Past Issues

THE NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA SPINNERS AND WEAVERS GUILD

December 2, 2000 from 10:00 - 2:00 at Christ Church in Meadville

NEW NEWS

If it is time to renew your Interweave Press publications, please consider doing it through the guild. It is usually $2-3 less than a regular subscription and if we submit five, we get one free subscription for the guild library. Call or e-mail Barb Lodge at (814) 336-4326 or, arbar@ toolcity.net, and she will coordinate the order. Be sure to include the month when your subscription expires.

Guild Library News: We are missing several magazines! Please check out your stuff to see if you have guild issues of Weaver's, Handwoven, or SpinOff.

Nancy Washok has volunteered to organize and keep up the scrapbooks

UPCOMING EVENTS

An exhibit at Meadville Council on the Arts, at the Heeshen Gallery on December 31-January 27. Entitled "Beyond the Visible": Recant works by Carol Werder, a former guild member. Her art is constructed figurative paintings that present iconic portraits of every day people. The artists demo is on Sunday, December 31, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., the opening reception is immediately following the demo.

EGLFC: Chautauqua Weaver's Guild will be hosting the Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference next summer. It will be on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute in October. Keep watching for news of this conference less than one hour's drive from Erie.

MAFA: Because of major renovations at Bucknell University, MAFA will not be able to meet there in 2001. No decision has been made yet, but it looks like the conference will probably meet at Towson University, Towson, MD.

The Great Lakes Fiber show will be held May 26-27, 2001 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, Wooster, Ohio. The fairgrounds have nice facilities and there are some excellent vendors that participate in this show. If you have any workshop ideas, or would like to teach one, please contact Linda Reichert by e-mail don47linda@valkyrie.net. The show includes sales booths with fiber related supplies, finished items, crafts, spinning and weaving demonstrations, workshops, and, sheep and wool shows and sales. Food available.

 

MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER MEETING

Treasurer's report:

Checking balance:	$1083.23
Savings balance:	$3328.06 (including our grant)

Fiberfest: Costs over and above income amounted to only $151.43 this year. Rent on the Nature Lodge has been raised for 2001. Someone left a spinning wheel. Sue Spencer's African photo album is missing.

MAFA: Our membership needs to be renewed. We discussed whether to pay for a $30 or $45 membership. A motion was passed to pay the $45 this year and to publicize the benefits. If no one takes advantage of these benefits, we will reconsider next year. Laura and Karen will investigate the benefits of each as listed in MAFA's info packet and report at next meeting. Ann Sheffield and Sue Spencer will be the new reps.

Books: "Weaving Solutions," by Alison Griswold is available for $30, or $25 if 10 books are ordered. Barb will check reviews and report at next meeting. Ann recommended "Handspun Treasures from Rare Wool, by Interweave Press.

The winner of the Spinner's Fleece Award at the Crawford Co Fair has not yet been paid. Bonnie will send him a check and his name will be added to the membership list to receive the newsletter.

Amy announced that Gannon University. Small Business Development Center is offering a workshop for artists and crafters, Oct 23, 2000.

Show and Tell: Ann showed an intricately handwoven bag from Peru, Laura a quilted jacket she made over the summer, and Karen three tree skirts.

Meeting continued with members remembering highlights of their fiberart lives with stories and display of items finished.

TUESDAY SPIN

The Tuesday Spinning group continues to meet the third Tuesday of the month at Christ Episcopal Church on Diamond Park in Meadville, 10 am - 2 pm. The next meeting will be on November 21. As always, all are welcome to attend, with beginners especially encouraged. Bring a project, a wheel or handspindle, and a bag lunch. Beverages are provided; bring a treat to share if you wish.

NEXT GUILD WORKSHOP: WEAVING THAT SINGS

Have you always wanted your woven designs to flow? Want the freedom to inlay a variety of materials without distorting the ground fabric? Learn to apply this versatile technique for use in clothing, rugs and pictorial weavings. Using 2 sizes of warps, the Theo Mormon technique allows designs to be "painted" on the surface with inlay yarns. 3 different threadings achieve cloth to wear, walk on, or hang. The NW PA Spinners and Weavers Guild is planning a workshop suitable for weavers (beginning to advanced skills) with Nadine Sanders on March 16-18, 2001, at Christ Church Episcopal on the diamond in Meadville, PA. Each participant will need either a small portable or table loom with 4H and a 10 or 12 dent reed or a loom with 6H and an 8 dent reed. The cost of the workshop is only $50 for guild members, $60 for non-members.

