Afternoon Speakers 2023-2024
September 13, 2023
Storytelling and Woven Inlay
Scott Norris
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Woven inlay provides a great deal of freedom to weavers as they add patterns to their cloth. In simple examples, colorful inlaid shapes can be inserted anywhere in a piece of fabric. In more complex forms, a weaver can use inlay to add words, sentences, paragraphs, and – with time and patience – entire stories to cloth.
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In this talk, Scott will describe the motivations behind his use of inlay; explain the inlay techniques that he uses; and present a number of examples, including decorated linen towels and large linen panels that contain inlaid texts and illustrations.
October 11, 2023
Any Flower Drawn: Restoring a 19th-century Linen Damask Jacquard
Justin Squizzero
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In this presentation, Justin tells the story of how a mid-19th century Jacquard machine made for the Irish linen damask industry made its way to Scotland and Vermont, and follows the process of restoring that machine to weaving figured linen damask.
November 8, 2023
A Deep Dive into American Coverlets
Marjie Thompson
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Most weavers love coverlets but don’t know all the many variations that exist and how to recognize many of them when seen.
Using slides and actual coverlets, we will explore the drafts, coverlets, and styles that persisted from the latter half of the 18th century through the late 19th century, the period when coverlets were in vogue.
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The February Meeting will be held on ZOOM. All other Meetings and Afternoon Speakers will be Hybrid - both Virtual and In-Person
If you plan to attend the ZOOM session, you must register. In-person attendees do not need to register.
May 8,2024
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.
Dorothy Solbrig's lovely crackle scarf from the 2023 Fashion Show
February 14, 2024
A Brief Look at the Life and Legacy of Marguerite Porter Davison
Norma Smayda
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There have been many talks given about well-known American handweavers, but I don't recall one about Marguerite Davison, who is unquestionably one of the most important people in US weaving history.
Her 'green book', A Handweaver's Pattern Book, has been reprinted at least 18 times in hardcover, and now there is an edited paperback version. A Master's thesis from the University of Delaware by Sara Jatcko describes Davison's life and weaving contributions. Pertinent parts of this thesis, a comparison of the many revised and reprinted versions of the 'green book' , Davison's other publications, and most interestingly, two letters written to Davison and her reply to one will be shared.
Members learned about antique rugs from many regions from Peter Pap in Dublin NH
Textile Travelogue: Members' Experiences by ZOOM
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Send 3 to 5 textile pictures from your travels and brief description to the Associate Dean, Laurie Steger.
They will be shared in the morning activity on Feb 14, 2024.
March 13, 2024
Counterpanes: The Other Coverlet
Pat Donald
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Imagine the upstairs bedroom with the soft white covering over the bed, inviting an afternoon nap. It might be a counterpane, a white-on-white cotton bedspread. In this presentation, Pat will help you recognize the variety of structures that define a Handwoven Southern Counterpane and to differentiate them from a coverlet. Handwoven Southern Counterpanes have been found as preserved textiles and also as weaving drafts representing dimity, spot Bronson, honeycomb, huck and M’s & O’s. Based on research, images of counterpanes will be presented as well as examples of drafts and exploration of the weaves that produce these beautiful heirlooms.
April 10, 2024
Mathematical Coding as Patterns for Woven Designs
Francine Jacobson
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Mathematical mapping is a fundamental way of developing patterns. Establishing the key to encode the patterns might find sources from musical scores, morse code, alphabetical strings, mathematical units like decimal system, calendar sets and many other possible numerical units. This presentation will demonstrate many of these codes and will help you identify them as inspirations that can be translated into woven structures.