Deborah Silver – Artist/Teacher/Weaver

Deborah Silver – Artist/Teacher/Weaver

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
May 2024 Day & Evening Program

Deborah Silver is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She discovered her love of weaving while attending the Cleveland Institute of Art, attaining a BFA as a Fiber major and Drawing minor.

After a weaving internship, Deborah learned the craft of antique furniture upholstery. She then combined her skills to open her own fiber art business, working closely with interior designers, creating site-specific fiber commissions for private residences, businesses, and religious institutions.

Currently, Deborah designs and weaves pieces using the split-shed technique, transforming traditional patterns into a signature method of hand-weaving. All weft yarns travel from selvedge to selvedge, differentiating this cloth from tapestry. Her works have been inspired by the increased cross-culturalism in the world which has been facilitated by technology, the ancient realm of road and trade, now advanced to hyper-speed. Her most recent art is drawn from the memorial structures found in old cemeteries.

Deborah teaches split-shed weaving workshops internationally. In 2019, she published The Technique of Split-shed Weaving, a book that illustrates pictorial weaving using the split-shed process on four-shaft looms. Her articles have been published in Complex Weavers magazine.

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 2018. Deborah is also the recipient of a 2019 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.

  • May 10-12, 2024 Workshop
    Split Shed Weaving – Multiple structures using a straight threading
    https://handweaversofboulder.org/event-5377773
  • May 13, 2024 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    Day Meeting Presentation: My Creative Journey
    Deborah will discuss her creative journey: how she came to be a weaver, created textiles for interiors, and incorporated split-shed weaving into her work. She will present the creative process and philosophy that she employs in her weavings. She will also explain the split-shed weaving technique 
  • May 14, 2024 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Evening Meeting Presentation: The Split Shed Rabbit Hole
    Deborah will discuss her research into weave structures and how she modified dozens of 4- and 8-shaft patterns so that one can weave curves on only 4-shafts using a split-shed. She will explain the split-shed weaving process and how she has integrated various split-shed structures into her art and craftwork. le. 

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


Susan DuBois – Owner Treenway Silks

Susan DuBois – Owner Treenway Silks

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
April 2024 Day & Evening Program

Treenway Silks was founded in 1997 by Karen Selk and Terry Nelson. After 34 years, they decided to sell the business so they could spend more time traveling, writing a book, etc. On August 1, 2011, they sold the business to Susan Du Bois and Richard Yabunaka. And they’ve been living inside a rainbow ever since!

Karen Selk and Terry Nelson started Treenway Silks out of their home in British Columbia. Over the years they worked as a team learning about importing silk fibers, dying silk, and using silk creatively. All the while raising a family and being part of a vibrant northwest island community.

Susan is experienced both in business and in the fiber arts. Her business experience includes 25 years in direct response marketing and financial analysis/accounting, plus she is a licensed CPA and holds three advanced degrees (MBA, MS-Accounting and MS-Marketing). Susan weaves, dyes, embroiders (she has taught silk ribbon embroidery), spins a little, and has dabbled in paper-making and felting.

Richard is well prepared to take on the shipping, having six years experience in product fulfillment. His interests include a wide variety of martial art styles and he has the greenest thumb that you can imagine—keeping our yard filled with flowers and vegetables.

The extensive silk product line will remain the same, and beautiful dye colors will be created by three experienced Colorado dyers: Betsy, Pamela, and Peggy. Plus, Salt Spring Island dyers Cheryl and Mary will continue dyeing the lovely Montano series.

  • April 9, 2024 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    Day Meeting Presentation: Wild Silks from India—Cocoons, Mawata Cakes, Combed Tops/Slivers and Yarns
    Most of us are familiar with silk from the Bombyx mori silk worm…aka “bombyx silk” or “mulberry silk.” Did you know there are also different kinds of wild silkworms that produce cocoons and beautiful silk? These wild silks from India can be naturally white, creamy, different shades of gold and even a brownish color. Come learn about these and see/touch these silks in person. There will be a pop up shop available.
     
  • April 10, 2024 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Evening Meeting Presentation: Weaving with Silk—a show and tell of 2Skeins=2Scarves & weaving kits for Rigid Heddle and 4 or more shafts
    Sometimes weaving your first silk project can be a bit daunting. A great place to start is with Treenway Silks’ 2 skeins = 2 scarves free drafts. Come see our 12-year collections of hand-woven silk scarves and be inspired to dress your loom with silk. I’ll cover a few tips and tricks for handling a silk skein, too. There will be a pop up shop available. 

