt it great and fun???

Friedl, one of our Great Spinners of the Guild shared with us an interesting ready dyed yarn creating a self pattern for socks!

She is preparing to fly to Australia, to visit her son and new members of the Family, but she is already getting prepared to bring beautiful hand made wonders for her loved ones.

Congratulations ladies!

Special Invitation

2010-10-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

This week we had a lovely invitation for Our Guild from the Georgetown Heritage Spinners and Weavers Guild.

The ocasion was to attend a presentation by Jette Vandermeiden about Tips and Tricks for those who work in floor looms. It was really amazing how eventhough I though that by working with looms for quite a good amount of years, and yet so much to learn and improve!
Her presentation went so fast we could have stayed there for a couple of hours more. She is so nice to listen to. He presentation was clear and easy to follow, but I guess her experience will overflow any time she has. I would love to go to her studio close to Barrie and learn more things.

Like some of the tools she showed where really practical and not so known or used by many weavers.

Friedl Ballaban, one of our Guild Members added

" I know Jette Vandermeiden well - - she has a stunning studio near Mount St. Lois/Moonstone. You'll find out more about her here: http://www.huroniahandweavers.org/teanaustaye.html

She also writes a regular column in Fibre Focus ("Loom Bench") and has a very easy approach to very complex weaving issues (at least they seem complex to me!).

The meeting was at 7:30 in the HW & S cottage. a Lovely place to inspire anyone. The night was quite cool and it started to rain. That factor did not stop us from attending.

Margaret showed us around the Cottage and one of the projects they are already working on is a rag-rug carpet. Here we stand in front of the HUGE loom ready to weave on. The theme will be Teddy Bears, and all the ragged fabrics will be printed cottons with teddy bears!.

Cant wait to see how it turns into a lovely carpet.

Thank you Margaret and your always friendly Guild for the invitation on behalf of our Guild.

Latvian woven mittens by Elizabeth-Anne Kukurs

2010-09-28T17:37:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth-Anne Kukurs gave the guild a brief history of Latvian mittens.
These mittens were an important part of Latvian Cultural history. The
various patterns of the mittens generally reflected what area the knitter
(or wearer came from) In olden times, a young lady could prove herself
worthy of marriage by the quality of mitten she knit. Girls learned to knit
mittens from a very young age and on marriage part of her dowry would be a
chest full of mittens, and other hand knit items. Often many relatives
would contribute to this chest. Mittens were given to special wedding
guests.
These Latvian mittens were hand knit by Elizabeth-Anne, using hand spun and
in some cases had dies yarn. The mittens have a hand knit liner to double
the warmth. They are very cosy and comfortable during the chilly winter
months!!

Thank you Elizabeth=Anne. We really admire your beautiful presentation!

Congratulations to our Guild

2010-09-22T22:12:00.001-07:00

5 Counties Seminar 2010 took place last Saturday in Guelph. it was a very interesting apporach to energized yarns from a very specialized spinner:
Eileen Hallman of New World Textiles, North Carolina

Eileen is a weaver, spinner, dyer, engineer of fibre equipment, and fibre entrepreneur, as well as a respected instructor of weaving, spinning and dyeing techniques. Read more about her in the Summer issue of Fibre Focus and on her website, www.charkha.biz.

Our Guild challenge was to produce any items spun and or woven with these two colours. Eventhough some of the Guild where a bit uncomfortable about using specific colours, it turned out to be quite exciting and creative.
Elizabeth Anne Kukurs was the one who decided to spin and knit a beautiful Fair Isle style scarf. Her ends with beads just had the right finishing touch to a great piece.
Out theme besides the colours we decided to work on The Comfort Zone. Not everyone from our Guild was excited to do something, be time or Summer issues and previous commitments, but the fact is that only three where the ondes which participated in the Guild Display.

Nevertheless the few works, Stella Tang and me where awarded for a joint piece we prepared as a Kleenex Sack....it was really Great!

