2023 HGB Show & Sale Showcase
To Everything There Is A Season
- How are the seasons reflected in your fiber art?
- Do you have a favorite season or time of year?
- How do the seasons influence all things including your desire and inspiration to create.
Juror: Jennifer Miller
2023 Showcase Manager: Janet Strickler
The Juror’s Choice award announced at the Member Reception – October 31, 2023
The People’s Choice Award announced at the Show & Sale – November 5, 2023
Juror’s Choice Award
Carrie Lambert
Salix
Artist Statement: Deciduous trees in temperate climates are the quintessential example of seasonality. Willow trees change from the bright green of spring to the deep greens of summer giving way to the variety of fall colors depicted in this piece before shedding their foliage in advance of winter snows.
Materials and Technique: The trunk of this tree is created using tapestry crochet in the round, branches and leaves are created with daisy chain crochet stitches incorporating glass seed beads in a wooden frame.
People’s Choice Award
Deborah Coccoli
Haystack Mountain
Artist Statement: This landscape is of Haystack Mountain in the fall. I took many photos while on 75th Street, enjoying the autumn feel and gorgeous view.
Materials and Techniques: I used wet felting and needle felting, along with some embellishments of embroidery and free motion stitching.
15″ x 14″
Participating Artists
Jeanne Abel | Danika Baker | Ruth Briggs | Alexandra Busby | Al Canner | Deborah Coccoli | Angella Dirks | Sondra Finch| Sally Fortenberry | Joanne George | Barbara Herrli | Jane Hill | Kathy Johns | Carrie Lambert | Jane McAtee | Donna Pattee | Lara Rabinowitz | Andra Stanton | Irene Takahashi | Sue Torfin | Susan Wilson
Jeanne Abel
Ice Ice Necklace
Artist Statement: Inspired by this mix of Tila beads and half Tila beads in an unusual clear, Aurora Borealis color, this necklace really makes a statement. The iridescent beads give off a sparkling rainbow effect and a wonderful shine.
A winter necklace? … Glistening crystals of snow.
A summer necklace? … Beads of water on an ice cold drink.
The choice is yours, both are perfect!
Materials and Technique: Glass Tila beads, Beading thread, adjustable lobster clasp. Freehand bead weaving
16″-20″
Jeanne Abel
Lace Pinky Swear Scarf in Urth’s Kashmir Mono yarn
Artist Statement: IHere is a lace version of the Pinky Swear scarf in Urth’s Kashmir Mono yarn. The intense color reminds me of the “Season of Blue Sky” in Colorado – meteorological autumn; September, October, and November.
The cashmere is decadent. The color is gorgeous. The lace pattern comes together down the center culminating at the gentle, intriguing knot creating a balanced and wonderful scarf.
Materials: Urth Kashmir Mono Yarn (100% Cashmere) Lace knitting in Urth Kashmir Mono yarn. This is worked in the round with some twists to create the wonderful join.
16″ x 34″
Danika Baker
As The Seasons Change
Artist Statement: My piece is inspired by the changing of the seasons, each month represented in a beautiful hank of hand painted 100% Cashmere yarn. The colors transition month to month, season to season cohesively.
Materials and Techniques: 100% Cashmere fiber, natural and acid dyes.
18”x 4”x 12”
Ruth Briggs
Mending Fences #5
Artist Statement: This piece is about spring. The landscape is greening up everywhere and the trees are still showing their skeleton. It is such a good time to create.. The air changes here where I live in the mountains of Colorado. Warm days and cold nights. Mending Fences is a continuation of a series I am doing about how fences make good neighbors, but also separate people.
Materials and Techniques: Cotton fabric spray painted, mended pieces added as if you were mending clothes. Quilted. Hand pieced and stitched by machine.
36” x 40.5″ x 1.5”
Ruth Briggs
Plane Geometry #2
Artist Statement: This Fiber Art piece is about the Fall season. It is when I start to do my serious work. The air changes here in the mountains of Colorado. Leaves change color, days are shorter, time to create quickly while there is good daylight. I love right angle triangles. This is a series I am currently working on.
Materials and Techniques: Cotton fabric machine pieced, hand dyed and commercial fabric, thread, quilted.