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


Charan Sachar – Textile Artist and Potter

Charan Sachar – Textile Artist and Potter

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
March 2024 Day & Evening Program

Charan Sachar recently taught at PlyAway where several HGB members met him and took his courses. He is an artist whose work reflects his passion for the fiber arts such as knitting, spinning, weaving, quilting. He uses that love as an inspiration for his clay work. In all the fields he works in, Charan loves to accept challenges and approach the making with a “what if…” attitude. Charan specializes in creating art yarns with textures, using traditional spinning techniques and pushing them an extra step to create unique yarns. Charan Sachar lived in India for a significant part of his life where his mother ran a boutique designing clothes for brides and bridesmaids. The designs, colors, fabrics and embroidery he came across then have a strong impact on his work now.

In 2014, Charan took up knitting as a hobby and very soon the knit patterns started making an appearance in his pottery work. Since then, he has been spinning, weaving and knitting a lot, one step further down into the rabbit hole of fiber and every step inspires him.

  • March 11, 2024 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    Day Meeting Presentation: From Engineering to Clay to Fiber to…
    Charan will share his journey starting as a software engineer, then textile artist and potter, and into all of his creative fields.
  • March 12, 2024 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Evening Meeting Presentation: Color and Texture in Art Yarns
    Charan will share how he creates art yarns as well as samples of his color and texture.

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


Woolpunk – Artist-Activist-Organizer

Woolpunk – Artist-Activist-Organizer

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
February 2024 Day & Evening Program

Woolpunk® is an American artist, born in Summit, NJ in 1971. She has both a BA and an MFA from Rutgers University. Woolpunk® employs materials and techniques sourcing women’s work creation, historically; she machine-knits fiber installations, quilts sculptures, and embroiders photographs. Her work consequently champions social change, addressing homelessness and foreclosures, water contamination, and deforestation. Referencing her unique stitching and use of fibers, she trademarked the name Woolpunk®, which she has been using creatively since 2004. The Dairy Arts Center introduced us to WoolPunk! 

 

Day Meeting Presentation: Get a Little Closer to Woolpunk

Say what? Say woolpunk. Trademarked as the artist, Woolpunk will share her work, art shenanigans, and discuss all things fiber related. She will show us her work and describe her inspirations and techniques.

 

Evening Meeting Presentation: I’d Like to Teach the World to Stitch/Community Outreach and Activism

Woolpunk has long focused on community to highlight the invisible work needed to better our planet. Getting a little closer will deep dive into inspiration and communal outcomes with fiber focused initiatives.

Woolpunk has the hands of a gifted artisan, the soul of a social activist, and the passion of an environmentalist.


February 12, 2024 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am – Zoom Presentation
Get a Little Closer to Woolpunk
February 13, 2024 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm – Zoom Presentation
I’d Like to Teach the World to Stitch/Community Outreach and Activism

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public.

Visit https://forms.gle/yypVeKRjt5GU8Ei38  if you would like to be a guest at a HGB Zoom meeting.


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


 

 

Leiko Uchiyama – Felt-Making Artist

Leiko Uchiyama – Felt-Making Artist

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
January 2024 Day & Evening Program

 

Leiko is a felt making artist nestled in the picturesque Blackstairs Mountains of County Carlow, Ireland. Her journey has taken her from her Japanese home as an agricultural and textile design graduate, to New Zealand, where she worked on a sheep farm, to Indonesia where her felt-making techniques developed and France, where she relished aesthetically and culturally rich surroundings.

The experience she has gathered through making, all the sheep breeds and the many types of wool she has worked with, have helped her to refine her skills. She creates wearable pieces with wool and silks which she dyes using her own color recipes. She also enjoys making functional pieces for the home such as tableware, stool tops, wall pieces or rugs.

Leiko has developed many felting techniques including one called Pine Needles. It was inspired by the look of pine needles on snow. It creates a fine, lacy felt – no actual pine needles are involved.

Leiko teaches felting workshops throughout Europe, America, Australia and Japan and she has exhibited in many different countries.

http://www.leikofelt.com

 

Day Meeting Presentation: My Felting Journey – the Red Thread of Fate

‘The red thread of fate’ is an expression in Japan to explain the special connection with someone important to you. “I can see my felt red thread has been leading me to who I am today as an artist,” she said. Leiko will tell us about how she has learned her craft and developed new techniques for felting.

Evening Meeting Presentation: Lacy Line Felt to Heavy Duty – Diversity of Felt

Felt making is so adaptable, it can be made into something very fine and soft or something strong and heavy. More than 1000 breeds of sheep in the world make this possible! Leiko will show us the materials and techniques she uses to make her many gorgeous items and will show us her technique called “pine needles” which creates lacy felt.


January 15, 2024 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am – Zoom Presentation
My Felting Journey – the Red Thread of Fate
January 16, 2024 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm – Zoom Presentation
Lacy Line Felt to Heavy Duty – Diversity of Felt

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public.