So for now, we say good bye to 5 Counties and we have another challenge to think about for next Fall 2011 in Cambridge.

See you soon!

Artist Talk in the Oakville Arts Society

2010-06-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday June 20th I was invited to present an Artist Talk for the Oakville Art Society.
As President of the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild, I felt that a reciprocal way to say thank you to the OAS for lending their facilities for our Guild to meet, was to share some of my time to present an Artist Talk on a Design Process.
The date was rather hectic because not only it was Father's Day, it was scheduled at 2:00 pm, and we had the Soccer World Cup going on! Regardless the disadvantages of the events, the talk was very interesting for the participants.

The process itself is a methodology I have been applying for many years in the development of my own artworks (batiks, tapestries and Designs)

Nature as an inspiration for developing ideas is a very creative, easy and fantastic way to start a project. We are surrounded by common lines, shadows, shapes that can detonate our minds to create! Enjoy all the world that surrounds us!!!!

Lecture on Argentinean Artists

2010-06-17T22:13:00.001-07:00

Juanita Siezler is an Argentineantorontonian fibre Artist who shared her research on contemporary fibre Artists from South America, especially from Argentina.

It was really interesting to learn about some tendencies from the 70s and what artists are doing now a days in the fibre arts forums.
Thank you Juana for taking your time to share these interesting images with our Guild!

Lecture at the Oakville Art Society

2010-06-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello dear Art Lovers.

The Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild is glad to share an afternoon at the Oakville Art Society as a reciprocal program.

The Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild has been homeless for quite some years now, and the OAS has kindly offered a space for our Guild´s monthly meetings.

We would like to invite you all to attend an Artist Talk by Ixchel Suárez:(artist short bio. below)

Design: A step by step into the creative process.
Nature as the inspiration.

Design is a process of ideas put together for a certain purpose. Discover a fun and creative way to approach an idea using basic principles of composition, texture, colour and the surrounding world we live in.
Fascinating approach to Nature as an inspiration in the wonderful creative process!

Sunday June 20, 2010
2 pm to 3 pm
The lecture will be followed by a question period

This is a free lecture! but should you wish to make a donation, all proceeds will go to Anderson House- Oakville Cancer Hospice.

Artist Bio. (Short)

For 30 years, Ixchel Suarez has been an artist who has explored diverse media such as painting, photography and fibre art. Her profound interests in textiles led her to studies in Mexico and Europe. BA in Graphic Design, MBA in Museum Studies, and Post Graduate Course in Contemporary textiles in Poland, History of Art, Pattern Design and Natural Dyes are just some of the courses she has accomplished in her dedicated career. Lecturer, workshop leader and Teacher. Docent at the textile Museum of Canada and Founder of Oakville Tapestry and Painting Studios. Is member of several fibre related organizations. Award Winner for the Visual Arts Category Stars Among Us 2010.

Oakville Arts Society
560 Bronte Road
Oakville, Ontario L6L 6S1

info@oakvilleartsociety.com

Tel: (905) 827-5711

Spinners weavers.pdf
918K View Download

past images

2010-06-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

I recently found these images that where given to me by Helena Asikainen.
Here with Mary Foster preparing the silk fusion fibre base for the tree project made in group for the Guilded Threads, one of the 14 exhibition in the World of Threads Festival 2009.

Thank you Mary and Helena for your work. It really made a difference!

Not only was a beautiful day, but Helenas house was very inspiring!

Social Fabric

2010-06-11T11:26:00.001-07:00

“Social Fabric is a new Web 2.0 environment of the Textile Museum of Canada. Visitors are invited to share their unique knowledge, experiences, feelings and creativity with the Museum and each other.

Social Fabric was built by many communities. Volunteers from a network of artists, scholars, fashion designers, students, and new Canadians chose the 50 featured objects and developed the questions associated with them. Social Fabric visitors can see their voices reflected in the Museum by participating online and contributing a response.

Become part of the Social Fabric at www.textilemuseum.ca/socialfabric/. Make connections between the textiles and your life and share your knowledge, voice and unique experiences.”