40” x 38″ x .l”
Alexandra Busby
Fowler Trail
Artist Statement: Fowler Trail captures a moment in the summertime, right when the heat came after a month of afternoon showers. It’s right when the sun is hitting in the hills, it’s the essence of a moment and the height of the wildflowers blooming. The piece is loosely needle felted in places to keep the loft of the wool and create depth.
Materials and Techniques: Needle felted using wool, silk, silk hankies and nepps.
15″ x 13″ x 1.5″
Alexandra Busby
Sand to Sky
Artist Statement: During the pandemic I lived in Los Angeles, far from the beach. But with people staying home, I could actually make it to the beach in under an hour. We would drive up the coast to vacant beaches and my sons would chase sea gulls, and dig in the sand. Now we live in the mountains and it feels like a moment past, like summer itself.
Materials and Techniques: This piece is wool that was wet felted with inclusions of silk, silk hankies, nepps, and locks.
Al Canner
Clover Patch
Artist Statement: Clover Patch was inspired by its “spring green” satin cord, shimmering like the soft breeze in the newest of grasses. And once spring had asserted itself, a form suggestive of cloverleafs was soon pinned to the corkboard. Could I insert squares of color into that undulating form?
Materials and Techniques: Knotted cords of cotton, nylon, and polyester
19″ x 19″ x 2.5″
Deborah Coccoli
Haystack MountainPeople’s Choice Award
Artist Statement: This landscape is of Haystack Mountain in the fall. I took many photos while on 75th Street, enjoying the autumn feel and gorgeous view.
Materials and Techniques: I used wet felting and needle felting, along with some embellishments of embroidery and free motion stitching.
15″ x 14″
Deborah Coccoli
View of the Flatirons
Artist Statement: I was volunteering on the corner of Rt. 119 & Jay Road for a bike event this August. The sky and the rocks were lit just so. The view demanded to be captured. I felt that a wool rendering was called for and used my photo references to create this impression of summer, with a troublesome sky.
Materials and Techniques: Wet felted and needle felted wool, embellished with free motion stitching.
13″ x 13″
Angella Dirks
Primavera
Spring Flowers-My Daughter
Artist Statement: This is from a series that I began after I had my daughter Liliana, who was born on the first day of Spring. At the time I began to make paper from old proof prints, cotton rags and blue jeans. I made forms to be the enclosures for detailed compositions. I also made plaster molds that I eventually used for paper forms. My daughter became a collaborator and eventually let me make molds of her face, and I proceeded to use her impressions. These molds were used to make impressions in paper or clay, then later embellishing the surfaces. I work to make a creative expression, also an emotional expression.
Materials and Techniques: handmade paper made w/hollander beater, denim jean material is used in part for the outer enclosure. The backing pillow is white cotton, stitched in gridded dots with red polyester sewing thread face impression is made with commercial sheets of paper making sheets, called linters. later after drying I laminated the surface with acrylic matt medium being careful to layer applications for the delicate flowers that I had dried. The mask has cotton tabs that are attached to it with acrylic matt matte medium then sewn to pillow backing. the back of the mask has polyester fiber fill.
Angella Dirks
Winter Ware With Warm Wishes of Spring
Artist Statement: I knitted and then felted the red hat years ago; with only a felted hat band, but it needed some type of embellishments. The ideas for the completion of this hat alluded me through the years. I finally conceptualized it’s completion with this years slow arrival of Spring, anticipating the flowers that were not as prolific as they had been in previous years, I began to crochet small simple petal flowers. I made more than was needed for a hat band and I realized the importance of Spring to me. and encircled the hat with the felted flowers, which are attached to the hat w/vintage buttons from family members. Spring is a special season for me a time when I am invigorated, and preparing me for the Summer garden.
Materials and Techniques: Knitted and crochet of wool that is felted. Vintage buttons, sequence and beads, attached w/embroidery thread.
Sondra Finch
High Altitude Fall Sunset
Artist Statement: Fall is my favorite season and I find great inspiration and joy in the myriad of changes in colors and gradually diminishing temperatures. I sought out an ombre background of colors to represent a sunset, and it felt perfect to me to include Colorado high country images like those I see on the trails.
