Passing the Torch…

I’m back from a whirlwind tour of mind blowing fiber experiences in just a couple of days, all tied into HGA’s Convergence Providence.

First though, let me give a bit of background, which will clarify some of the questions/rumors flying around.

I taught at HGA’s Convergence for the last 12 years.  That would be seven Convergence’s starting in 2000.  In Convergence Albuquerque 2010 alone I taught 7 classes.  There might be a record somewhere in there of how many I’ve taught at in a row, but as with all things in life, there is a time and a place and nothing is permanent.  I was also the features editor for Handwoven Magazine for seven years, writing for 35 issues straight. And when new publishers came in and took the magazine in new directions, I did not follow.

But markets are changing and there are new faces with fresh ideas and lots of new weavers to draw from all that inspiration.  It is tough to walk away from something that was a critical part of who I am as an educator but it was apparent to me after the last Convergence that I needed to move onto other venues.  No conference has the same teachers over and over again.  I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did.  Mostly because I’ve worked so hard to diversify as an educator, not only do I specialize in garment construction for handweavers, but I also teach weaving techniques, warping techniques, color studies, photography, and a slew of other topics.  And I’ve taught pretty near all of them for Convergence.  So when it came time to apply for the 2014 Convergence, and the location still wasn’t announced, (it could have been in Canada for all I knew), I opted not to apply.

I hoped that Convergence would thrive, go on successfully without me, and when I found out it was going to be in Providence, I really wrestled with whether to attend, Providence is only about four hours away, depending on traffic.

As it turned out, with my daughter home from college and my dear friend Carol Westfall begging me to accompany her to see all the exhibits, it made sense to squeeze in a couple days and actually participate in parts of Convergence I was never before able to because of time constraints when teaching, and not having my own transportation when I would fly.

Carol, Brianna and I left Thursday morning and headed up to Lowell, MA.  We hit almost no traffic, and were able to get through the American Textile History Museum, and Fiber International 2013 by lunch.  The exhibit was interesting and though provoking and it was great to discuss the works, most of which had some sort of cultural or political commentary built in, with my daughter.  We went through the exhibit side by side.  She has a great ability to look beyond the obvious and see things most people miss.

We had a quick delicious lunch at the cafe in the museum, and jumped back in the car for the drive to Brockton, MA and the Fuller Craft Museum.

I will say that the Game Changer’s exhibit was probably the highlight of the trip for me.  The exhibit pulled together fiber works from “Masters and Innovators”, those who created the genre of fiber art, artists I studied back in the 70’s and though some are now gone from us, there are many like Lia Cook and Cynthia Schira who are still pushing the boundaries of the medium.  The works were amazing and the space inspiring.

Small Expressions, HGA’s miniature exhibit, was also at the Fuller, along with a couple other exhibits that had a fibery feel.  It was a great day of absorbing inspiration and possibilities, and outside of the Fuller, we enjoyed a walk through a stone installation and view of the river.

Thursday night we pulled into Providence, checked into the hotel, and took off for the URI Providence campus for the opening of three fiber exhibits, a small tapestry exhibit called Untitled/Unjuried from the American Tapestry Alliance and one called Twine 2014 (Tapestry Weavers in New England).  There was a lot of work to see in such a small space, and again, Brianna stuck right beside me, exploring the world of Tapestry which I’ve not really done since the pieces I did in the 70’s.  She is as I write, developing a cartoon for a tapestry she would like to work on, and I can’t be more excited for her.

We got up early Friday morning and hit the Brown University Granoff Center where Complexity, the exhibit of work from the Complex Weaver’s conference last month in Washington State, first appeared.  Another fantastic exhibit, full of textiles and ideas that are not in my area of expertise, but my daughter was fascinated, and curious, and energized and it was so wonderful to see her grasp so many ideas out of what she is regularly exposed to in my own studio.

I did grab a couple of images of the first and second place winners, Best in Show was a fantastic coat from Leslie Willcock, and second place was a very large digital Jacquard tapestry from Cathryn Amidei, called Begetter.  Most of the exhibits do not allow photos so I can only tell about my experiences with words.

While waiting for the vendor hall to open in the Rhode Island Convention Center, we got a chance to look up at the yardage exhibit.  The last few Convergences have featured yardage hanging from rotunda’s and balconies, and it is a pretty fantastic use of textiles in a commercial space.

The highlight of the actual trip though, was watching my daughter, like a kid in a candy shop, bounce from booth to booth, petting anything fuzzy and purple, like the wool roving here from Red Fish Dyeworks, and poking through lampwork beads from Diane Tarullo.  Now that we own a Charka, (Which is a small spinning wheel used to spin cotton that breaks apart and folds up to the size of a book and sits on a book shelf )which is a long separate story, Eileen Hallman from New World Textiles was gracious enough to show Brianna how to set up and use one just like the one we acquired at the Pioneer Valley Weavers silent auction of weaving related items back in June.  We of course bought the video.

Jason Collingwood was really gracious taking time to explain how Shaft Switching works, a pretty complicated way of getting more value from your shafts, which Brianna got instantly, and turned to me and said, “I want this”.  I watched them both with their heads together concentrating on what was going on inside the castle of the Harrisville Rug Loom, from a design from Jason’s late father Peter, one of the textile greats, and I thought, this is yet another generation picking up the torch.

Even at the Janome booth, there was a woman using the sewing machine with a ruffler foot, to make clever fascinators and she and Brianna ran off and explored stuff with the sewing machine that never even occurred to me to want to do.  Of course the ruffler foot will be shipped to us next week.  I got one that would fit her machine so she can take it back to school with her.

And in the HGA booth, Brianna found socks.  They are so her personality, and with money she earned from me this summer, she bought herself a few pairs.

I was worried that I’d know so many people, and that I would have a hard time moving through the vendor hall like I always do, but I was able to stay largely under the radar, (expecially since I don’t dye my hair anymore) and was completely amused whenever someone could approach us because it was my daughter they actually approached, she is a member of a New England weavers guild, that meets at WEBS and she was recognized by many of her guild mates, with great greetings like, “There’s Brianna and her mom!”.

We made it home Friday night late, and I’m so glad I did this.  I rarely get to participate in a conference, the way others do, and I never get to see peripheral exhibits in neighboring towns and museums when there is a Convergence.  This time, I got to experience all of that, and a long leisurely exploration of the vendor hall, spending time with Macomber, who has been amazing in their assistance getting the Peters Valley looms up and running, Silk City Fibers, who have never had a booth at a Convergence, whom I’m worked with since the early 80’s (They are about 15 minutes from where I live in NJ), and Jim Gowdy from Gowdy reed company who has not been to a Convergence before, I believe.  There were plenty of looms to try, though I’m not in the market, and tons of cool yarns and fiber,  and it looked like business was brisk at most of the booths.  Eileen Hallman was as always a delight in her explanations of the Charka,  and the people at Janome were wonderful.

I told my daughter that I’ve never been so proud, of her ability to articulate what she sees and thinks, of her ability to walk into a booth and engage and ask questions, of her ability to stand on her own as a fiber enthusiast, and not live in my shadow.  So for those of you who have sent me messages that have wondered where I am, that I am conspicuously absent from Convergence, I’m not really, I’m just enjoying basking in the glow of a torch passed to a new generation.

Stay tuned…