More from our great spinners

2010-05-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Lara showing one of her beautiful creations with very fine spun and woven fibre. Joyce Pacaba also in the process of spinning and weaving. Thank you ladies for your participation in this 6th For the Love of Arts Festival at Town Hall Oakville, organized bu CommUnioty Arts Space!
See you all next year with more activities and displays!

Mary Foster and Monica Day were all day long displaying their expertise in the use of the spinning wheel. Thank you ladies for your collaboration.
It really makes a difference to show our techniques rather than just talking about them!

Artist Talk

2010-05-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Great Festival of the Arts!

2010-05-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

The 6th For the Love of Arts Festival was a wonderful day for all the arts in our Town of Oakville. The Handweavers and Spinners Guild participated with a booth, together with the Tapestry Studio.
Our display mainly showed hand spun yarns, woven samples from floor looms and tapestry weaving.

Lara Dayes, Mary Foster, Joyce Pacaba and Monica Day where greeting all the visitors interested in spinning and weaving. They showed how to use the spindles and the spinning wheels to young girls who where just fascinated about the experience of twisting the fibres!.

We all had a wonderful time because the festival was displaying the fibre groups such as the Knitters and Crochetters, the Fibre Arts group, the Hookers and tatters, the quilters and many other artistic not-for-profit groups.

Dances, music, painting, sculpture, photography...all together in an unforgettable time. Thank you ladies for taking your time to share your knowledge and expertise with the community.

For the Love of Arts Festival 2010

2010-04-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

For the Love of Arts Festival 2010 is coming and it is our great opportunity to display some of the things we do in our Guild. We will be preparing activities for kids to understand the structure of weaving. Demonstrations in spinning wheels and some tapestries will be also there.

This is Oakville's most important day to share with the arts in Town. We also collaborate with the Oakville Historical Society, but it is at this time that we sit side by side performers, visual artists, independent groups and all the Non-for-profit organizations that make this Town one of the most important in cultural activities throughout Ontario.

Music, dance, art, all in the same venue. Oakville Town Hall will be hosting this year's event. Free entertainment for all the family. 3 stages simultanously performing all kinds of shows. My daughter and I happen to be in one of the folk dancing, so make sure you bring friends and relatives to this great event!
Hope to see you there!

For more information and schedule you can visit
FTLOTA10 www.CommUnityArtsSpace.ca

Showing us how to spin.

2010-04-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today was a very interesting day for the Tapestry Studio.
One of our NEW members from the Guild, Monica Day, dropped by to show us her new beautiful small spindles she is making, and of course, some of us who are only weavers where so interested in trying them.

Stella Tang, who is also a member of our Guild jumped into the task immediately and gave herself a try into the spindle. Though it is never easy the first times to understand the behaviour of the fibres, she managed to spin some centimeters!

I guess we will all give a try into spinning. Wish us luck!

Bye for now.

Friedl's trip to Australia

2010-04-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

These are only some of the many pictures Friedl Ballaban shared with us in our last meeting in March. She was so lucky to meet so much interesting people and I was happy that her back was never an impediment for her to enjoy all the wonderful activities taking place in that part of the world.

I won't be writting much, because she is preparing a full article for us to enjoy. It is just a little bit for you to see because I just loved these images.

Right now, she is out again! Poor girl! she is enjoying herself and pampering in a SPA in Europe!... Well, I hope she comes back recovered and full of energy as always to bring us some more images for us to share.

QEP design review

2010-04-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

It has been very exciting to follow up on the advances for the project for Queen Elizabeth Park. This facility to be opened in 2012 (hopefully). The idea of the Town of Oakville to rescue an old high school and a recreational centre, and turn it into a facility that would host most of the performing arts like orchestras, choirs, training schools, theater as well as for the visual arts and media is coming to a reality.

From Left to right:

Leslie Masters representing the Oakville Fibre Arts,
Claire Loughheed, Senior Manager for Cultural Services, Recreation and Culture for the Town of Oakville, who we thank enormously for all her support through all this process by understanding the fibre groups needs.
Cathy Shaugnessy who is representing the Oakville Knitters and Crocheters Guild and the Free Form Group and myself, standing out to represent the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners Guild and the Tapestry Studio.
There is still one more group to name who will be participating with all of these for the same space and is the Oakville Sewers Forum represented by Catherine Goetz from the Distinctive Sewing.

It is fascinating to go through all the stages of this MEGA project. Meetings for the planning of the spaces, needs, detailing of the lights, fixtures, plugs, etc. have been taking place parallel to the partial demolition of the facility. Fase I is done. So now we head towards Fase II.
Once the demolition is over, now the Town is quoting companies to do the remodeling and delivering the facility.

I can´t wait to start weaving in our new space, especially since we have been homeless for so long.
The possibility of creating a Studio for all these groups gathered in one place(Fibre Groups Shared Space) is really exciting. Imagine the stitchers, sharing a workshop with the Sewing group meanwhile the weavers are doing their thing....on the other side of the Studio we could see spinners creating fascinating yarns for different projects and another small group practicing natural dying in the dye room!.....can´t wait until 2012!

Thank you Oakville Art Society!

2010-03-31T10:04:00.001-07:00

I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU note to the Oakville Art Society, who not only offered economical support to our Guild when we made our presentation in the Town Hall about our homeless condition and Guild's necessities, but are now hosting our monthly meetings in their facility.

On behalf of our Guild please acknowledge our gratitude. We will never forget this kind gesture.

Helena Asikainen Presentation

2010-03-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Helo my friends and Members of our Guild. I would like to share some ideasthat Helena brought to our atention in her presentation last January.

Helena is an artist, a wonderful interior designer and decorator. She is from Finland and also a weaver.

Helena AsikainenMEI - Modern European Interiors http://www.meiinteriors.com/

Her show and tell presentation was precisely in the tendencies Europe has based in the rescue of textiles in our everyday life. Decorating textile based accents are wonderful !

Helena and the TextureWorld presentation was intended to revalue natural things, be it hand woven or hand spun using colours and textures in our lives.

The tendencies in Europe to use and or include felt is a MUST!

Texture adds interest and warmth in a cold cold world. All the technological advances have created our surrounding space impersonal and freezing spaces. That´s why theuse of bright plain colours like fucsia, apple green and whites with browns are important to contrast the ambiance.

The importance of values to natural materials which where long appreciated in Europe is now coming back. Simple lines in design in contrast with the warmth

of ANY fibre material or decorative accent will allow us to enjoy our spaces.

Thank you Helena for sharing these interesting ideas. You have opened us possibilities for new creations.

Have an excellent fibre week!

Woven necklaces presentation

2010-02-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

Last Friday Stella Tang, one of our members, made a show and tell presentation on a beautiful art and craft she has been practicing for quite a while: woven necklaces.
She not only has been following patterns already made, but also creating her own compositions incorporating beads from around the world.
She shared with us her prefered materials such as cotton or metallic threads,and waxed brown twine to do the warping.
One of the most important instruments she mentioned was the special hard needles to be set in a kind of a foam board.

The beads have to be set in an additional nylon thread before the weaving is done with a needle.

The shape of the figure can be as simple or complicated as the design can be.

Another different task would be the necklace support lines and the ends. Here we see how the round beads are included in this weaving.

Our next presentation for the Guild

2010-02-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Here we have some of the works of Stella Tang, one of our members. She will be making her presentation next week during our monthly meeting in the Oakville Art Society facility.

She not only is a painter and a prolific weaver, but also does beautiful woven necklaces. I will update our blog with some of her jewelery and the process she uses to accomplish this nice textile form of art.
Thank you Stella. Until next week!
We would like to acknowledge the support from the Oakville Art Society to lend us their facility for our meetings.