Materials and Technique: I cut many tiny pieces of gold and orange cotton batik to represent fall leaves, designed my own tree limbs, and quilted them by machine to the ombre background. I then included a celestial sky and stitched on fabric of Colorado wildlife and included a setting sun. I then quilted all of the images by machine and mounted it on stretcher bars.
42” x 24” x 1″
Sally Fortenberry
Spiral of Life
Artist Statement: This piece showcases vibrant colors associated with the change in seasons.
Materials and Technique: Tubular Peyote Stitch, Japanese Delica Glass Beads, Silver Clasp, Nylon Thread
3/8″ Diameter X 16″
Joann George
Christmas Love
Artist Statement: The season is Christmas. Common symbols of Christmas are the decorated tree, the wreath, and in many cultures – including that of my Swedish ancestors – the heart.
Materials and Technique: Christmas elements are tatted using crochet cotton and glass beads. Mobile sculpture created using acrylic rods and monofilament.
Joann George
Snow Flurry II
Artist Statement: The season of is Winter. There are few things more associated with winter than snow. I have been fascinated by snowflakes for as long as I can remember, and over the years have employed various techniques for creating them. Tatting is my favorite, and I enjoy the process of designing and creating them. The interplay of the snowflakes swirling around each other in a light breeze can be mesmerizing.
Materials and Technique: Snowflakes are tatted using crochet cotton and glass beads. Mobile sculpture created using acrylic rods and monofilament.
Barbara Herrli
Four Way Convergence
Artist Statement: The seasons merge from dull winter browns and greys, into the bright beautiful colors of blue sky, and verdant greens, then change to vivid yellows before dieing into autumn orange and beige, thence back to winter.
We sometimes notice the subtle change of the seasons but often some part of the year springs upon us in wonder.
Materials and Technique: Four pieces of hand painted watercolor paper, cut and woven together.
Jane Hill
Yucca and Lace
Artist Statement: Fall has a hold on me. As natures’ summer life evolves to winter death, the temperatures cool, the sun hangs lower in the sky, and the colors become more subtle. Some plants dry out and blow away while others produce skeletons that last throughout the winter. Hardy but still fragile, they amaze me with their beauty and provide a satisfying challenge in my art work.
Materials and Technique: Knitted fabric of polyester, nylon and rayon yarn. Knitted wire in two colors. Dried yucca pods and leaves directly from plant
Kathy Johns
Fall Together
Artist Statement: I’m always inspired by the natural world around me and in the fall we’re given the most extraordinary colors and contrast. I’m new to weaving and appreciate the ability to mix materials to create texture and depth. This piece is built on light and crisp color, and the leather provides strength and stability, something we all need in our lives.
Materials and Technique: Cotton and leather woven on a ridged heddle loom
Kathy Johns
Winter Snow Falls
Artist Statement: The transition from fall to winter is a time of anticipation for me, and the mix of wool and cotton leads up to the first snowfall in this piece. I love the flexibility of working with textiles because the draped cotton reminds me of the first snow blanketing over all that fall has left behind.
Materials and Technique: Cotton, wool and leather woven on a ridged heddle loom
Carrie Lambert
Cool Breeze
Artist Statement: This piece is inspired by the intertidal systems on the ocean shore left behind when ebb currents leave the rocks and mud flats exposed at low tide. The largest tides typically happen during the vernal and autumnal equinox when the region is exposed to extreme variation that is here depicted through texture and color combinations that provide depth and structure in the landscape.
Materials and Technique: This piece is created using crocheted copper wire inside an upcycled wooden frame.
Carrie Lambert
SalixJuror’s Choice Award
Artist Statement: Deciduous trees in temperate climates are the quintessential example of seasonality. Willow trees change from the bright green of spring to the deep greens of summer giving way to the variety of fall colors depicted in this piece before shedding their foliage in advance of winter snows.
Materials and Technique: The trunk of this tree is created using tapestry crochet in the round, branches and leaves are created with daisy chain crochet stitches incorporating glass seed beads in a wooden frame.
Jane McAtee
Springtime in Japan
Artist Statement: This piece was woven at the Japanese Textile Workshop in April/May 2023, a time and a place bursting with spring seasonal beauty. The warp is silk from worms raised at the workshop which I dyed in indigo there. Each part of the process was using ancient techniques and materials used in weaving in Japan.
Materials and Technique: The warp is silk from worms raised at the workshop. Each thread is 5 strands of silk from cocoons that made a slightly yellow silk. Our teacher had spun it into 5 strands on hanks at a collective. I lightly dyed it with indigo and then wound it using an antique winder. We made a kimono length warp of 17 meters. We used nylon heddles on a very old kimono loom, the nylon heddles protected the fine silk from abrasion. The reed is an antique made from bamboo. Dressing the loom took days and there were many mistakes to correct before weaving.
I used vintage kimonos as the weft. I selected them to reflect the colors of Spring – the greens of the trees and foliage and tea plants. The pinks from cherry blossom flowers. The light blue warp to reflect the bounty of water all around us. A small gold section commemorates Golden Week, a special week of holidays that occurs in early May when I was there.
Weaving like this is called Saki Ori and has a long history in Japan See Riches to Rags The Japanese word sakiori comes from “saki,” which means to tear or rip up, and “ori,” which means weave. “Saki” relates to preparing the fabric by striping it into pieces and “ori” refers to weaving it together. Many Obi (belts for kimono)are created using this technique
15″ x 36″
Donna Pattee
Lonnie’s Trees
Artist Statement:
“They change, wind’s gonna blow, always did . . . ”
(Sold Out of Flag Poles – Johnny Cash)
The trees best reflect the changing of the seasons: a tiny pink bud on an apple tree means Spring is not far off; Summer cherry trees are heavy with fruit; a few yellow leaves on a cottonwood signal the start of Fall. And deciduous trees in winter are stark and bare of leaves.
I have wanted to make this afghan for a while. The theme for this year’s Member Showcase gave me the incentive to finally do it!
My favorite season? How can I choose just one? There’s something to love about all of them.
Materials and Technique: Wool, alpaca, glass beads, metal and plastic buttons embroidery
58″ x 36″
Lara Rabinowitz
Autumn Equinox
Artist Statement: The beauty of changing leaves inspires me, especially during the autumn equinox, when the air hints at Halloween’s arrival. The changing of seasons connect me to nature, inspiring my use of kozo bark in this piece.
Materials and Technique: Muslin, Kozo bark fiber, watercolor, oil pastel, pen. Surface design
Lara Rabinowitz
Cotton Tail
Artist Statement: I find joy in the transitions of spring and autumn, fascinated by changing leaves and emerging wildlife. Moving to Colorado heightened my appreciation for nature’s small wonders, like the black bunny I saw under the Boulder night sky, inspiring this piece.
Materials and Technique: Materials: Muslin, fiberfill, embroidery thread, watercolor, pencil, second-hand yarn, found faux flower, second-hand fabric. Surface design, embroidery, painting, crochet, hand sewing
Andra Stanton
How Long Will it Last?
Artist Statement: With climate change occurring, are we facing the extinction of life, including ourselves?
Materials and Technique: Hand-dyed and pieced cotton, Evolon, acrylic paint, sponge.
Dyed, pieced, printed, painted, machine-stitched.
41″ x 39″
Andra Stanton
Rough Road
Artist Statement: This piece is an expression of the emotional pain of living with painful memories and the urge to move beyond them.
Materials and Technique: Cotton fabric, acrylic paint. Grunge (monoprinted) fabric, machine-stitching.
33″ x 22″
Irene Takahashi
Road to Crested Butte
Artist Statement: Summer cycling in Colorado is synonymous with joy for me.
Fresh air and beautiful scenery. Working for the reward of truly experiencing a beautiful place with all of your senses.
Materials and Technique: Commercial and hand dyed fabric, fused and stitched. Machine quilted.
Irene Takahashi
Springtime on the Platte River
Artist Statement: Spring is a time of rebirth and new beginnings.
Sandhill cranes migrate northward after overwintering at warmer lattitudes. About 500,000 cranes will stop to rest and refuel for a few short weeks, near Kearney, Nebraska, before completing their seasonal journey.
The morning air is filled with honking and birds dancing on sandbars before they head out for a day of foraging through nearby corn stubbled fields. This magnificent migration is a wonder of nature.
Materials and Technique: Commercial fabric pieced and fused. Machine quilting.
58″ x 38″
Sue Torfin
Dandelion Times Three
Artist Statement: Based on the theme of “To Everything There Is a Season”, I depicted the life of a dandelion in three phases. I treasure living in a place that displays distinct seasonal changes because of the physical, emotional, and spiritual variation I experience as the seasons open me to different aspects of myself, my relationships, and my world. Beauty, in all its variations, is flaunted uniquely during each of the seasons, drawing me into collaboration with this magnificent creation.
Materials and Technique: The three pieces are made with a combination of needle and wet felting with wool roving and is framed with wood, paper, and glass.
21.5″ x 11.5″ x .5″
Sue Torfin
Turn, Turn, Turn
Artist Statement: I took the theme of “To Everything There Is a Season” quite literally and chose to depict a small waterfront village through the four seasons of the year. I treasure living in a place that displays distinct seasonal changes because of the physical, emotional, and spiritual variation I experience as the seasons open up to me to different aspects of myself, my relationships, and my world. Beauty, in all its variations, is flaunted uniquely during each of the seasons, drawing me into a collaboration with this magnificent creation.
Materials and Technique: This piece is made by a combination of needle and wet felting, using wool bats and roving.
32.5″ x 18″ x .25″
Susan Wilson
Ukraine Will Bloom Again #1
Wall Hanging
Artist Statement: The inspiration for this piece comes from the desecration of war-torn Ukraine.
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. They represent the joyfulness and happiness of the Ukrainian people with their bright happy faces; happy faces that are gone….. for now.
Sunflowers are a visible part of Ukrainian culture, representing the country’s spirit and identity. They are a symbol of warmth, hope, faithfulness, and Ukrainian’s national pride and resiliency.
They are tall and strong.
But sunflowers, lives, and land have been damaged, despoiled, devastated and defiled.
I wanted to honor the Ukrainians with this felted piece of happy sunflowers. I hope to convey to the observer the joy that lies ahead for the Ukrainian people. As everything has its season, so shall Ukraine. Sunflowers will return. They will stand tall once again; happier, more joyful, and stronger than ever. Happy faces will shine once more, and Ukraine’s people and its sunflowers will bloom again.
Materials and Technique: Wet felting, needle felting, machine free motion stitching, beading
18.5″ x 28″
Susan Wilson
Ukraine Will Bloom Again #2
Vase with Sunflower
Artist Statement: The inspiration for this piece comes from the desecration of war-torn Ukraine.
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. They represent the joyfulness and happiness of the Ukrainian people with their bright happy faces; happy faces that are gone….. for now.
Sunflowers are a visible part of Ukrainian culture, representing the country’s spirit and identity. They are a symbol of warmth, hope, faithfulness, and Ukrainian’s national pride and resiliency.
They are tall and strong.
But sunflowers, lives, and land have been damaged, despoiled, devastated and defiled.
I wanted to honor the Ukrainians with this felted piece of happy sunflowers. I hope to convey to the observer the joy that lies ahead for the Ukrainian people. As everything has its season, so shall Ukraine. Sunflowers will return. They will stand tall once again; happier, more joyful, and stronger than ever. Happy faces will shine once more, and Ukraine’s people and its sunflowers will bloom again.
Materials and Technique: Wet felting, needle felting, embroidery
9″ x 13″
HGB Fiber Art Show & Sale Juried Showcase
Each year, during the five-day HGB Fiber Art Show & Sale at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, Handweavers Guild of Boulder members show their best work in the juried showcase. According to the theme chosen for that year, members of the Guild interpret their reflections in a wide variety of media including weaving, quilting, knitting, crochet, basketry and felting which may be hung on the wall or stand as sculpture.
The Showcase brings visitors the opportunity to see creativity and skilled artisanship up close and personal, and the chance to vote on the People’s Choice Award for their favorite work.