Email president@handweaversofboulder.org if you would like to be a guest at a HGB Zoom meeting.


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1

Hanna Rose Shell – Tales of Textile Intrigue

Hanna Rose Shell
Author, Artist, Associate Professor-University of Colorado Boulder

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
October 2023 Day & Evening Program

Hanna Rose Shell studies aesthetics, textiles, and the interface of art and science in the form of text and film.

Shell’s 2020 book, SHODDY: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags, examines recycled textiles as transformative media forms through the lenses of aesthetics, material culture, history, and critical theory.

  • Day Presentation: Tales of Textile Intrigue I: The Secret History and Creative Possibility of Wool Waste

This is a presentation based on Shell’s book Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags

The history of modern-day old clothes recycling begins with a thing called shoddy. Starting in the early 1800s, shoddy was the name given to a new material made from reclaimed wool, and to one of the earliest forms of industrial recycling.

Old rags and leftover fabric clippings were ground to bits by a machine known as “the devil” and then re-used. Usually undisclosed, shoddy-also known as reworked wool-became suit jackets, army blankets, mattress stuffing, and much more.

Shoddy is the afterlife of rags. And Shoddy, the book, reveals hidden worlds of textile intrigue.

  • Evening Presentation: Tales of Textile Intrigue II: A Community Workshop

Participants will bring an article of clothing (either acquired secondhand, handmade, or that has had a “long life” in relation to the participant) to the event. Stories will be told, new relationships and ways of talking about textiles created. Possibility for creative community darning a possibility.


https://handweaversofboulder.org/programs2023-2024.html#oct


  • October 9, 2023 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    Tales of Textile Intrigue I: The Secret History and Creative Possibility of Wool Waste
  • October 10, 2023 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Tales of Textile Intrigue II: A Community Workshop

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


2023 HGB Fiber Art Show & Sale – November 1-5, 2023

Welcome to Colorado’s premier fall art and craft celebration the Fiber Art Show & Sale of the Handweavers Guild of Boulder.

November 1-5, 2023
Wednesday – Saturday 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday 10 am – 3 pm

Boulder County Fairgrounds
9595 Nelson Road, Longmont, Colorado


Free Admission – Free Parking

Colorado’s Finest Fiber Art Event
100+ Guild Member Artists
Demonstrations

Juried Showcase Exhibit
2023 Theme – To Everything There is a Season
Call for Entry Deadline – October 1, 2023
Membership required by September 12, 2023


Represented techniques

Weaving • Felting • Knitting & Crochet • Bead Weaving • Lace & Knotting • Basketry • Embroidery • Appliqué & Quilting • Handspinning • Dyeing & Surface Design • Handmade Paper

Sample items

Accessories • Jewelry • Baby & Children’s Items • Clothing • Footwear • Hats • Scarves • Mittens • Home Accessories • Kitchen Textiles • Placemats Potholders • Wall Hangings • Pet Accessories • Yarn & Fiber • Holiday Items • Cards


It is our hope that you will spend a few moments exploring the hgbsale.org site, learning more about the fiber artists of the Handweavers Guild of Boulder and the Fiber Art Show & Sale.


May 2023 – Beth Marx – Felt Artist

Beth Marx – Felt Artist

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
May 2023 Day & Evening Program

Beth Marx has been a felt maker for over 15 years and is still fascinated with the process. Beth can’t remember when art was not part of her life. From the little girl who played art school in the basement of her Ohio childhood home to majoring in art at The Ohio State University, Beth has had her hand in many art mediums but has always had a real affinity for textiles. With an eclectic sense of style and keen eye, she fulfills her passion by creating wet felted garments and accessories in the studio behind her 1920’s bungalow that she has affectionately named Studio 907, the same number as her street address in Long Beach, California.

Beth is internationally known for designing and creating her own style of fashionable and sophisticated felted garments & accessories. She teaches extensively and has created a method to demystify the necessary shrinkage calculations. Her garments are sold in high-end boutiques and galleries in upscale locales, have walked runways, been published in books and magazines, and worn by a major theme park character.

Beth creates organically in an intuitive process letting the piece evolve in a collage style by infusing wool roving with the likes of hand dyed & hand-painted silks. There is no sewing involved and her seamless garments are strictly held together by the affinity of the wool fibers as they migrate through the fabric and entangle creating incredible textures. Her style exudes a worn patina and an earthiness rich with layers, textures, shapes and colors. For Beth, felting is a creative, challenging, tactile process rich with fascination and excitement in the resulting alchemy. Her pieces are one of a kind, made one at a time.

 

  • Day Presentation: My Felting Journey – Creativity, Community, Connections

Beth will talk about her felting, how she became a felter, what she  enjoy making and why, how to style her  garments, where she  gets her  inspiration accompanied by a slide show and a trunk show of her garments and accessories

  • Evening Presentation: Having a Bowl with Beth

For 18 pre-registered HGB members, and many observers, Beth will teach us how to make a shallow bowl without using a resist. Participants will need to bring their own wool roving. Beth will also have her trunk show available and will present and ask questions.


Details at https://handweaversofboulder.org/programs2022-2023.html


  • May 8, 2023 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    My Felting Journey – Creativity, Community, Connections
  • May 9, 2023 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Having a Bowl with Beth

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


April 2023 Program – Jill Powers – Bark Fiber – An Eco-Art Story

Jill Powers – Bark Fiber – An Eco-Art Story

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
April 2023 Day & Evening Program

Jill Powers is a contemporary fiber and environmental installation artist living in Boulder, Colorado. She works with many natural materials and processes, especially bark fiber. Jill focuses on ecological changes and finds inspiration in creating art around the latest scientific discoveries.

Jill has shown her work in major galleries in Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Boston, as well as being invited several times to show at the International Fiber Biennial. She has taught in many places, including Naropa University Visual Arts, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and the Museo De Las Americas.

 

Day Presentation: Bark Fiber:  An Eco-Art Story

Jill Powers creates art with bark fiber and many natural processes.  Jill’s art revolves around the aesthetics and science of ecosystems.  She has created art in response to ecological changes, finding ways to explore ocean and forest ecologies, drought, flood, insects, and geologic changes. Jill gets involved in her subjects in a deep way, exploring her subjects through curiosity and artist research, inspired by learning about the latest science and discoveries. Through her unusual art, she draws people into the stories through the beauty and intrigue of her materials and approaches and follows up with fun and engaging public programs to extend the impact of the work. Jill’s latest work is about mycelium and mushrooms! In her slide talk, she will take us on the journey of her work and bring some samples to show.

Evening Presentation: Bark Fiber Process

Jill will introduce bark fiber and show samples of her work and how it relates to bark cloth from around the world. Jill will show the results of her innovative techniques. She will speak about the qualities of the interaction of water and bark fiber, and demonstrate what happens when bark fiber becomes malleable and fluid.


Details at https://handweaversofboulder.org/programs2022-2023.html


  • April 10, 2023 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
    Bark Fiber: AnEco-Art Story
  • April 11, 2023 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
    Bark Fiber Process

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/meetings.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates! http://eepurl.com/gFVwQ1


March 2023 Program – Maria Elena Buszek – Craft and Contemporary Art

Maria Elena Buszek, Ph.D – Extra/Ordinary – Craft and Contemporary Art

Handweavers Guild of Boulder
March 2023 Day & Evening Program

Maria Elena Buszek, Ph.D. is a scholar, critic, curator, and Professor of Art History at the University of Colorado Denver, where she teaches courses on modern and contemporary art.

Buszek authored Extra/Ordinary as an eclectic introduction to the “craft culture” referenced and celebrated by artists promoting new ways of thinking about the role of craft in contemporary art.

 Day Presentation: Extra/Ordinary Craft and Contemporary Art – Behind the Scenes

Buszek will take us behind the scenes of her book Extra/Ordinary and how it came to be and why it is such an important topic.  The book’s contributors are described as “artists, critics, curators, and scholars [who] develop theories of craft in relation to art, chronicle how fine-art institutions understand and exhibit craft media, and offer accounts of activist crafting, or craftivism.

Some contributors describe generational and institutional changes under way, while others signal new directions for scholarship, considering craft in relation to queer theory, masculinity, and science. Encompassing quilts, ceramics, letterpress books, wallpaper, and textiles, and moving from well-known museums to home workshops and political protests.

 Evening Presentation: Craft in the Community

Craftivism is a term attributed to Betsy Greer and throughout history craft has been used as activism.  The last third of Extra/Ordinary is devoted to this topic.  Professor Buszek will talk about the history of craft in the community and the special projects she has seen.


Details at https://handweaversofboulder.org/programs2022-2023.html

 


March 13, 2023 – Guild Day Meeting 10:00 am
Extra/Ordinary Craft and Contemporary Art – Behind the Scenes

March 14, 2023 – Guild Evening Meeting 7:00 pm
Craft in the Community

Handweavers Guild of Boulder meetings are open to the public and held at Mountain View Methodist Church

Meeting details – https://handweaversofboulder.org/programs2022-2023.html


www.handweaversofboulder.org
www.hgbsale.org
www.facebook.com/HandweaversGuildBoulder/
www.instagram.com/boulderhandweaversguild/

Subscribe Here to keep in touch for HGB and Show & Sale Updates!