New tapestry from one of our members

2009-12-01T11:55:00.001-08:00

Here we show you one of Stella Tang’s tapestries. She is in the process of finishing another one in plain weave and soumak. (ixchel, what is soumak? it is the name of a plant as far as I know, what does it have to do with weaving?)
Her design changed a bit as she worked on it and she almost gave up. In the end she finished her “challenge” with great success! Congratulations, Stella!

New Weaving Project

2009-11-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

Here is Friedl, the former Treasurer of our Guild. She has recently assumed new responsibilities as Spinning Chair for the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners. After a number of years of mastering the drop spindle and the spinning wheel, she has now started her adventure in weaving. She has a floor loom in her house and decided it was time to be put to good use - - so she did. Here she is showing her first woven project. The individual place mats still need to be cut, washed and finished at the edges. Congratulations, Friedl!

This is our 100 inch loom

2009-10-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

We’re glad to know that we will soon have our own “home” for the Guild. The Queen Elizabeth Park project is well under way and we will have our very own fibre space. This space will enable us to dye fibres, organize workshops for spinning and weaving. We can’t wait to lay our hands on this beauty soon (at the moment it is unassembled and waiting for a “wake-up call”!)

Stellas new tapestry

2009-10-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Stella Tang is a member of the Handweavers and Spinners Guild but she is also a tapestry weaver, a member of the Oakville Tapestry Studio, a painter and a beadworking artist. She came up with this idea by mixing materials by using different fibres and special beads from Ghana.

5 Counties Seminar weaving workshop

2009-10-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

Fay Wilkinson was our keynote speaker on the topic of “The Path To Creativity”. She inspired us to stop thinking about “perfection” and to let our “creative juices flow”.

5 Counties Seminar 09

2009-10-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

On September 19, 2009, our Guild collaborated with the Georgetown Heritage Guild to host the Regional 5 Counties Seminar at the Gellert Centre in Georgetown. This provided an opportunity Guilds from Guelph, Mississauga, Burlington, Niagara Falls and Cambridge, to get together. We were joined by 14 vendors from the region, who brought all kinds of “goodies” for spinning and weaving.
In addition to a keynote speaker, we also had a workshop on spinning “Crazy Batts” and another one for weaving with non-conventional materials. Over 125 participants made the day special. It was also a great opportunity to meet up with “old” fibre friends and to make new ones.
Thank you, Georgetown Heritage Guild for working side by side with us on this adventure!

Latvian card weaving (2)

2009-10-17T19:35:00.001-07:00

Patterns can vary from simple to highly complicated. This was a very interesting but also challenging experience!

Latvian Pattern Card Weaving

2009-10-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Lilija Treimanis, who is a wonderful and experienced weaver, offered an excellent and challenging workshop on Latvian Card Weaving. It is an ancient technique to create beautiful belt-like woven shapes which can be sewn together to create shawls, blankets or rugs.

New facility for our meetings!

2009-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

We are planning our new program for Winter & Spring 2010. Soon we’ll be able to announce our guests, lectures and workshops for the coming season. We are also very excited that the work at Queen Elizabeth Park has begun; our new home is being constructed! We look forward to the completion of this project with great anticipation: we’ll have a place to set up our many looms!

Our meetings will be held every 4th Wednesday of the month at the Iroquois Ridge Community Centre, West Ridge Meeting Room from 5.00 t0 7.00 p.m. Visitors are always welcome!

Weave, spin, dye, felt …… let your “fibre mentality” inspire you!

My regards to all fibre lovers.

Guilded Threads

2009-09-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the finished tree: “ A Wrinkle In Time” and the black display: “Dressed Up and Somewhere To Go”. These are our group projects for the World of Threads Festival 2009, exhibited at the Oakville Town Hall. The techniques used for these two projects include spinning, weaving, knitting, bead work, silk fusion, natural dyes and embroidery.

The black squares of the second piece were originally to be the background for our tree. It soon became clear, however, that the black overpowered the delicate image of the tree. Since we had already quite a few of the squares completed, one of our members, who is also accomplished in working with beads, came up with the idea of joining the squares and adding embroidery. Here you can see what we ended up with - - we’re quite please with the result!

This is what we came up to at the end and we where pleased with our piece.

From sheep to shawl

2009-09-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hi to all again. I am sorry that this posting is so late but we have been busy organizing the 5 Counties Seminar and the World of Threads Festival tapestry. I hope you can understand the delay! anyway, we want to share with you some pictures of our get-together at Friedl’s home. She has recently completed the OHS Spinning Certificate and wanted to share her knowledge about a variety of different fibres.

She invited us into her “studio” (a.k.a. basement) where she keeps a whole arsenal of fibres, natural or dyed, all ready to be spun. Friedl showed weavers like me, who have never used a drum carder, how to card fibre. She also passed on some good ideas on how to organize ones “stash”.
Thank you, Friedl, for sharing this with our group. I am sure weavers and spinners alike had a very interesting morning (except for the members who were terribly allergic to her cat!).
Sometime soon I plan to post more information on the workshop on “Thrum Mittens”, “Latvian Card Weaving” “Colour: Importance in Design” and much more!
Have a great fibre week!

original idea

2009-07-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the steps from the original idea (a photograph taken by Judith Hay from her house) to the finished project (well, almost finished). There were many stages in between!
1. Deciding the project
2. Selecting materials
3. Deciding on different techniques for different aspects of the project
4. Dyeing fibre for the leaves and selecting the technique in which they will be rendered
5. Working on the background and mounting the piece for final presentation.

detail of the tree

2009-07-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

We had to mix a bit of bright white with the natural white wool and cotton. All the materials were spun by our members, especially Friedl and Mary. Thank you ladies! Great job.

Details of the Autumn leaves

2009-07-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

This is a detail of the leaves in silk fusion, which were made by some of our guild members. We had to wait for a good, bright day to work outside on the silk fusion.
The leaves were made from fibre dyed with natural dyes (Marigold, Cochineal, Indigo).

Our tree

2009-07-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a view of our tree, almost finished. As you can see, the tree is complete and the leaves are knitted. The base or support was made in silk fusion. We are all excited! We had planned to add some black, handspun & woven Corriedale to the border. Unfortunately, it turned out to be way too heavy. Visually, it was just too much information. It contrasted with the softness of the winter and the fine work of the leaves.

Visit to Tamara Jawoeska exhibit in Toronto

2009-04-30T19:40:00.001-07:00

From left to right:
Laura, Elizabeth-Anne, Lorraine. Stella and Ixchel during a field trip to York University in Toronto to admire Tamara Jaworska's large scale tapestries. Stunning pieces from the Eastern Europe school from Poland.
Excellent visit!

Festival for the Arts 2008

2009-04-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Judith Hay demonstrating the drop spindle method of spinning at the Festival of the Arts 2008.

Heritage Day at Palermo old School

2009-04-30T19:32:00.001-07:00

Heritage Day 07 at Palermo old School

2009-04-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

One of our activities is to promote hand weaving and spinning throughout the communitty. On this day, Mary Foster and Ixchel were there to demonstrate hand spinning. Ixchel was working on one of her tapestries in a vertical high-warp loom.

Natural dyes workshop

2009-04-30T19:01:00.001-07:00

The Guild decided to organize a workshop on natural dyes. Ixchel had just given a lecture on pre-Columbian natural dyes and it fit perfectly with the preparation of our hand-spun yarns for our Guild project. We were focusing on autumn -like colours so we decided to use cochineal, marigolds, indigo, iron...We used lime juice to lighten up the yellows and changed the hues of the reds and oranges.

2009-04-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Judith Hay has been one of our spinners and weavers for a long time now. She was an art teacher, so on this ocasion, she shows the group how the intensity of the colours side by side alters the radiation of light. She is weaving a blanket, applying her knowledge of colour to her projects.

