Afternoon Lecture Programs at the Congregational Church of Westborough begin at 1:00 p.m.
and are open to the public.
Afternoon Speakers 2026-2027
September 9, 2026
A Weaver’s Journey: from Flat to 3-D Vessels & Corsets
Barbara Burns
Barbara will share her journey from weaving flat tapestries to her three dimensional, pulled warp work.
Along with a Power Point presentation, Barbara will have some of her work on display.
November 11, 2026
From Sketchbooks to Cloth: An Inside Look at Kristin Crane’s Creative Process
Kristin Crane
In this presentation, Kristin will share her weaving journey from a career designing for the textile industry to her personal art practice. She will go into detail about her creative process and discuss how she goes from moments of inspiration to finished product, whether that be an art piece or functional cloth. She will also share tips for making space in life to be inspired and then channeling that inspiration into textiles. She will bring sketchbooks to flip though and examples of her work to touch and feel.
March 10, 2027
Liz Spear – Nearly 50 Years’ Making
Liz Spear
Since 1978, Liz Spear has been working with her hands, making beautiful and functional pots, garments and books. Teaching since 1996 has led to an observation of experiences and skill sets that combine to focus attention to detail and intuitive design possibilities. Today, Liz is primarily a weaver of cloth and a maker of comfortable and classic garments, with a growing interest/skill set in bookbinding.
April 14, 2027
Double Weave Delights
Gretchen Romey-Tanzer
Gretchen will bring you through her artistic advancement using Double Weave as her structure of choice. She has focused on using 10/2 or 20/2 mercerized cotton in all the colors available. With the use of a 16 shaft loom it is possible to set up a variety of layer interactions that can be accentuated with color contrasts. Ideas for finished pieces come from external observations and her imagination. A sketchbook or photograph helps to record ideas. Colored pencil drawings are the first step of the design process. Choosing yarn colors and working out the block structure precede winding the warp. Extra warp is included to enable further experimentation after the first piece is woven to plan.
October 14, 2026
Takiing the Path of Fiber Art: A Retrospective
Laurie Carlson Steger
Laurie Carlson Steger trained as a textile designer for industry in the 1970’s but was pulled toward the genre, newly coined as “Fiberart”. She learned weaving as a young girl growing up in a family immersed in the craft revival years, 1950’s – 60’s. Inspired by traditional art history as well as textile pioneers, such as the Apocalypse Tapestries and Lenore Tawney, Carlson Steger explored personal expression with experimental methods in weaving and mixed media techniques. This presentation looks at key works along her creative journey with back stories of technique and core concepts that give each work a universal meaning.
February 10, 2027
On Zoom
Preserving Legacy through Fiber Art
Loose Threads Project
Maisey Kaplan
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Loose Ends aims to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects left undone due to death, illness, or disability. Loose Ends welcomes handwork crafters of all sorts, from anywhere in the world. Co-Founder, Masey Kaplan joins WGB via Zoom to tell the Loose Ends Project story.
Fiber with a Cause
Karen Baker
1:00 - 2:00 pm
The lecture explores the slave codes and laws, material and visual culture, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship of African Americans as weavers and textile designers by highlighting their contributions and innovations that have been hidden, buried, and lost in archives through presentation and film.
May 12, 2027
Ratings Exhibit
The May Meeting is an annual celebration of the Guild's programs and members. The schedule includes the Annual Business Meeting, Ratings Exhibit and presentations, Awards, the Guild Challenge presentation, a light-hearted Fashion Show, and a Celebration Luncheon. There are no morning workshops or afternoon speaker.