Nadine is a weaver, voice and piano teacher. She is co-author of Weaving that Sings with Joyce Harter, her mentor. Nadine's biography speaks for itself. "While presenting workshops and programs throughout the country, I strive to touch each participant's sense of creativity. I incorporate all the senses in my presentations. One way of doing this is with music. Music and weaving go hand in hand for me. Close vocal harmonies relate to the successful marriage of structure, design and materials, which can make weavings sing! The rhythm inherently linked to weaving and music making is the touchstone to my creative energy."

Members of other guilds are invited to sign up after January 31, 2001. Final sign up is February 15. To register contact Amy Albrecht, email albrecht@velocity.net. A non-refundable deposit of $20 (payable to NPSWG) is required to register with the balance due March 1.

Nadine will be presenting a lively and upbeat program open to the public on Saturday evening about the history of weaving music and of weavings/weavers inspired by music. Participants are asked to bring ears to listen, voices to sing, love of music and weaving and if you are a musician who plays by ear or chords, your: guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, autoharp, violin, flute, or whistle.

This project was made possible through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. It is funded by the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual legislative appropriation, and administered locally by the Arts Council of Erie, Inc. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

LOST & FOUND

One Turkish drop spindle was found after the fiber festival. It's in a Hershey's plastic bag with some grey wool. If you are missing this please contact Donna Wellman.

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF FIBER MANIPULATIONS

1. Weave us now into temptation.
2. Don't mesh around.
3. Avoid reaching end of rope.
4. Thou shalt not tie one on.
5. If it's a sinnet, do knot.
6. Waste knot, want knot.
7. Don't get roped into anything.
8. Thou must be cord-inaated.
9. Knotting ventured, knotting gained.
10. Thou shalt make both ends meet.

[Courtesy of the Weavers Guild of Greater Cincinnati, Inc.]

ATTENTION

A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison Over 1200 handweaving patterns suitable for all skill levels. The book is 8.5" x 11" (22 x 28 cm), hardbound, 217 pages. $30. You can buy this at http://www.spenship.com

ARACHNE

Arachne was a young woman from Lydia, sometimes said to be a princess, who offended Athena, and suffered the consequences. Her story helped serve as a warning to all to take care to not offend the gods. Arachne was gifted in the art of weaving. Not only were her finished products beautiful to look at, but the very act of her weaving was a sight to behold. Nymphs were said to abandon their frolicking to come observe Arachne practice her magic. So remarkable were her works that observers often commented that she must have been trained by the very patron goddess of weaving, Athena herself. Arachne scoffed at this. She was disgusted at being placed in an inferior place to the goddess and proclaimed that Athena herself could not do better than her.

Athena was quite perturbed at Arachne's bold claim, but she decided to give the young woman a chance to redeem herself. She came to Arachne disguised as an old woman and warned her to be careful not to offend the gods, lest she incur their wrath. But Arachne told the old woman to save her breath. She welcomed a contest with Athena, and, if she lost, would suffer whatever punishment the goddess deemed necessary.

The goddess accepted the challenge and revealed her true form. The nymphs who had come to watch Arachne's weaving shrunk back in fear, but Arachne stood her shaky ground. She had made a claim, and she was sticking to it. So the contest began, the mortal at her loom, the goddess at hers. Athena began to weave the scene of her contest with Poseidon for the city of Athens. A beautiful scene developed from the threads, showing Poseidon and the salt water spring, and Athena with an olive tree, gifts to the people who would name Athena as their patron, and their city after her. The bystanders marveled at the goddess' work.

Arachne, for her part, created a tapestry showcasing scenes of Zeus' various infidelities: Leda with the Swan, Europa with the bull, Danaë and the golden rain shower. So exquisite was the mortal's work that the bull seemed lifelike, swimming across the tapestry with a real girl on his shoulders. Even Athena herself was forced to admit that Arachne's work was flawless. (Whether or not Arachne was actually better than Athena is still a mystery.)

Angered at Arachne's challenge, as well as the presumptuousness of her choice of subjects, Athena tore the tapestry to pieces and destroyed the loom. Then she touched Arachne's forehead, making sure that she felt full guilt for her actions. Arachne was ashamed, but the guilt was far too deep for her poor, mortal mind. Depressed, she hanged herself.

Athena took pity on Arachne. She most likely did not expect that Arachne would commit suicide. She brought her back to life, but not as a human. By sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena transformed the woman into a spider, her and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers.