Guild News

If your guild would like to post upcoming events, workshops, or lectures that your guild is hosting, please send your information to mlhwebsite at mlhguild.org

Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild 

Membership Meetings:
Held the 2nd Monday, September – May, no December meeting.
Social time begins at 6:30 p.m. Program starts at 7 p.m.
We meet at Zion Lutheran Church in the Gathering Room (2nd floor)
1501 W. Liberty Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

For Zoom presentations, members will be sent an email with the Zoom link.

Meeting Formats
In-Person = Program will be held in person at Zion Lutheran Church.
Zoom = Presentation and participation will be held exclusively via Zoom. (We will not meet in person.)

Monthly Schedule

Saturday, January 13, 2025 (Zoom) 7:00
“The Give and Take of Social Fabric” Rachel Breen

By repurposing fabric, clothing, and found objects, Rachel creates projects and spaces for cultivating deeper understandings of labor rights, solidarity, and collective power. Discover how her focus on textiles creates a material connection to textile workers, the global impact of capitalism, and all of our shared histories in this insightful lecture. rachelbreenart.com

Monday, February 10, 2025 (Zoom) 7:00
“Beadweaving” Jenny Schu

This talented guild member uses handweaving with supplemental warps and beadweaving, often integrating all of her woven, knitted, stitched, beaded techniques together to create her own installed surroundings. Jenny will offer an insider’s glimpse at her beading techniques. jennyschu.net 

February 22, March 1, and March 8, 2025
One Warp, Many Structures: Explorations in Extended Parallel Threading [3-Day Zoom]  Denise Kovnat
Member Fee: $160 Nonmember Fee: $185

As Marian Stubenitsky has shown in her book, Weaving with Echo and Iris, extended parallel threadings offer endless possibilities. In this workshop, designed for advanced beginners and beyond, you will begin with your loom dressed in a two-color warp on a parallel threading. (Drafts will be provided about 6 weeks beforehand.) Working with a variety of tie-ups and treadlings, you will weave a series of designs in Echo, Jin (Turned

Taqueté), Shadow Weave, Rep, and doubleweave. The takeaway is a sampler of colorful patterns and a broader, deeper understanding of the potential for extended parallel threadings and how to design them. For 4-shaft to 32-shaft looms. denisekovnat.com

Monday, March 10, 2025 (Zoom) 7:00
“Once Upon a Warp: From the Loom to the Runway” Denise Kovnat

This lecture traces Denise’s weaving journey from garment concept to completion. denisekovnat.com
 

Sunday, April 13, 2025
Taina Mantey “Encaustic Exploration” [In-Person]
Ann Flora’s Studio (500 E Cummins, Tecumseh, MI 49286)
Member Fee: $120 Nonmember Fee: $145
 

Encaustic art, the process of incorporating heated bees wax with pigment, has been made for thousands of years. 

Monday, April 14, 2025 (In-Person) 6:30
“The American Metallic Fabric Company: 100 years of Wire Weaving on Cape Cod” Sue McDowell
 

Sue is the descendent of Roger G. Edwards, Sr., who arrived on Cape Cod in 1933 to take on the management of the American Metallic Fabric Company. She will provide an overview of the wire weaving enterprise that thrived on Cape Cod from the 1880’s to the 1990’s, covering the history of the business and sharing anecdotes (and a few artifacts) of growing up around massive industrial looms and the talented machinists who kept them running.

 Monday, May 12, 2025 (In-Person) 6:30
“Celebrating Member Fiber Explorations”

The final meeting of the season invites all members to share fiber art projects they have been working on all year, and workshop participants are welcome to show their unique responses to the Guild workshops they attended. Wear your creations or bring the artwork you would like to display. There will also be a presentation of the upcoming lineup of workshops and speakers for 2025-26

Northland Weavers & Fiber Arts Guild Turns 50!

The Northland Weavers and Fiber Arts Guild celebrates its 50th Anniversary this fall with an exhibition in the show cases at The Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City from October 20, 2023 to March 3, 2024. The public is invited to an opening reception on Thursday, October 19, 5:00-7:00 pm.    Founded by Marty Fox and Terry Tarnow, the guild has been going strong since 1973. Some of the original members are still an integral part of the Guild.

The guild was originally a “Weavers Guild” whose members had shared interests in weaving, spinning, macrame and dyeing. Within the last 20 years, the guild has expanded to include “Fiber Arts” in its name and members who practice knitting, quilting, felting, basketry and stitchery. The common thread uniting the group is an interest in creating art from fiber. All skill levels are represented and members new to fiber arts are welcome. The exhibition includes the work of 27 current and past members.

The Guild is a member of Michigan League of Handweavers and the Handweavers Guild of America. It has an extensive library and equipment to loan its members.

The guild meets year-round with monthly meetings the third Thursday of the month. Meeting topics include lectures, demonstrations, ”show and tell” of Guild members work, tours of studios, and workshops.  Many of our members teach their fiber skills to other members and the broader community. Even seasoned fiber artists are enthusiastic about learning new skills/techniques. Meetings are both in-person and on Zoom.  For more information on the guild and meeting times and locations, visit the web site northlandweaversguild.com or contact Michael Brown brownm3@yahoo.com 

The Dennos Museum Center is located on the campus of Northwestern MI College in Traverse City. Hours are Tuesday-Sunday 11AM-4PM.  Visit dennosmuseum.org for additional information.

Mayfield Fiber Arts Group (MFA) of Grand Rapids will have a fiber art exhibit at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center, 600 Forest Hill Ave, SE, Grand Rapids MI 49546 from February 14 - March 14, 2024.  Artists' Reception is Friday, Feb. 16 from 6-7:30pm.  The exhibit includes textile work by Sue Clarke, Lin Culver, Joan Duggan, Kathy Forzley, Jennifer Gould, Marilyn Greenlee, Elaine Hengen, Linda Ippel, Cyndi Len, Kim McDermott, Eileen Urbanski, and Linda Walburn.  Pieces include both 2-D and 3-D forms in felting, quilting, textile figures and dolls, knitting, and embroidered collages.  Exhibit gallery hours are Monday-Friday 8am-5pm only.  For more information, contact Jennifer Gould at jgould1526@gmail.com