2009-04-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Mary Foster, one of our great spinners, teacher, and friend is helping also in the weaving in small frames. We need to have at least 60 squares and rectangles for our background. We are weaving black corridale wool hand spun by Friedl and woven so far by Elizabeth-Anne, Mary and Ixchel.

2009-04-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our leaves we are preparing for our Guild project. We still need many more, and changing the hues, textures, fading effects, etc. the leaves we are knitting, using handspun and mainly hand dyed wool.

2009-04-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Guild has been a great supporter of the Arts in Oakville and is one of the 6 fibre Guilds in Town.

Hands on meeting and celebration

2009-04-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all the members of the Oakville Handweavers and Spinners for the support and work throughout these many years.

We are now celebrating the acceptance of the project for the former Queen Elizabeth Park High School to be turned into the Centre for the Arts....It is a great opportunity for our group to have our own space. once again We will set our 100 inch loom again... we will keep up with our projects.

Congratulations to all!

More details fron the Idea of our project

2009-03-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

details from our project

2009-03-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

The project is done sideways but in the end will be up-ward. You will have the opportunity to see the final version, with the black alpaca woven background.

Our Fall -Winter project

2009-03-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

On the back ground you can appreciate a little bit of our project (still in progress) for the Guilded Threads show to be displayed at Oakville TownHall next fall, during the World of Threads Festival.

This is a very interesting project. It reflects 2 completely different views from the same tree taken by one of our guild member's garden. She photgraphed the same tree in the same place in the four seasons. We decided to create one idea, winter, with an explosion of fall through some part of the tree. All the project is hand spun by us and natural dyed (which we also did at the Guild) with marigolds and cochineal, to mention some of our dyes.

The weaving is tapestry weaving in a nosk fjord self stand vertical loom

More from spinners!

2009-03-26T21:36:00.001-07:00

Our Guild congratulates Elizabeth-Anne for her beautiful and healthy second grand-daughter! Lucky grandma!...more stuff to spin and knit.

Workshops and demonstrations

2009-03-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

Our Guild promotes activities throughout the Community, offering demonstrations on spinning and weaving at Schools, with other Guilds and community centres.
We are recently joining efforts to hosting the next Five Counties Seminar, along with the Heritage Guild from Georgetown for next fall.
Follow our blog is to provide information on workshops, lectures and schedules. It will be GREAT!
The purpose of this year's Five Counties is to "collaborate" with a friend, fibre related-OR NOT! imagine, how interesting it can be?

Our members

2009-03-26T21:16:00.001-07:00

Mary Foster, one of our life long members is here spinning. We thank her for her hospitality whenever is required!

World of Threads Festival

2009-03-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

We are also proud to be continuously supporting our Community activities, festivals and Heritage events in Oakville. We participated in the past World of Threads Festival and we will be doing so with much excitement this 2009. Our Guild is working in a group project which involves not only spinning and weaving, but felting, knitting and collage. You will see our project in Town Hall next September during our Festival.

tapestry weaving

2009-03-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a view of the Tapestry Studio, shared space with the Guild, offering workshops, lectures or meetings.

Weaving workshops

2009-03-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Our Guild will be (hopefully) having a space to host our 100 inch loom. This loom was operating regularly, but due to changes and moves, the guild had to un-assemble it. However, we are still working in tapestry weaving with table frame looms, and in larger ones self-stand looms.

Our Spinners

2009-03-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

Some of our members have been awarded Master Spinners, and they all love to share their expertise with the new members. Our Guild has some spinning wheels and drop spindles available for members to rent.

Our workshops

2009-03-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

In this picture you can see some of the members of the Guild, along with members of the Oakville Tapestry Studio, who collaborate closely. We recently visited an exhibit at York University to admire some stunning large-scale tapestries by Tamara Jaworska.

Through the years, our Guild has regularly presented lectures, offering workshops and hands-on activities and meetings, and promoting the wonders of spinning and weaving.

Field trips to fibre exhibits, the Textile Museum and participating in local and Regional Exhibitions.